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| NCHN e-News | Issue 8 | December 22, 2009 |  |
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| From the NCHN Board | |
NCHN Member News | | Upcoming events |
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| From the NCHN Board |
2009 in Review: NCHN Achievements The NCHN Board of Directors and NCHN staff wanted to provide you with a review of some of the major achievements of the Association for 2009:
If you have not accessed the programs or services available through the Business Partner program, we encourage you to do so during 2010!
NCHN Board of Directors and staff encourage NCHN members to take advantage of their membership benefits in 2010. Check out your Business Partners and make contact with them to learn more about their services and how they can help you and your network; sign up to be a coach in the Executive Coaching Program, or if you need a sounding board for one of your projects or some encouragement during the year, sign up to be coached by one of NCHN’s experienced members; serve your Association by volunteering to serve on a committee; mark your calendar and plan to attend the 16th Annual Conference in April -- the best place to connect with your peers and recharge your batteries! If you have any questions about your membership benefits, give Rebecca a call and she will be glad to discuss them with you. We look forward to serving you in 2010! NCHN will be conducting a comprehensive membership survey and needs assessment in early 2010. Members will receive information about the survey in mid-January. Please watch your mail boxes! |
in the Spotlight We encourage members to take a look at Wipfli’s service outlined below and if you have a need for any of the services or you think your members may be interested in any of the many outstanding services, please contact Tina today to discuss. NCHN wishes Tina and Wipfli the best and thanks them for their support over the past five years!
Experience On Your Side Since 1931, Wipfli LLP has been helping health care organizations find their way to success. From across the country, our 1,000+ health care clients know they can count on our expertise client-centered approach to address their most difficult problems. Using our full-service, team-based approach, we will help you bring your facility to the next level through a variety of specialized services tailored to meet your unique needs. Our dedicated health care staff has an average of 20 years of experience working with health care organizations of all sizes and types. Our experience includes working with large community hospitals, critical access and rural hospitals, medical practices, home health agencies, long-term care facilities, and dental practices. Our experience includes the following:
Our team of health care professionals takes pride in their ability to offer personalized service to help you meet your organization’s goals. For more information contact Sylvia Weise |
| NCHN Member News |
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Heartland Health Alliance is located in Holbrook, Nebraska and was established in 1994. The mission of the Heartland Health Alliance is to enhance the quality, availability and cost effectiveness of rural health care while providing access to a comprehensive spectrum of services through a regional integrated delivery system. The Alliance’s stated purpose is to promote a strong regionally focused integrated health network that provides comprehensive health care in and for local communities; strive to balance the needs and retain the autonomy of the individual members while maintaining the goals of the network as a whole; and create innovative approaches to effectively improve the health status of the network’s communities. The Alliance has the following programs in place:
The Alliance has 39 members located in Nebraska and Kansas. Ken Foster is the Alliance’s Director and can be reached at kenneth.foster@bryanlgh.org Klamath Health Partnership is located in Klamath Falls, Oregon. The Partnership’s mission is to serve their community by offering excellent care and eliminating barriers to health care. The Partnership is in the developmental stages and is a current HRSA Network Planning Grantee. Bob Marsalli is serving as the Director and can be reached at bmarsalli@kodfp.org Kleberg Rural Health Network is located in Kingsville, Texas and was established this year. Dr. Carlos A. Garcia is the network director. The network was formed to develop a Health Information Exchange and assist with the implementation of Electronic Medical Records for the six member organizations located in Corpus Christi and Kingsville, TX. Carlos attended the NCHN Albuquerque Regional Meeting this fall. He can be reached at carlos.a.garcia@tamuk.edu Northeast Minnesota Interprofessional Health Network is located in Hibbing, Minnesota. The network was established in 2008. The mission of the new organization is “to improve community health through expanding collaboration among communities, health care, and academic entities.” The network includes six organizations and is comprised of hospitals, clinics, academic institutions, and physician groups. Brendan L. Ashby, MBA, MPH, CHES, FACHE, is the Network Director. Brendan attended our annual conference in Charleston this spring. Brendan can be reached at bashby1@range.fairview.org NCHN’s Board of Directors and staff welcome the four new members and looks forward to working with them in 2010! |
| Upcoming Events |
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Health care change is coming. National Cooperative of Health Networks Association (NCHN) with the National Rural Health Association invites you to the 21st Annual Rural Health Policy Institute, which will be held January 25-27, 2010 in Washington, D.C. You can’t afford to miss this chance to meet with key members of Congress and the Obama Administration to learn how you will be impacted by legislation and to ensure health reform works. Arrive on January 24 to gain valuable tips to be a successful health care advocate. 