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ACU Celebrates 15 Years 
ACU was founded in 1996 by National Health Service Corps alumni who wanted to continue to support each other and share knowledge, resources and expertise about practicing in underserved communities. ACU celebrates the work of all who are working to improve health equity and access to care.
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JHCPU
Online access to the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved is an ACU member benefit. Click the image to learn more about JHCPU.
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October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month 
Here's a list of low cost screening programs near you.
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Our Sponsors
Partnership Level
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DC clinic offers 'Recess' for staff wellness
 | | Introduction to Recess at Work |
Clinicians have demanding schedules, but one DC-area clinic has learned that 10 minutes of "Recess" can increase productivity throughout the day. Alicia Wilson, Executive Director of La Clinica del Pueblo said the Recess program has helped build morale, relieve stress and develop staff leadership. The program is based on Instant Recess® developed by Dr. Toni Yancey.
ACU has made clinician wellness a top priority through our Strength for Serving initiative. We are promoting practical ways to reduce stress and promote wellness in the workplace. Do you stretch at work? Do you start your staff meetings with deep breathing? Are you currently engaged in Recess at your clinic?
Please submit your story to Yasaman Nejat at ynejat@clinicians.org. We will share your tips for work-life balance in our next e-newsletter.
A toolkit for implementing the Instant Recess® program in your workplace, including a cost-benefit calculator, is available online. |
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Together Rx Access
 ACU is pleased to welcome Together Rx Access® as a new corporate sponsor. Together Rx Access is sponsored by many of the nation's leading pharmaceutical companies and provides eligible individuals and families with immediate and meaningful savings on prescription products right at their neighborhood pharmacies.
More than 50 million Americans - nearly one in six people - are uninsured. To make ends meet, these individuals may forgo filling needed prescription medicines. Fortunately, resources are available to help uninsured people save money on their prescriptions so they can better manage chronic conditions and manage overall healthcare costs.
Individuals may be eligible for the Together Rx Access Card if they do not qualify for Medicare, do not have public or private prescription drug coverage, and have a household income of up to $45,000 for a single person to $90,000 for a family of four (income eligibility is adjusted for family size). Learn more |
Featured jobs in the ACU Career Center
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National primary care week
 The American Medical Student Association is partnering with Primary Care Progress to co-sponsor National Primary Care Week October 10-14. The purpose of the week is to raise awareness about the importance of primary care, to expose trainees to new models of care delivery, and to collaborate to improve primary care training. As part of the week-long celebration, Corps Community Day will take place on Oct. 13. Check the National Health Service Corps' Community Day website for information on how to plan an event or partner with others in your community.
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Conferences and E-Learning
October - CancerCare will offer three Connect® Education Workshops that focus on breast cancer. The free, one-hour workshops are offered by telephone. Pre-registration is required. Visit the website for schedules and to register.
October 18-19, The Patient Experience: Improving Safety, Efficiency, and HCAHPS Through Patient-Centered Care, sponsored by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement will take place in Boston, MA.
Nov. 2 -3, HIMSS Virtual Conference & Expo: Visualizing Healthcare Transformation in the 21st Century, a two-day virtual conference on preparing your organization for the 5010/ICD-10 conversion, achieving meaningful use and more.
Nov. 16, the IOM Roundtable on Health Literacy will hold a workshop in Washington, DC on the attributes of a health literate organization. This workshop is free and open to the public. Registration is required.
Dec. 4 - 7, 23rd Annual National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care, sponsored by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Orlando, Florida. Note: ACU members may qualify for a scholarship to cover the cost of registration for this conference. Visit the ACU website for information on applying for an ACU-KP scholarship.
Mar 4 - 7, 2012, the 25th annual Children's Mental Health Research and Policy Conference in Tampa, Florida. A call for papers is open until October 31. Click here for details.
