|
Rural Health Briefing
Vol II, No. 7 October 7, 2002
An E-Health Newsletter published by the Arizona
Rural Hospital Flexibility Program of the
University
of Arizona Rural Health Office, in collaboration
with the Arizona Rural Health
Association.
Editor’s Note: This online
newsletter is a project of the Arizona Rural
Hospital Flexibility Program, housed in
Rural
Health Office, Mel and Enid Zuckerman Arizona
College of Public Health, and supported through a
grant
from
the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy. The
Rural Hospital Flexibility Program was created by
Congress to
improve the financial viability and stability of
health care in rural areas, including creation of
a new designation
for
rural hospitals as Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs).
Designated CAHs are eligible for cost-based
reimbursement
for
services provided to Medicare patients. In some
states, including Arizona, additional
reimbursement is also
available for CAH services provided to Medicaid
patients.
Comments, suggestions, questions, as well as
address changes and additions to distribution list
or removal from
distribution list should be addressed to:
atromble@rho.arizona.edu. To print this
newsletter, reduce print size
to 90%
in print properties.
Table of Contents
1. Update: Rural Hospital Flexibility
Program
a. National Action
- NRHA Action
Alert: Rural Health Legislation
- Hospital
Reimbursement for Undocumented Aliens
- New Rural EMS
Grants Program
- Hospital Outpatient
PPS Proposed Rule
- CMS Claims Process
Changes for CAHs
- JCAHO Deeming
Authority Approved
- Rural Health
Clinics
b. State Action
- Status of Arizona
Critical Access Hospital Designations
- Procedures for
Indian Critical Access Hospitals
- Governor's Rural
Development Conference
- Rodeo-Chediski Fire
Debriefing Roundtable
2. Arizona News
a. Resolutions of 2002
Arizona Rural Health Conference
b. Health Professions
Conference
c. St. Luke’s Foundation
Oral Health Initiative
d. Arizona Dental School Admissions
e. Healthy Arizona 2010
Newsletter
f. ADHS Healthy Aging and
Healthy Arizona 2010 Mini-Grants
g. Rural Physicians Study
Committee
3. National News
a. Health Care
Workforce News
- J-1 Visa Waiver
Docs
- Nursing
Shortages
- Bureau of
Health Professions Training Grants
- HHS Partnership
With Nurses to Enhance Public Health Preparedness
-
Encouraging
News: Doctors Going Back Home to Rural Areas
b. GAO Report: Medicare
Payments Wage Differential
c. OMB: Federal
Assessment of Funded Programs
d. RICHS Rural Health
Newsletter
e. HRSA Clearinghouse
for Rural Information to Replace RICHS
f. Medicare Prescription
Drug Card Assistance Initiative
g. Kaiser Reports
- Medicaid's Role
in Covering Families
- Medicare's
Disabled Beneficiaries and Drug Coverage
h. Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality Study Reports
- Health Insurance
Premiums Increase
- Hospital
Charges/Length of Stay
4. How to Contact Your Representatives
a. Congressional Delegation
b. State Legislators
5. Grant Opportunities
a. RICHS Listing
b. Border Models of
Excellence Initiative
c. Native American
Fellowship Program
6. Conferences Relevant to Rural Health
a. RICHS Listing
b. Priester National
Extension Health Conference
c. 6th Annual Community
Health Workers/Promotores(as) Conference
7. Other: Useful Websites
a. Spanish Language Websites
b. Health and Fitness
Websites
1.
Rural Hospital Flexibility Program
a. National Action:
(1) NRHA Action Alert: Rural
Health Legislation: The National Rural
Health Association
issued an Action Alert on Friday,
October 4, calling for rural health advocates to
contact their
congressional delegation for support of
Senate Bill 3018, the Beneficiary Access to care
and
Medicare Equity Act of 2002.
