February Monthly Update from the Minnesota Office of Rural Health and Primary Care

Minnesota Department of Health sent this bulletin at 02/01/2012 11:17 AM CST

Having trouble reading this? The February Monthly Update is online at http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/orhpc/pubs/monthly/2012/feb.html

February 2012 Monthly Update

Contents:

 

  

FEBRUARY 2012

 

 

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MDH & ORHPC NEWS

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HEALTH REFORM
The Governor's Health Care Reform Task Force Work Group requests your comments.

HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
The Governor's Task Force on Broadband report (PDF: 5MB/55pgs)

HEALTH CARE WORKFORCE SNAPSHOT

From 2000 to 2010 two-thirds of Minnesota’s population growth occurred among people of color.

However, based on responses to 2009-2010 workforce surveys asking race and ethnicity, more than 90 percent of Minnesota’s health care professional workforce remains predominately white with physicians most closely reflecting the diversity of the general population. 

We face the challenge of having enough providers to meet current and future demands for health care. In addition, that care must be culturally competent and linguistically accessible to an increasingly diverse population.

health care workforce diversity

For more information and data on Minnesota's health workforce, visit the ORHPC Health Care Workforce Analysis Program site or contact Angie Sechler at angie.sechler@state.mn.us or 651-201-3862.
 
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ORHPC GRANTS AND LOANS

  

 

Be an ORHPC grant reviewer. Please contact Doug Benson at doug.benson@state.mn.us or 651-201-3842 or Cindy LaMere at cindy.lamere@state.mn.us or 651-201-3852 with your name, profession, place of employment and contact information.

  
 

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OTHER GRANTS AND LOANS

  

Community Based Care Transition Program applications are being accepted for pilot projects to reduce hospital readmissions, test sustainable funding streams for care transition services, maintain or improve quality of care and document savings to Medicare.

Nursing Education Loan Repayment Program applications are due February 15.

  
 

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OPPORTUNITIES

 

Openings listed in the Secretary of State's January press release include the Minnesota Board of Aging, State Rehabilitation Council for the Blind.

Breakout presentation proposals for the Minnesota Rural Health Conference are due February 3. The conference is June 25-26 in Duluth.

Do you know rural health professionals who deserve recognition for going "above and beyond?" Nominations for the 2012 Minnesota Rural Health Awards are due April 20. One individual and one team will be honored at the Minnesota Rural Health Conference June 25-26 in Duluth.

Need help assessing, planning, implementing, project managing or researching best practices for your health IT systems? Normandale Community College MN Health IT (MnHIT) students are earning certificates as Implementation Support Specialists, Health IT Trainers, Clinician/Practitioner Consultants and Workflow Redesign Specialists. The students already have six to eight years of health care experience and/or IT experience. To set up an internship with one of these students, contact Sunny Ainley at 952-358-8806 or sunny.ainley@normandale.edu.

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NEWS OF OUR PARTNERS

 
 

Jennifer Lundblad, president and chief executive officer of Stratis Health, and A. Clinton MacKinney, M.D., assistant professor at the University of Iowa and emergency room physician at St. Gabriel’s Hospital in Little Falls, contributed to the Rural Policy Research Institute publication The High Performance Rural Health Care System of the Future (PDF: 645KB/10pgs).

The National Rural Health Resource Center and the Rural Assistance Center developed a Health Information Technology Toolkit of resources for rural providers.

Stratis Health launched Culture Care Connection II Initiative in 19 clinics and public health agencies across Minnesota.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation awarded $2.2 million for community health efforts including children's health, Healthy Together immigrant health initiative, healthy neighborhoods and community support. The foundation is working with the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to fund health impact assessments in Minnesota.

The following community teams (and lead organizations) are participating in Stratis Health's new Rural Palliative Care Community Development Project: Cloquet/Carlton County (Community Memorial Hospital Association), Dawson (Johnson Memorial Homecare), Kenyon (Kenyon Senior Living), Madelia Community Hospital & Clinic Service Area (Madelia Community Hospital), Madison (Madison Hospital Home Care Agency), Moose Lake (Mercy Hospital) and Virginia (Essentia Health East Range Hospice).

The National Rural Health Resource Center received a $1.2 million contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to provide technical assistance to rural health networks that are implementing electronic medical records.

The Southeast Minnesota Beacon Community Program develops asthma management toolkit for schools.

  
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NOW READ THIS

 
 

  • National EMS Assessment
  • The coming nursing home shortage
  • Why men from rural communities avoid seeking mental health counseling

Medical Home
  • Organizing Care for Complex Patients in the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PDF: 570KB/3pgs)
  • Patient-centered medical home characteristics and staff morale in safety net clinics

Hospitals
  • Report shows Minnesota hospitals contributed $3.4 billion to communities in 2010
  • Effect of Swing Bed Use on Medicare Average Daily Cost and Reimbursement in CAHs (PDF: 122KB/4pgs)
  • Evidence-Based Falls Prevention in CAHs (PDF: 796KB/35pgs)
  • Hospital Fiscal Management seminars are online through a collaboration with Delta Rural Hospital Performance Improvement Project, Health Resources and Services Administration's Office of Rural Health Policy and Technical Assistance and Services Center.
  • Relevant Quality Measures for Critical Access Hospitals (PDF: 300KB/6pgs)

Health Information Technology
  • Inside a CAH's IT decision-making process
  • Health IT leaders launch eNurse Mentoring Program

Workforce
  • Hospital lures rural doctors with unusual offer
  • Environmental Workforce Characteristics in the Rural Public Health Sector
  • (Community paramedic) Rural health care moves out of ER, into homes
  • Implementing community health work programs: lessons from rural communities
  • Larger role sought for advanced practice nurses
  • How women and immigrant docs could help solve the physician shortage

  
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SAVE THE DATE

 

Northeast Minnesota Health Care Forum Building a Healthy Community: Community Health Assessments and Planning is February 24. RSVP to Kim Nordin by February 10 at knordin@ruralcenter.org or 218-727-9390.

Accountable Care Organization is the focus of the Minnesota Health Services Research 16th Annual Conference, March 6 in St. Paul.

The L.E.A.D. Series (Leadership Education and Development) workshops are March 14, June 6 and September 19.

Pediatric Trauma Simulation Training is April 14 in Marshall and April 28 in Thief River Falls.

The Minnesota e-Health Summit is June 13-14 in Brooklyn Park

The 2012 Minnesota Rural Health Conference is June 25-26 in Duluth.

  
 

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View online all previous issues of the Office of Rural Health and Primary Care publications.

  

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Minnesota Office of Rural Health and Primary Care
P. O. Box 64882
St. Paul, Minnesota 55164-0882
Phone 651-201-3838
Toll free in Minnesota 800-366-5424
Fax: 651-201-3830
TDD: 651-201-5797
http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/orhpc/index.html

  

Email Mary Ann Radigan at maryann.radigan@state.mn.us or call 651-201-3855 with comments.

Our mission
to promote access to quality health care for rural and underserved urban Minnesotans. From our unique position within state government, we work as partners with communities, providers, policymakers and other organizations. Together, we develop innovative approaches and tailor our tools and resources to the diverse populations we serve.