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| ACU comments on health IT/disparities
ACU recently submitted public comments on the Federal Strategic Plan to Reduce Health IT Disparities to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and the Office of Minority Health (OMH). Underscoring the importance of health information technology to vulnerable populations, ACU board member Earle Rugg said, "Health IT is essential for improving the quality of healthcare delivery to the underserved, especially for assisting with closing the health disparity gap that exists. HIT also provides the wherewithal to develop improved health wellness and care coordination programs focused on the underserved to proactively reduce chronic diseases."
ACU welcomes the opportunity to work with the ONC and OMH to help strengthen the Plan and to ensure that vulnerable populations have access to health IT. To read ACU's comments, click here.
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Patient-centered outcomes research funding
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has announced a $26 million grant program that will support approximately 40 awards. The purpose of the grants is to help establish national priorities for patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR), support the collection of preliminary data that can provide a platform for an evolving research agenda, and support the identification of research methodology to advance PCOR. Information about the program and how to apply is on the PCORI web site. Letters of intent are due by November 1; applications must be received by December 1, 2011.
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Managing miscarriage in primary care settings
Between 8 and 15 percent of diagnosed pregnancies end in a miscarriage and increasingly care for miscarriages is shifting out of hospital emergency rooms and into primary care settings. The Reproductive Health Access Project (RHAP) has available easy-to-use clinical tools and educational materials for patients. To get regular reproductive health updates, sign up for the RHAP mailing list. |
ICD 10 conversion
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has created resources for safety net providers to learn more about the conversion of ICD-9 to ICD-10. The deadline to convert to using ICD-10 is October 1, 2013. This webpage also provides information on how all providers who transmit data electronically will need to convert from coding version 4010/4010A1 to version 5010 by January 1, 2012.
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Research news
Multidisciplinary care models are effective in treating pediatric obesity, according to the authors of "Pediatric Obesity: Practical Applications and Strategies From Primary to Tertiary Care," to the September supplement to Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The supplement is available online.
Use of electronic health records was associated with higher quality diabetes care in primary care practices, including safety net practices, compared to those that used paper records according to Electronic Health Records and the Quality of Diabetes Care, published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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Health IT jobs
HIMSS Career Services Center, powered by HIMSS® JobMine, is available to meet the health information technology (IT) career and workforce development needs of safety net providers throughout the United States, including federally qualified community health centers (FQHCs), rural health clinics, critical access hospitals, and HIV/AIDS providers who care for America's underserved and uninsured population. HRSA grantees can use HIMSS® JobMine site to post and search resumes, take advantage of career development services, and post job openings, all at no charge to safety net providers.
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| Using the ACU Career Center - tip #1
Currently, there are more than 2,700 jobs posted in the ACU Career Center. Some are posted by ACU members, while others are posted by employers who recognize that ACU and other members of the National Healthcare Career Network are a valuable source of talent for their organizations. To tailor your search for positions, use the "Advanced Search" link in the search bar. This will expand the Search box to display specific criteria such as state, job type, category, etc.
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NeedyMeds incentive grant
If you are a nonprofit organization and currently complete PAP applications by hand, you may qualify for the NeedyMeds incentive grant, which will underwrite up to 75 percent of the cost of your PAPTracker software for the first 12 months. The grant application is simple and straightforward, and you'll be notified about eligibility within 10 days after submission. Email incentivegrant@needymeds.org for information.
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Scholarships and fellowships
For a more complete list of scholarships and fellowship opportunities, visit the ACU website.
Scholarships to cover the cost of registration are available to ACU members to attend the annual National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care, sponsored by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Dec. 4 - 7 in Orlando, Florida. Visit the ACU website for information on applying for an ACU-KP scholarship.
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) offers a one-year Fellowship Program for mid-career health professionals. The goals of the program are to develop health care leaders with the drive, skills, and experience to spread improvement in the United States and globally; and to build capability within health care organizations to reach dramatically higher levels of performance. Fellows spend one year at IHI's office in Cambridge, Massachusetts and return to their home organization to lead transformative change. Fellowships include travel and tuition, and support expenses associated with individual learning plans. Please visit the IHI website for more information and to download an application. Applications are due by November 1, 2011.
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Child/Adolescent Psychiatrist