Congressional action on this legislation will not
occur unless
members of Congress hear from you. Key
provisions of the legislation include:
- Medicare FLEX Reauthorization
- Small Hospital Improvement Program
Reauthorization
- Exempting Rural Health Clinics and
Federally Qualified Health Centers from the
nursing home SNF PPS
- Establishing flexibility for
critical access hospitals to have up to 25 acute
care beds
- Equalizing the Medicare
standardized payment amount
- Adjusting the wage index
- Enhancing DSH payments for rural
hospitals
- Temporarily increasing payments
for rural hospitals under PPS outpatient services
- Revising the payment disparities
for rural physicians
- Extending the rural adjuster for
home health
- Extending the outpatient PPS hold
harmless for rural hospitals by one year -- to
2005
- Increasing ground ambulance
payments for rural by five percent
- Providing a 10 percent add on for
frontier hospice
- Establishing a rural capital
infrastructure loan program
- Full market basket update for Sole
Community Hospitals
- Establishing Medicare payments to
certain non physician providers on call in CAH
emergency rooms
The NRHA advises that if the bill
passes in the Senate, this will allow the Senate
to go to
Conference with the House and a chance
of a reconciliation package for the President to
sign.
There are a lot of provider payment
bumps that are not specific to rural that would
help all
providers. Specific provisions that are
important to rural include Section 302 (pathology
lab
service billing protection for
hospitals); Section 318 and 319 (air and ground
ambulance);
Section 401 (elimination of the Home
Health 15% cut); and Section 805 (grants to
hospitals
for EMTALA treatment of illegal
aliens). A summary of the legislation, with
instructions on
how to access the full bill, is
available through the NRHA website at:
Senate Bill 3018
(2) New Rural EMS Grants
Program: On October 1, the House
of Representatives
passed HR 3450, which includes, among
other things, authorization for a Rural EMS Grants
program. The Senate version of the
bill, 1533, passed earlier in the year. Key
information
includes: grant applicants can be a
state EMS office, state EMS association, State
Office of
Rural Health, local government, state or
local ambulance provider or other appropriate
entity;
must be for rural EMS uses; and can be
for recruitment, training, funding state
requirements,
distance learning, acquiring equipment,
acquiring personal protective equipment or to
educate
the public. Grant applicants would have
to demonstrate 25% matching funds. Gary Wingrove,
Gold Cross-Mayo Medical Transport,
distributed the following copy of key provisions:
Rural EMS Grants
(3) Hospital Reimbursement for
Undocumented Aliens: Sente Bill 169,
cosponsored by
Senator Kyl and Senator McCain, would
authorize $200,000,000 for each fiscal year
beginning
in 2002 and ending in 2005 to provide
additional reimbursement to hospitals and other
providers
of emergency medical services for
undocumented aliens. House Bill 823 is the
companion
legislation.
Senate Border Legislation
House Border Legislation
(4)
Hospital Outpatient PPS Proposed Rule:
CMS proposed changes to the amounts and
factors used to determine the payment rates for
Medicare hospital outpatient PPS, applicable
on or
after January 1, 2003, are available at:
PPS Outpatient Rates
(5)
CMS Claims Process Changes for CAHs:
CMS Transmittal 1860 of the Medicare
Intermediary Manual, Part Three – Claims Process
– details changes in payments for services
furnished by a Critical Access Hospital,
including exemption from window provision;
payment methodology for screening mammography;
costs of emergency room on-call physicians;
costs
of ambulance
services; CRNA Pass-Through Exemption or 115
percent Fee Schedule
Payments for
CRNA Services); HPSA incentive payments for
physicians; and optional
method –
cost-based facility services plus fee schedule
for professional services. The changes are
scheduled to be implemented on January 1, 2003.
A copy of the transmittal is available at:
CMS Claims Process Changes
(6)
JCAHO Deeming Authority Approved:
In the August 23, 2002 Federal Register,
CMS published
its final notice announcing approval of the
Joint Commission on Accreditation
of Healthcare
Organizations (JCAHO) application as a national
accrediting organization for critical hospitals,
effective November 21, 2002 through November 21,
2008. The notice details the differences
between JCAHO and Medicare’s conditions and
survey requirements, and how they were resolved.