2010 NRHA Policy Institute Links January 15, 2010 • Chicago, IL • Free Registration to qualifying organizations Maximize Your ARRA Funding with Informed Buying Decisions The focus is soon shifting from ARRA funding qualification…to researching the best possible technology solutions…with the best possible return on that investment. That’s why HIMSS has developed a one-day conference where you can explore product and service solutions – while sharing relevant experiences with your peers – and gain invaluable knowledge in anticipation of this growing need. HIMSS will be bringing The ARRA Era tour to Dallas and Chicago with a full range of learning opportunities in preparation for making an informed buying decision. So whether you’re looking for a solution…or providing one – The ARRA Era is the place to get informed and get connected! For more information and to register, go to http://www.himss.org/hitstreet/ NCHN Special Interest Call - “Strategic Planning Models for Health Networks” January 18, 2010 - 12:30 PM ET: “Strategic Planning Models for Health Networks” - NCHN members will share strategic planning models they have recently used to help focus the work of their networks and plan for the future. GHPC/NCHN Technical Assistance Call for Network Planning and Network Development Grantees and NCHN Members January 20, 2010 - 2:00 PM ET: “Network Membership Development” - How do you recruit and retain active, participating members to your network? Membership recruitment and retention will be discussed, along with how to structure membership dues, and financial reporting strategies to prove the members’ ROI (return on investment). NCHN members are also invited to participate on this call. |
| Monthly News Recap |
Leapfrog Adds a New Efficiency Standard to Its Quality Criteria for Top Hospitals and Introduces a Category for Top Rural Hospitals WASHINGTON, December 3, 2009 – While Congress debates whether health care reform would control health care costs, today employer purchasers point to 45 hospitals that lead through example—delivering the best quality care in the nation while attaining the highest levels of efficiency. Thirty-four urban, eight children’s and three rural hospitals have been named 2009 Leapfrog Top Hospitals, based on results from The Leapfrog Hospital Survey. The survey (found at www.leapfroggroup.org) is the only national, public comparison of hospitals on key issues including mortality rates for certain common procedures, infection rates, safety practices, and measures of efficiency. Qualifying criteria for Leapfrog’s Top Hospital Award list remain virtually the same as 2008, with one added dimension: once hospitals demonstrate top quality, they must also rise to the top of the list on efficiency. “This year’s class of Top Hospitals not only hits the mark in areas such as medication error prevention and preventing ICU deaths, but they also use their resources wisely, providing excellent and efficient outcomes for patients,” said Leah Binder, CEO, The Leapfrog Group. “Regardless of what happens to health care reform, these hospitals are the future.” New this year, Leapfrog recognizes a new category: Top Rural Hospitals. The award winners in 2009 scored in the top decile nationally for efficiency and are located in Georgia and Maine:
Geography of Unemployment 2007 - 2009: Animated Map
Source: Map developed by Latoya Egwuekwe; Data provided by Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics 2 New Funding Opportunities from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) Community College Consortia to Educate Health Information Technology Professionals Objective: Curriculum Development Centers Objective: For more information, visit HITECH Funding Opportunities HHS Announces New HIT Grant Program December 3, 2009 - The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) announced yesterday the creation of the Beacon Community Program, which will provide $235 million in grants for HIT incentive payments to eligible providers. The ONC will begin accepting letters of intent to apply for the program, funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), immediately. The deadline for this set at January 8, 2010, and actual grant applications are due on February 1, 2010. Awards will be announced in March, with the program's official start set for April of 2010. Awards will be made in the form of cooperative agreements to approximately 15 qualified non-profit organizations or government entities representing geographic health care communities, and eligible entities must be a US-based non-profit organization or a government entity falling into one of the following five categories:
For purposes of this cooperative agreement, stakeholders include, but are not limited to, primary care providers (PCPs), practicing clinicians, hospitals, public and private payers, consumers, local and state public health departments, safety net providers, employers, academic institutions, charitable foundations, industry, laboratories, pharmacies, employers, quality improvement organizations, hospital associations, government entities, and medical societies. Proof of non-profit status is required for all non-profit applicants. All sentiments aside regarding the negative structure in which the ARRA HIT incentives affect rural providers, this grant announcement is a step in the right direction to adopting systematic HIT and EHR. For the full grant opportunity announcement and instructions, please click here For more information on other ARRA HIT grant opportunities and general updates, please visit http://healthit.hhs.gov From Quality Matters: A bimonthly report on health care quality improvement November/December 2009 In Focus: Improving the Quality of Rural Health Care Through Collaboration Case Study: Project ECHO Expands Access to Specialty Care for Rural Patients RUPRI: Reform Proposals Would Cover 93 Percent of Rural America As Congress continues to analyze and debate key details of health reform, the numbers of people covered under the current plans is receiving increased attention. According to a new analysis by the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI), if fully implemented, the approach to covering the uninsured presented in H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Coverage Act, would reduce the number of uninsured from 8.1 to 3.2 million in rural areas. This increase in coverage would lead to a slightly higher coverage rate for people living in rural areas than for their urban counterparts (93.4% compared to 92.7%), largely because a lower proportion of rural persons are non-citizens who would not be covered under any of the proposed reform approaches but also because the reform proposal reaches more low-income persons who are more represented among the rural uninsured. The report also provides state-by-state estimates of the effects of the legislation on overall health insurance coverage rates (for both rural and urban persons), as well as estimates of how the previously uninsured would be covered under the provisions of the legislation. |
