MEMBER NEWS | PARTNER NEWS | NATIONAL NEWS | LEADERSHIP | UPCOMING EVENTS

• Three Elements of Great Communication, According to Aristotle (Jan. 17, 2013, Harvard Business Review)
• Conflict Management: What Really Works? Here are Proven Solutions! (ClintMaun.com)

• Delta States Rural Development Network Grant Program (HRSA/ORHP, due 3/15/13; TA Call: 2/4/13)
• Telehealth Network Grant Program (HRSA/ORHP, due 2/13/13)
  

• Hotel Reservations for the 2013 Conference: Join us in New Orleans for NCHN's 19th Annual Conference (April 16-19). Reservations have opened at the discounted conference rate and a limited number of double-double bed rooms are available on a first come, first served basis.

NCHN NEWS

REMINDER: 2013 Conference Keynote Speaker Fundraising Program
In December, Chris Hopkins, Chair of the 2013 Conference Planning Committee, sent an email annoucning the 2013 Annual Conference Keynote Speaker Program. This Program will be used to help NCHN in reaching a new level of potential speakers for the Conference. Please consider contributing $200 to assist in funding a fantastic keynote speaker this year.

Special thanks to the following networks for their commitment of $200 each:

• Partners in Health Network (Bob Whitler, WV)
• Santa Cruz Adolescent Wellness Network (Cassalyn David, AZ)
• Tennessee Rural Partnership (Cindy Siler, TN)
• Montana Health Network (Chris Hopkins, MT)
• Sunflower Health Network (Heather Fuller, KS)
• Northcentral Montana Healthcare Alliance (Jack King, MT)
• Southeast Texas Health System (Shannon Calhoun, TX)
• HCC of Rural Missouri (Toniann Richard, MO)

For more information about the program, contact Christy at csullenberger@nchn.org

2013 Conference Planning Committee Call
Tuesday, Jan. 22 @ 2:00 PM ET

BULLS Leadership Learning Community Call
Wednesday, Jan. 30 @ 10:00 AM ET

Transformer Leadership Learning Community Call
Wednesday, Jan. 30 @ 11:00 AM ET

2013 Conference Planning Committee Call
Tuesday, Feb. 12 @ 2:00 PM ET

Program Development Committee Call
Tuesday, Feb. 19 @ 1:00 PM ET

» VIEW THE NCHN CALENDAR

MEMBER NEWS

HCC of Rural Missouri to Own, Operate Clinics in Waverly and Concordia (Jan. 18, 2013)
The Health Care Collaborative (HCC) of Rural Missouri will begin the process of assuming the ownership of the Concordia and Waverly clinics, currently owned by Lafayette Regional Health Center, with an anticipated transfer date of April 1. Both clinics will provide primary care, oral health care for Medicaid children and behavioral health services through Pathways Community Health. The clinics will provide services for insured, uninsured, Medicaid and Medicare patients.

RWHC Newsletter (February 2013): Eye On Health, "Review & Commentary on Health Policy Issues for a Rural Perspective" is online (pdf)

» Submit your news

PARTNER NEWS

NRHA 2013 Rural Health Awards: Nominate you favorite rural health professionals (Deadline: Feb. 14, 2013)

NRHA's Winter 2013 issue of Rural Roads is online

NATIONAL NEWS

Speak Your Piece: One More Chance (Jan. 15, 2013, Daily Yonder)
The "fiscal cliff" bill jammed through Congress at the end of the year turned the rural world upside down. It subsidized the rich and starved the poor. We have one more chance to fix it.

CIO series: Achieving meaningful use as a rural provider (Jan. 17, 2013, EHRIntelligence.com)
Rural hospitals face a number of health information technology (IT) challenges, not the least of which is the meaningful use of certified EHR technology. Although these organizations are ideal targets for payments through the EHR Incentive Programs, financial and technical constraints often push rural and small community hospitals to find creative solutions to get around these obstacles.
(More from this source on MU: CMS amends meaningful use eligibility, adds CAH Method II physicians)

Quick parse: 4 parts to HIPAA final rule on Privacy and Security (Jan. 17, 2013, Government HealthIT)
The most eagerly awaited — if not anxiety-laden — set of regulations in the healthcare spectrum arrived late Thursday: HHS issued modifications to the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Enforcement, and Breach Notification Rules.

HHS Announces $1.5B in State Insurance Exchange Grants (Jan. 18, 2013, HealthLeaders Media)
Nearly a dozen states will share $1.5 billion in federal money to help build state insurance exchanges, a new marketplace created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which will give millions of Americans access to health insurance by October.

Meaningful Use stakeholders: Speak your mind while the government is listening (Jan. 16, 2013, FierceEHR)
It's interesting that a number of common themes are emerging from the comments that have been submitted in response to the ONC Health IT Policy Committee's proposed recommendations for Stage 3 of the Meaningful Use program. A lot of the big stakeholders--organized provider groups, information technology societies, and the like--have expressed concern that the proposed requirements, due to go into effect in 2016, are too difficult to meet, inadequately protect the privacy and security of electronic health records, and can't be implemented in such a short time frame.

Doing Better by Doing Less: Approaches to Tackle Overuse of Services (Jan. 1, 2013, RWJF)
Experts have projected that as much as a third of U.S. health care spending­ is unnecessary and wasteful. Of the estimated $765 billion of health care dollars wasted in 2009, a quarter—$210 billion—was spent on the overuse of services, which includes services that are provided more frequently than necessary or services that are higher-cost, but no more beneficial than lower-cost alternatives.

Efforts to Bolster Rural Primary Care Residencies Fall Short (Jan. 16, 2013, HealthLeaders Media)
If the measure of success is intent and outcomes then the federal government's efforts under the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 to train more physicians in primary care and to practice in rural areas have been a failure.

21 states take aim at Mass. hospitals’ Medicare windfall (Jan. 13, 2013, The Boston Globe)
Nestled on an island 30 miles out to sea, Nantucket Cottage Hospital is the only rural hospital in Massachusetts, as defined by the federal government. Its weathered cedar shingles and widow’s walk evoke the bygone era of its founding a century ago, when the hospital consisted of just three tiny cottages.

Space Satellite Connects Rural Health Clinics to Broadband (Jan. 15, 2013, Government Technology)
To connect mobile health units in the hills of rural New England with broadband access, policymakers are looking up -- all the way to space.

HHS Unveils Proposed HIE Rules (Jan. 15, 2013, HealthLeaders Media)
Federal officials on Monday rolled out a table-rattling 474-page proposed rule designed to clarify and promote consistency around eligibility, benefits, and appeals for people enrolling in health insurance exchanges in 2014, and to provide more flexibility for states' Medicaid programs.

Transforming Health Care Delivery (Jan. 16, 2013, HealthReform GPS)
Experts and stakeholders agree the current health care system is unsustainable. By 2020, health care spending will comprise almost 20% of the gross domestic product.[1] Furthermore, an ever growing body of evidence clearly indicates that the system is not experiencing improvements in quality that are reflective of the cost growth.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Nonprofit 911: Tell Your Nonprofit Story and Get It Published (Jan. 22, 2013 @ 1:00 PM ET, Network for Good)

9th Annual 340B Coalition Winter Conference (Jan. 23 - 25, 2013, San Francisco, CA, The 340B Coalition)

Introduction to the Obesity Prevention Evidence-Based Toolkit (Jan. 29, 2013 | 3:00 - 4:00 PM EST, NOSORH)

Rural Health Policy Institute (Feb. 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C., NRHA)