A copy of the notice is available at:
JCAHO Deeming Authority
(7) Rural Health Clinics:
The National Assocation of Rural Health Clinics
has updated
its website, which has links to the CMS website
for the RHC Manual, RHC rules and
regulations, new Medicare requirements, etc.
Rural Health
Clinics
b.
State Action
(1)
Status of Arizona Critical Access Hospital
Designations:
Sage Memorial
Hospital submitted its application for critical
access designation at the end of September. The
designation review was completed last week.
Additional submissions were received for
completion of the application packet, which was
forwarded to the state licensure office for
scheduling of a Medicare site survey. Other
applications received and pending designation
review include Parker Indian Medical Center,
Whiteriver IHS, and Ft. Yuma IHS, and Hu Hu Kam
Memorial Hospital (Gila River Indian Community).
(2)
Procedures for Indian Critical Access
Hospitals:
On August 26, John Yao, IHS Headquarters in
Baltimore, and Alison Hughes, Director of the
Arizona Flex Program sent a memorandum to
Arizona’s Indian hospitals planning to seek
critical access hospital designation. The
memorandum clarified the procedures for the
application process, as agreed to by IHS, CMS,
and JCAHO.
Site
surveys were scheduled, to be conducted by
JCAHO, rather than the state licensure office.
The Hopi Health Care site survey was completed
October 1-3. The Whiteriver IHS hospital survey
is being conducted October 7-9. Other surveys
scheduled: Hu Hu Kam Memorial, October 21-23;
Ft. Yuma IHS, October 28-30; Parker Indian
Medical Center, November 4-6. In addition, the
Owyhee IHS hospital in Nevada will have a site
survey on November 11-13.
A
teleconference was held on October 8, for Indian
hospitals seeking critical access hospital
designation, with Indian Health Service
Headquarters (Baltimore) and CMS Region IX
officials
participating, to discuss completion of the
designation process and transitioning to
reimbursement as critical access hospitals. The
procedures now being developed and implemented
for Arizona’s Indian hospitals are expected to
establish a model for the country. Nevada Flex
Program staff and IHS hospital officials, and
Alaska Flex Program staff and IHS hospital
officials will also participate in the call. The
Hopi Health Care Center in Arizona will be the
first IHS hospital in the country to have gone
through the entire process to become a critical
access hospital, and the second designated
IHS CAH in
the country
Another
teleconference will be held in November to
discuss procedures for reimbursement
through the
Fiscal Intermediary for IHS hospitals.
(3)
Governor's Rural Development Conference:
On October 4, 2002, Alison Hughes, Director
of the Rural
Health Office and the Arizona Flex Program,
delivered a presentation at the Governor's
Annual Rural Development Conference in Yuma:
“Arizona’s Rural Hospitals – Their Role in
Community Economy.” The analysis documented the
approximate total economic impact of the
hospitals in their rural communities, based on
total hospital payroll figures for the hospitals
of $134,434,790. Three rural mayors and many
rural city council members participated in the
conference, and the issue was raised with four
gubernatorial candidates who also participated
in the conference.
(4)
Rodeo-Chediski Fire Debriefing Roundtable:
On September 23, 2002, the Rural
Health
Office/Arizona Flex Program, the Arizona
Telemedicine Program, the Northern Arizona
Regional Behavioral Health Authority, and the
Arizona Rural Health association co-sponsored
a Health
Policy Roundtable meeting about the Rodeo-Chediski
Fire disaster in eastern Arizona. The meeting
was videoconferenced at 15 sites, with
approximately 65 participants. Presenters
included the chiefs of fire and police
departments in Show Low and Eager, city managers
in Show Low and Pinetop-Lakeside, the Safford
field office of the Bureau of Land Management,
staff of Navapache Regional Hospital and the
Whiteriver IHS hospital, staff of the NARBHA
Community Counseling Centers in St. Johns and
Holbrook, the water quality manager for the
Arizona Department of Game and Fish, the chief
of Environmental Health in the Arizona
Department of Health Services, the director of
the Apache County health department, and
others.
