Minnesota Rural Health News & Cyber Conferences
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Cyber Conferences
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DECEMBER 16, 2011
Topic: E Health and Health Information Technology from Meaningful Use to Effective Use Report (PDF)
Description:
- What REACH is doing with rural health providers
- Progress toward meaningful use among rural health providers
- Barriers to meaningful use among rural health providers
- Looking to 2012 and beyond -- from meaningful use to effective use
Presenters:
Phil Deering, REACH regional coordinator/HIT consultant for Minnesota and North Dakota, provides ongoing project management and health information technology (HIT) services to assist clients to achieve meaningful use of electronic health records (EHR).
William (Bill) Sonterre, REACH Regional Coordinator/HIT Consultant, provides health information technology (HIT) services to assist clients with their electronic health records (EHR) planning, implementation and achieving the meaningful use of their EHR.
Joe Wivoda, REACH National Rural Health Resource Center/HIT Consultant for North Dakota and Minnesota, provides support to ensure electronic health records (EHR) technology is implemented effectively for REACH clients
NOVEMBER 17, 2011
Description:
Minnesota is a healthy state, the sixth healthiest in the nation in fact. But like any healthy person, it is important to give our state population an occasional checkup, too. With that in mind, the Office of Rural Health and Primary Care, in conjunction with the Rural Health Advisory Committee, took a regional look at some key health indicators, with an emphasis on the health of rural Minnesotans. This presentation will highlight some of the findings and implications of the recently released report entitled: Health Status of Rural Minnesotans.
Presenter:
Paul Jansen is a research analyst in the Office of Rural Health and Primary Care at the Minnesota Department of Health. Prior to working at the Minnesota Department of Health, he worked as an epidemiologist for the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center in Portsmouth, Virginia, where he focused on occupational and environmental epidemiology. He received his MPH in Epidemiology from the University of Minnesota in 2009.
OCTOBER 13, 2011
Rural Economic & Wellness Regional Symposium
JULY 14, 2011
Topic: Recruiting Foreign Physicians (PDF)
Biographical Sketch
ROBERT D. ARONSON is the Managing Attorney of Aronson & Associates, an immigration law firm located in downtown Minneapolis. Mr. Aronson is widely regarded as one of the major authorities in the nation on immigration matters for foreign physicians. He represents communities, hospitals, academic institutions, and other healthcare employers in securing immigration visa status for International Medical Graduates (IMGs) and other foreign healthcare professionals. He devotes a significant portion of his practice to immigration legal work in rural communities located throughout the United States in their recruitment of foreign physicians. He has written over 70 articles – most of which concern physician immigration – and recently edited a book entitled “The Physician Immigration Book,” which is the most comprehensive treatment of the subject to date. He was previously appointed as the immigration legal advisor to an advisory panel to the Secretary of Health and Human Services in developing U.S. Government policies toward the immigration of foreign physicians and healthcare workers. At present, he chairs the Healthcare Committee of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). Mr. Aronson is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Law and was a Fulbright Scholar at the law schools of Harvard University and Moscow State University (Russia).
Subject of Presentation
The session will focus on the role and contributions of foreign physicians to rural communities in Minnesota. There is a pervasive and growing shortage of physicians within the domestic workforce, and various studies suggest that the shortage is now reaching staggering proportions. This deficit is of major concern within Rural America. Roughly 24% of all Medical Trainees – that is, Medical Residents and Clinical Fellows – are International Medical Graduates (IMGs). As part of a concerted national commitment to expand healthcare coverage to underserved communities, our immigration laws are creating some new initiatives to provide communities with some new opportunities to secure visa coverage for critically needed foreign healthcare workers.
This session will cover the following topics:
- Dimensions and critical challenges in healthcare coverage, particularly in rural communities;
- Profile of foreign physicians in the United States: Are they good practitioners?
- A brief overview of the U.S. immigration system
- What is a J-1 visa?
- What is a J-1 waiver and why is it needed?
- Creating pathways to permanent residence and long-term retention
- What makes for a successful recruitment of a foreign physician?
MAY 20, 2011
Topic: Discover Funding Opportunities and Resources (PDF)
Supporting Documents:
Resources to Support Minnesota Rural Health Initiatives (PDF)| RAC Brochure (PDF)
Presentation Description:
The Rural Assistance Center (RAC) serves as a rural health and human services information portal. RAC helps rural communities and other rural stakeholders access the full range of available programs, funding, and research that can enable them to provide quality health and human services to rural residents. RAC is staffed by professional librarians who provide customized assistance to help in identifying potential funding opportunities, locate federal and state agency contacts, find professional reports, statistics and data, and connect users to organizations, experts, and colleagues. RAC is a product of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and funded through the Office of Rural Health Policy.
