| Greater Minnesota Strategy: New Models in Education and Care | June 20, 2007 Dr. Barbara Brandt, Asst. VP, University of MN Academic Health Center & Director of MN AHEC |
| Pharmacist Access in Rural MN |
January 19, 2007 Dr. Tim Stratton University of Minnesota, Duluth College of Pharmacy |
| Pharmaceutical Options for Elderly |
January 26, 2007 Robin Weis Minnesota River Area Agency on Aging |
| E-Health Record |
February 9, 2007 Mark Schoenbaum Minnesota Department of Health Office of Rural Health and Primary Care |
| Seat Belt Primary Law |
February 16, 2007 Nancy Franke Wilson Minnesota Department of Public Safety |
| Pay for Performance |
April 11, 2007 Walt Gregg University of Minnesota |
MRHA Cuts Ribbon on New Headquarters
October 16, 2007 - Campus and community members celebrated with Minnesota Rural Health Association (MHRA) the opening of their new office at the University of Minnesota, Crookston (UMC) on Oct. 16, 2006.
"Members of the Rural Health Association have a passion for giving voice to rural health issues. We look forward to the partnership with UMC because we recognize our shared vision to assist rural Minnesota," MRHA President Liz Quam said. "It's a vision of healthy communities and healthy residents throughout greater Minnesota."
Established in 1994, the MHRA was formerly housed at Minnesota State University, Mankato campus but opened in their new location at UMC in August 2006.
UMC Chancellor Charles Casey and Bremer Bank President, Rob Jacobson
cut the ribbon.
Barbara Muesing MRHA Board Member, Liz Quam MRHA President, Roger Moe, and Crookston Mayor Don Osborne
Judith Neppel, MRHA Executive Director
Earlier this year, CEO Bill Flaig of Douglas County Hospital in Alexandria MN, offered a tour to Representative Mary Ellen Otremba and State Senator Dallas Sams
Accompanying them were Center for Diagnostic Imaging CEO Bob Baumgartner and MRHA President Liz Quam.
Solutions to Rural Health Challenges Begin Here in Minnesota
by Senator Norm Coleman
Healthcare is unquestionably among the most important issues facing our country. Here in Minnesota, moms and dads, seniors, and rural communities know all too well the healthcare challenges of the twenty-first century.
However, in Minnesota we are also blessed to have wonderful healthcare providers and innovators who offer us, and the rest of the world, an incredible number of healthcare solutions. Medical breakthroughs are happening everyday, and I continue to marvel at the latest and greatest medical devices developed by Minnesota companies that will go a long way to improving health care services in our rural communities, our state, and across the globe.
Minnesota’s leadership in the medical community is well established. Our state leads the nation in start-up medical device companies, and we’ve led the world in many medical breakthroughs as the first state to perform open heart surgery, produce the first cardiac pacemaker, and manufacture the first mechanical heart valve. Breakthroughs such as these have revolutionized the U.S. economy and driven productivity to new heights, and at the same time, have helped people live longer and enjoy a better quality of life.Yet, we cannot stop with just one or two milestones. We must continue to build upon our rich tradition, take advantage of the medical advances of the past decade that hold promise for parents of sick children, people with aging parents and everyone who aspires to live long and healthy lives, and put this new technology to practical use.
That is why I unveiled my Minnesota Medical Device Task Force this year to help advise me about finding ways to increase access to life-saving technologies born in Minnesota.
In rural Minnesota and throughout rural America, there are serious health care issues, not only in terms of illness but also in terms of a lack of easily accessible services. One out of every five Americans lives in a rural area, yet only one out of every ten physicians practices in a rural area. Forty percent of our rural population lives in a medically underserved area. We need to improve this situation. With access to care an average of thirty miles away, rural areas have much to gain from the ability to access healthcare information at a distance.
In order to improve access to medical technology and resources, I have worked hand-inhand with our rural hospital administrators and the Minnesota Hospital Association’s Rural Health Committee to develop new legislative initiatives aimed at improving rural healthcare access while building upon Minnesota’s tradition of medical excellence. While new technologies can now be more rapidly delivered, the local hospital must continue to thrive as the heartbeat of your community. Not only will you sleep better at night knowing local physicians stand ready in event of an emergency, but your town’s economic development improves with greater access to healthcare.
To that end, I authored the Critical Access to Health Information Technology Act, legislation that will help Critical Access Hospitals that are too often at a disadvantage because of their size. Currently, Minnesota ranks third in the number of critical access hospitals in the nation, and I want to make sure those smaller communities have the opportunity to deliver the best care possible. This Act gives smaller rural health hospitals a competitive edge for health information technology grants and supports the next generation of coding systems that will modernize and expand Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ capacity to keep pace with changes in medical practice and technology.
I am well aware of the rising cost of health care and the difficultly of health care access in rural areas. The Remote Monitoring Access Act of 2005 addresses these concerns by allowing healthcare facilities to collect, analyze, and transmit clinical health information through remote monitoring technology. The promise of this innovative technology is clear: better information on the patient’s condition – collected and stored electronically, analyzed for clinical value, and transmitted to the physician or the patient—will improve patient care and access to it as it extends health care services to areas where there is a shortage of physicians. This technology allows physicians to monitor and treat patients without a face-to-face office visit, thereby increasing access to physicians for patients living in rural areas.
The Remote Monitoring Access Act of 2005 will also improve access to medical care for Medicare beneficiaries by creating a new benefit category for remote patient management services in the Medicare physician fee schedule. In this new fee schedule, Medicare would cover physician services involved with the remote management of specific medical conditions.
Additionally, the Wired for Health Care Quality Act recently passed in the Senate will bring the benefits of better health care to more people in our rural communities. This bill will encourage the adoption of cutting edge-information technologies in health care and help improve patient care by reducing medical errors and allowing for more efficient record-keeping through the use of a “privacy protected” electronic card or identification tag. The patient will now be able to present a card to the healthcare provider that holds all of the patient’s relevant medical data, including insurance and medical history records. This act is small step that will have a big impact as it will help save lives and brings us closer to enabling all Americans the freedom and security of going to the doctor’s office or hospital and getting treatment that is personalized.
Minnesota has rightfully earned a reputation as a national healthcare leader, and passage of these two bills will go far toward improving healthcare in Minnesota and around the country. New technologies mean diseases can be diagnosed sooner and that means treatments will be more effective and more affordable. Ensuring rural Minnesotans have the access to remote monitoring and the latest health technology is very important to me. Through these new innovations, I believe we will see productivity and quality improvements to our health care system. I will continue to work hard in the United States Senate to make sure that Minnesota’s quality healthcare tradition continues and that every Minnesotan can receive the best care possible.