Participants describe how planning for a
potential fire season began in the winter before
the Rodeo-Chediski fire happened, the
implementation of an evacuation plan in affected
communities, communications systems established
to manage coordination of fire fighting and
disaster relief, and the financial costs
incurred by those affected. The experience of
the rural hospitals involved in this emergency
is informative and impressive. These reports
from "those in the field" provide a fascinating
story of how rural communities mobilized and
worked together for emergency preparedness and
emergency management, and provides a useful
model for others. Among their contributions,
all of the presenters offered insights into what
they would do differently -- lessons learned
that offer valuable guidance for the future.
Videotapes are available from the Rural Health
Office. In addition, the fire debriefing is
available via videostreaming technology through
the Office of Biomedical Communications in the
Arizona Health Sciences Center:
Rodeo-Chediski Fire: A Retrospective
2.
Arizona News
a. Resolutions of the 2002 Arizona Rural
Health Conference: At the 2002
Annual Arizona Rural Health Conference, members of
the Arizona Rural Health Association
established eight work groups to pursue action on
the resolutions adopted during the conference.
The
resolutions, list of work groups, and the
facilitators for each group are available at:
2002 Rural Health Conference Resolutions
b. Health Professions
Conference: The Many Faces in the Health
Professions 5th
Annual Conference, "Bridging the
Cultural Gap in the Health Professions," is
scheduled
for Saturday, October 19, 2002. The
conference will include health professions
workshops,
cultural workshops, and an exhibitor's
fair with professional schools, student
organizations,
undergraduate and graduate programs. The
conference will be held at McClelland Hall on
the University of Arizona campus, and
will run from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm. Admittance is
$10
pre-registration or $15 the day of the
event. Highlights of the conference will include:
Keynote Speaker: Nelba Chavez, PhD,
former Administrator of the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA),
and the first Hispanic/Latina to head a
public health agency in the 200 year history of
the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services.
Health Professions Workshops: (1)
Doctors: The Diversity of Health. An
allopathic
(MD), osteopathic (DO), and naturopathic (ND)
doctor will discuss his/her educational
background and the differences between the
philosophies in medicine. (2) The Phenomenal
Fields in Pharmacy. The differences and
similarities found in clinical pharmacy, retail
pharmacy, academics and research. (3) People
in Public Health: The Ever Changing Role of the
Health Professional. (4) Options in Nursing:
From a Bachelor of Science in Nursing to a PhD
in
Nursing.
Cultural Workshops: (1) Tribal
Healthcare Management; (2) AIDS and the
African
American Community; (3) Vision and Problems in
the Hispanic Community and Proyecto
VER; (4) Gerontology, Aging, and The
Asian Pacific American Community.
For more information, or to register for the
conference:
Health Professions Conference
c. St. Luke's Health Initiatives -- Oral
Health: The St. Luke's Health Initiative is
preparing a series of background reports, "Open
Wide," on the future of oral health care in
Arizona. The first report provides an overview of
the state of oral health in the U.S. and
Arizona and a description of Arizona's oral health
delivery system. The second report,
scheduled for February 2003, will focus on the
emerging integration of primary care and
oral
health. The third report, to be released in May
2003, will discuss alternative financing
structures for oral health in the future. Some of
the facts documented in the first report include:
31
percent of Arizona children have never had a
dental check-up; 65 percent between the ages
of
11-13 have tooth decay; one in five Arizona adults
has never had a dental check-up; 99
percent of adults have had tooth decay by age 45.