Attendees will learn how to:
- find funding and grant opportunities focused on rural health systems
- locate information and research that supports a variety of topics related to rural health issues.
- track federal agencies and national organizations that provide solutions to a variety of rural health needs
Presenter:
Kathleen Spencer is an Information Specialist/Librarian for the Rural Assistance Center (RAC) located at the University of North Dakota (UND), School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Ms. Spencer received a Master of Science from the University of North Dakota and a Master of Library Science from Southern Connecticut State University. Ms. Spencer collects and develops online information resources for both the RAC and the USA-Mexico Border Health website. She exhibits and presents at conferences, and assists clients in finding resources that include documents, statistics and data, training and grants to support rural health and human services in their communities. Kathleen is a National Rural Health Association Rural Health Fellow & a member of the NRHA Rural Health Congress. She has been active in several national and state professional organizations and her local city council. Ms. Spencer resides in a rural community in Northern Minnesota where she has lived for nearly 30 years.
APRIL 29, 2011
Topic: Palliative Care: Opportunities and Successes in Rural Minnesota (PDF)
Supporting Document: Handout (PDF)
Presentation Description:
Palliative care aims to reduce suffering and improve the quality of life for people with advanced illness and their families. It is offered at the same time as all other medical treatments a person may be receiving (intended to provide comfort and relieve pain and other symptoms of chronically ill and dying patients).
Since 2008, Stratis Health, with the assistance from the Fairview Health Services' Palliative Care Program, has led palliative care initiatives with 16 rural Minnesota communities to assist in the development of community-based palliative care services.
In September 2010, the Northeast Minnesota AHEC was awarded a three-year $600,000 grant through the Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration CFDA: 93.912 for the Rural Health Workforce Development Program. The project title is Palliative Care Initiative (Pall CI).
The goal of the Northeast Minnesota AHEC’s Pall CI is to train, support, recruit, and retain primary care and allied health care professionals who have a commitment to providing palliative care in the Northeast Minnesota AHEC’s mnHEALTHnet Network.
Learn about the findings from this work, additional opportunities for community support for developing rural palliative care services
Presenters:
Janelle Shearer, RN, BSN, MA: Janelle is a program manager with Stratis Health and is currently leading the Stratis Health Rural Palliative Care Projects. She has more than 10 years experience as a home health/hospice services director in rural Minnesota.
Her varied clinical experience includes work in home health, hospice, CCU, medical-surgical, and obstetrics. She holds a Master of Nursing degree from Bethel University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from the University of Iowa.
Brendan L. Ashby, MBA, MPH, CHES, FACHE: Brendan is the executive director of the Northeast Minnesota Area Health Education Center (AHEC). He has 11 years of experience directing rural Health Care Education initiatives in Area Health Education Centers and academic environments. Ashby holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Regis University, a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Denver, Nationally Certified Health Education Specialist through the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc., and is board certified in Healthcare Management as a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
FEBRUARY 25, 2011
Topic: Medical Homes Implementation in Rural MN (PDF)
Presentation Description:
Dr. John Halfen’s presentation will give an overview of the development of Medical Homes including the mandate and the opportunities within our health care system. The principles that define a Medical Home will be reviewed and then Dr. Halfen will explain how these were placed into clinical practice at Lakewood Health System in Staples, Minnesota.
The medical quality assurance provided by the Medical Home at Lakewood will be described and the results displayed. The value to patients and payors, as measured to this time from studies of three years of Medical Home patients will be reviewed. Finally, Dr. Halfen will report on the overall reactions of patients and physicians to the experience of the Medical Home.
Presenter:
Dr. Halfen is a native of St. Paul, Minnesota and the product of the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts, Medical School and Family Practice Residency Program (North Memorial Unit).He holds certification in Family Medicine and Geriatrics. Dr. Halfen has had many years experience in rural family medicine including obstetrics and limited surgery. His resume includes nursing home medical director, county health advisor, coroner, MRO, laboratory director and health system medical director.
Dr. Halfen has successfully coordinated the implementation of the Medical Home under the Joint Principles of the Patient-Centered Medical Home at Lakewood Health System, in Staples, Minnesota, starting in 2006. This Medical Home has received state and national recognition from legislators, governmental agencies, hospital/medical societies and popular media.
Dr. Halfen has spoken at the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians Spring Refresher, Many Faces of Community Health Conference, Minnesota Rural Health Conference, Centricity Healthcare User Group Conference, and the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI).
In promotion of the Medical Home, Dr. Halfen was requested to testify and present twice to the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services including hosting the committee at Lakewood Health System. Dr. Halfen has become an ardent advocate for medical home because of his belief that this represents the most important but neglected part of the health care reform.