The report also documents the extent of
untreated decayed primary and permanent teeth for
all ages among different ethnic groups. In
rural
areas, there are few dentists and dental care
facilities are often inadequate or remote from
many
rural towns. To read the complete report, see:
Open Wide Report
d. Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health
-- Admissions: The new Arizona
School
of Dentistry & Oral Health, part of the Arizona
School of Health Sciences of the
Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine,
located in Mesa, will begin admitting students
for
the
fall semester beginning December 1, 2002. This
will be the school's first class of dental
students. The program offers a Doctor of Dental
Surgery (DDS) degree with a Certificate in
Public
Health Management. The four-year curriculum
includes clinical training off site with
dentists practicing in community health centers,
American Indian clinics, and other community-
based
organizations. For more information about
admission requirements, required course work,
and
application materials, see:
Dental School
e. Healthy Arizona 2010 News:
The Arizona Department of Health Services, as
part
of its Healthy Arizona 2010 initiative, is
publishing an online newsletter, "The 2010
Progress,"
reporting on Healthy Arizona 2010 program
activities underway around the state. The
current
newsletter is available at:
Progress Report
f. ADHS Healthy Aging and Healthy Arizona 2010
Mini-Grants: The Arizona
Department of Health Services recently released
two requests for proposals for mini grants
-- one
for Healthy Aging 2010 and the other for Healthy
Arizona 2010. Cover letters about
the
grants and the application materials are
attached. Proposals are due October 18, 2002
for
awards of up to $5,000 to be distributed in
December 2002. For further information,
contact
Linda Nelson, MPH, Community Development
Specialist, Arizona Department of
Health
Services, Office of Health Systems Development:
Phone: (602) 542-1219 or Email:
lnelson@hs.state.az.us
Healthy Aging Letter
Healthy Aging Grant
Healthy Arizona 2010 Letter
Healthy
Arizona 2010 MiniGrants
g. Rural Physicians Study Committee:
Senate Bill 1240, passed in the last session of
the
Arizona Legislature, authorized a Rural Physician
Study Committee. Information about
the
committee, and its mandate is available at:
Rural Physicians Study Committee
The
committee held a public hearing on September 18,
2002, receiving testimony about the
medical
malpractice problem from representatives of Copper
Queen Community Hospital in
Bisbee;
physicians with the Copper City Physicians
practice clinic; and a representative of
Mutual
Insurance Company of Arizona (MICA), a medical
malpractice insurer. Minutes from
the
meeting are available at:
Minutes
3.
National News
a. Health Care Workforce News:
(1) J-1 Visa Waiver Docs:
On October 3, by unanimous consent, the Senate
agreed to the
conference report on H.R. 2215, the "21st
Century Department of Justice Appropriations
Authorization Act." Both the House and
Senate have now passed this conference report
containing a provision (Section 11018)
increasing the number of Corned 20 waivers for J-1
physicians from 20 waivers per year per
state to 30 waivers per year, per state, and
extending
the program to June 1, 2004. The act
will retroactively take effect May 31, 2002. H.R.
2215
now awaits signature by the President.
Thanks go to the National Rural Recruitment and
Retention Network for distributing this
timely news to its state members.
(2) Nursing Shortages:
HRSA's Bureau of Health Professions has completed
an analysis
of Projected Supply, Demand and Shortages
of Registered Nurses: 2000-2020, based on
the 2000 National Sample Survey of
Registered Nurses. The report is available at:
Projected Nursing Shortages
(3) Bureau of Health
Professions Training Grants: HRSA's
Bureau of Health
Professions has published online grant
guidelines and application materials for a
variety of
2003 nursing, medicine, and dentistry
training grants. In addition to schools of
nursing, other
eligible applicants for some of these
grants include non profits. Grants application
deadlines
for nursing include:
field experience public health nursing,
November 4;
geriatric nursing, November 4;
advanced education nursing trainee
ships, November 15;
advanced anesthetic nursing trainee
ships, November 15;
nursing workforce diversity, December 6;
advanced nursing education, December 13;
basic nurse education and practice
December 16.
See,
Nursing
Grants
Medicine and Dentistry Grants
(4) HHS Partnership With
Nurses to Enhance Public Health Preparedness:
HHS
Secretary Tommy Thompson recently
announced a memorandum of understanding with the
American Nurses Association to enhance
public health preparedness efforts in the event of
a
public health emergency or bioterrorist
attack. The MOU designates National Nurse
Response
Teams as an operational component of the
National Disaster Medical System -- a nationwide
network of volunteers primed for rapid
deployment in a disaster or emergency situation.
HHS,
the Department of Defense, the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, and the Department
of Veterans Affairs jointly administer the
National Disaster Medical System.
(5) Encouraging News From Kentucky:
Doctors Going Back Home to Rural Areas:
The
Community-Campus Partnership for Health newsletter
recently distributed a story,
originally published by CNN Online, about a
movement of rural residents who have become
physicians moving back to the rural communities to
practice medicine. To read this interesting
story,
go to:
Rural Docs Go Home
b. GAO Report: Medicare Payments
Wage Differential: On September 30, 2002,
the General Accounting Office published a
report, "Medicare Hospital Payments:
Refinements Needed to Better Account
for Geographic Differences in Wages." The
report
is available online at:
GAO Report
c. OMB: Federal Assessment of
Funded Programs: The Office of Management
and
Budget recently announced new requirements
for performance assessment for federal programs
beginning with the FY 2004 budget
process. The purpose of the new requirements is
to force
federal agencies to generate better
performance data. The director of OMB, Mitch
Daniels,
and the Comptroller General, David Walker,
urged that Congress become an integral part of
the process of of linking performance and
budget. Walker called the quality and accuracy
of
performance data across the government
"uneven," and stated that, "Credible
outcome-based
performance information is absolutely
critical to foster the kind of debate that is
needed."
The new OMB requirements are the result
of the president's government wide management
initiative for Budget and Performance
Integration, which builds on the Government
Performance
and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) and earlier
efforts to identify program goals and performance
measures and link them to the budget
process. The FY 2003 president's budget was the
first
to include explicit assessments of
program performance. A Program Assessment Rating
Tool
(PART) developed by OMB ic comprised of
assessment criteria on program performance and
management.
The September newsletter of the
Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH),
reports a
visit between the Coalition of Health
Funding (CHF) and the Chief of the Public Health
Branch
in the Office of Budget and Management,
and provides some examples of how the agency is
approaching an analysis of the performance
of health programs. Comparison measures have
been developed for a number of Defense,
Veterans, and HHS Indian Health Service and
Community Health Centers programs.
To quantify the resources expended on
direct federal health programs and better
understand
the cost differences, per capita
expenditures on direct health services will be
measured. To
assist with evaluating the efficiency of
the same programs, the average number of patients
seen
per day per physician/nurse
practitioner/physician assistant will be compared
as an efficiency
measure. Health outcomes will be compared
in DOD and VA. Patients admitted for medical
or surgical conditions will be compared to
the total number of patients readmitted as a
percentage
of admissions and studied as a quality
measure. These measures will be age/sex adjusted
to
account for differences in patient
populations seen at the different delivery
systems. For more
information, see:
Performance Assessment
d. RICHS Rural Health Newsletter:
The Fall 2002 issue of Rural Health News is
now available on the Rural Health
Information Center Health Service (RICHS)
website:
Rural Health News
e. HRSA Clearinghouse for
Rural Information to Replace RICHS: The
Health
Resources and Services Administration
announced on October 7 an award of $600,000
to the University of North Dakota's Center
for Rural Health in Grand Forks to establish a
Rural Assistance Center. The RAC will
replace the current Rural Information Center
Health Service RICHS).
The RAC will serve as a resource for
rural residents and anyone seeking information
about
health policy and social services for
rural communities. Guided by a recommendation
made
in the HHS Rural Task Force Report
released this summer, the RAC will serve as a
single
point of entry to the 225 HHS programs
serving rural areas. RAC information specialists
will help customers find the best HHS
funding opportunities and other resources for
their
communities. The RAC will also make
referrals to federal and state agencies; conduct
Internet and database searches; examine
research literature on rural topics; and provide
publications, maintain a website, and
staff a toll free phone line. Funded through a
cooperative agreement with HRSA's Office
of rural Health Policy, the RAC will receive
input on customer needs from the HHS Rural
Task Force.
f. Medicare Prescription Drug
Card Assistance Initiative: CMS published
its final
rule for a Medicare Endorsed Prescription
Drug Card Assistance Initiative in the September
4
issue of the Federal Register.