DECEMBER 10, 2010
Topic: Educating a Health Informatics Workforce (PDF)
Presentation Description: The University Partnership for Health Informatics (UP-HI) is a newly created program designed to educate health professionals who can assist in the transition from paper to electronic health records, prescriptions, best treatments/therapies and more. The partnership members include the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, College of St. Scholastica and the University of Minnesota-Crookston. The consortium will educate Health Informatics professionals in six different specialties that take 6-24 months to complete with the aim of transformational improvement in the quality, safety, outcomes, and add value to the health services.
During the cyber conference, Layne will be sharing details about the UP-HI program and will discuss UP-HI’s unique focus on Community Partnerships to encourage a dialog that will inform UP-HI about the needs of our rural community partners.
Presenter: Dr. Layne Johnson attended Dana College in Blair Nebraska where he received a B.A. in Biology. He received his M.S. in Bacteriology and Ph.D. in Microbiology at Iowa State University. He was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Oklahoma. His work in the pharmaceutical industry included discovery research in infectious diseases, oncology, CNS and plant enzymology. He held positions leading global information management organizations at Wyeth, Pharmacia and Pfizer. While at Pfizer he worked in Research Informatics. Before joining UMN, Layne did consulting for The Rockefeller University in NYC where he worked on developing strategies for informationist and other informatics related activities.
NOVEMBER 12, 2010
Topic: Accountable Care Organizations’ (ACO’s) (PDF)
Presentation Description: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010 made sweeping changes to many aspects of our healthcare financing system. At the time, one of the little known provisions within the Bill known as ACO's could have a significant impact on how healthcare is delivered in rural communities. This session will cover the basics of ACO's and the implications for rural providers.
Presenter: Brock A. Slabach, MPH, FACHE Mr. Slabach, currently serves as the Senior Vice-President of Member Services for the National Rural Health Association (NRHA), a membership organization with over 18,000 members nationwide. Mr. Slabach has over 22 years of experience in the administration of rural hospitals. From 1987 through 2007, he was the administrator of the Field Memorial Community Hospital in Centreville, Mississippi. His experiences have led him to be a member of the NRHA Board of Trustees (2004-2007), Member of AHA’s Regional Policy Board (RPB) for Region 4 (2004-2007), Chair of the NRHA Hospital and Health Systems Constituency Group (2004-2007), Chair, National Rural Health Policy Issues Group for HHS’s Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP) (2006-2007) and the President of the Delta Rural Health Network (2004). He earned his Bachelor of Science from Oklahoma Baptist University and his Master of Public Health in Health Administration from the University of Oklahoma.
NOVEMBER 2010
Topic: Federal Health Reform: Impacts on Rural People, Places, and Providers (PDF)
Presentation Description: The enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) began a series of significant changes in access to affordable health insurance, payment for healthcare services, expectations for measurable quality improvement, and how care is organized and delivered. Rural healthcare providers, residents, employers, and public health agencies will all be affected by changes initiated by the legislation. This session will describe elements of the ACA that are likely to affect rural health care within the next three years, based on the recently released analysis by the RUPRI Health Panel, of which the presenter is a member and was a co-author of the RUPRI report. Special emphasis will be given to Quality, Financing, and Delivery System Reform.
Presenter: Dr. Lundblad is President and CEO of Stratis Health, an independent non-profit quality improvement organization based in Bloomington, Minnesota, that leads collaboration and innovation in health care quality and patient safety. She has an extensive background in leadership, organization development, and program management in both non-profit and education settings. Her previous experiences include serving as Senior Vice President at Stratis Health, as a Program Director at the University of Minnesota, Program Coordinator at Tufts University in Boston, and in other non-profit management positions. Dr. Lundblad was recently appointed a member of the national RUPRI (Rural Policy Research Institute) Health Panel.
SEPTEMBER 2010
Topic: Current Issues in EMS (PDF)
Presentation Description: This cyber conference session will discuss current issues in EMS, including recruitment/retention/reimbursement, various methods of state support of EMS and will conclude with a question/answer session about innovative strategies currently underway in Minnesota and across the globe.
Presenter: Gary Wingrove is director of government relations and strategic affairs for Mayo Clinic Medical Transport. He was the first paramedic president of a state rural health association when he served as MRHA's president. He is the EMS technical consultant for the national Critical Access Hospital program, serves as chair of NRHA's EMS Issue Group, is president of the National EMS Management Association and the Center for Leadership, Innovation and Research in EMS. Gary is also a Secretary of Transportation appointee to the National EMS Advisory Council.
MRHA receives Otto Bremer Grant '09-'10 (pdf)
MRHA Cyber Conferences for 2009-2010 (doc)
| Collaborative Strategies of Education and Exercise in Diabetes and Chronic Disease Prevention or Management in a Rural Community Setting. | Paula Thompson, RD |
| 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.