Medicare Prescription Drug Card The rule will
become
effective on November 4. Additional
information is also available at:
Drug Card
g. Kaiser Reports:
(1) Twelve years ago, Congress
passed the law requiring that, by the end of FY
2002, states
complete a series of incremental steps to
ensure all children in families with income at or
below
the federal poverty line would have
Medicaid coverage.
Medicaid's Role in Covering Families
(2) About 5 million Americans under
age 65 qualify for Medicare coverage because they
are
totally and permanently disabled. They
are more likely than the elderly to live in
poverty, to be
in poor health, and to experience
difficulties living independently and performing
basic daily
tasks. A new study from The Commonwealth
Fund and the Henry J. Kaiser Family
Foundation reports that the disabled have
few options other than Medicaid for obtaining
prescription coverage.
Medicare's Disabled Beneficiaries: The Forgotten
Population
h. Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality Study Reports:
(1) Health Insurance Premiums
Increase: New data from AHRQ's Medical
Expenditure
Panel Survey (MEPS) Insurance Component
shows that the average annual health insurance
premiums rose more than 30 percent
between 1996 and 2000.
See
Health Insurance Premiums
(2) Hospital Charges/Length of
Stay: AHRQ data show that the average
hospital charge
for treating patients admitted for heart
attack increased by roughly one third between
1993
and 2000, while the average patient stay
decreased by 26 percent.
Hospital Charges
4.
How to Contact Your Representatives
a. Arizona Congressional Delegation:
Links to Arizona members of the U.S. House of
Representatives are available at:
Representatives
Links to Arizona members of the U.S. Senate
are
available at:
Senators
b. Arizona State Legislators: Available
through the Arizona Legislative Information System
(ALIS):
Call 1-800-352-8404
Arizona
Legislators
5.
Grant Opportunities
a.
RICHS Listing
b. Border Models of
Excellence Initiative: The U.S.-Mexico
Border Health
Commission has issued a call for
applications for the Border Models of Excellence
Initiative. The initiative encourages
local programs/projects and initiatives that work
with
Community Health Workers/Promotores(as)
to apply to become recognized as a Model
of Excellence.
Letter from Commissioners
Call for Applications
Application
c. Native American
Fellowship: The UCLA American Indian Studies
Center
sponsors a residential fellowship
opportunity for a Native American pre- or
post-doctoral
scholar to engage in manuscript
preparation on topics important to the
understanding of
humankind, including critical
contemporary issues. Resident scholars are
provided with an
apartment and office, stipends, a small
reference library and library assistance, and
other
benefits during a nineteenth tenure.
Applications are due by November 15. For more
information, see
Karen H. Lamon Fellowship
* * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
6.
Conferences Relevant to Rural Health
a.
RICHS Listing
b. Priester National Extension
Health Conference: A call for presentation
proposals
has been issued by the Healthy People,
Healthy Communities Initiative for the 2003
Priester
National Extension Conference,
"Bringing Health to Your Community -- Responding
to
Emerging Issues," to be held
April 22-24, 2003 in Phoenix, Arizona. For
further
information, see:
Priester Conference
c. 6th National Community
Health Workers/Promotores Conference: This
conference,
"Promotores: Closing the Bridge Gap
between Primary Health Care Delivery and Medically
Underserved Communities," is scheduled
for August 19-22, 2003 in San Francisco. Mark
your calendar! For more information,
call: 877-743-1500 or email:
chwnetwork@wahec.com
7.
Other: Useful Websites
a. Spanish Language:
b. Health, Fitness, Nutrition
|
