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December 2011

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In This Issue
Don't delay, renew now
Visit TobaccoFree
Memberspotlight
Career Center updates
Featured jobs
Conferences and E-Learning
Prevention calendar
Seeking nominees
Free registration
Fewer children uninsured
Obesity coverage
Scholarships and fellowships
CCPH annual award
Using the ACU Career Center - tip #2
Illinois SEARCH

 

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ACU Celebrates 15 Years 

 

15 year 

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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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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Join or renew by Dec. 31 to enter a drawing for an iPad2.

In these cost conscious times, we know that everyone is looking for value for their dollar. That's why ACU is constantly looking for ways to enhance your membership benefits. Did you know that as an ACU member, you could have attended the Institute for Healthcare Improvement conference in Orlando this month free? That's a $1,200.00 value. There is another free conference registration listed in this newsletter (below). Throughout the year, we bring you similar offers. Plus, members save $70 every time you post a job in the ACU Career Center. Membership also includes a subscription to Grant Station Insider, a $199 value. Membership rates start as low as $35. Take advantage of one of three convenient ways to join or renew today:

Renew or Join online 

Call toll free: 1-800-548-1784

Mail back the renewal form with your payment.

Visit TobaccoFree 

 

tobacco free ACU has created a new website called TobaccoFree and we would like your feedback. The goal of the website is to provide you with the information, tools and resources you need to improve your tobacco cessation practices. You will find staff protocols, treatment guidelines and links to resources that will help you provide better care for tobacco users.

We completed phase one of the site development and are gathering input for phase two. The first 100 visitors to the site who complete this short questionnaire about their user experience will receive a small gift card.

Member spotlight 

 

MaryEllenHoward 
Sister Mary Ellen Howard

ACU Member Sister Mary Ellen Howard, Executive Director of the St. Frances Cabrini Clinic in Detroit, MI has her work cut out for her for the next 18 months: she was selected by the McGregor Fund of Detroit to receive a fellowship to study the effect of health reform on the safety net and particularly, on free clinics. Sister Mary Ellen aims to learn how free clinics will manage as Medicaid expansions built into the Affordable Care Act are implemented. "2014 marks a turning point for free clinics that serve uninsured patients," Sister Mary Ellen said. "That year, many of our patients will become eligible for Medicaid. I hope through my fellowship to identify strategies to help Cabrini Clinic and other free clinics and their patients negotiate this transition." The Cabrini Clinic is the nation's oldest free clinic; it was established in 1950 to serve one of the poorest neighborhoods in Detroit.

ACU Career Center updates

 

Recent enhancements to the ACU Career Center include "Professional Profile" for job seekers. This tool lets you highlight your career goals, skills, and successes to prospective employers. Job seekers can post their resume, search for job openings in any healthcare discipline, and create e-mail alerts when jobs are listed that meet your requirements.

 

Employers can choose to post their openings exclusively to the ACU Career Center or to all of the 267 participating healthcare associations. ACU members receive $70 off each job posting in the ACU Career Center.

Featured jobs in the ACU Career Center


oct career ctr imageAPN - Psychiatric Provider
for Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights in Chicago, IL 

Family Medicine FQHC Clinical Faculty, PT opportunity to join the Family Medicine Residency faculty in an urban/suburban setting located fifteen minutes from downtown Philadelphia. 

Medical Director/Primary Care Physician for community health clinic associated with Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA.  

Psychiatrists, adult and child/adolescent for FQHC in New York City area, possibility for loan repayment through the National Health Service Corps.

 

Conferences  and E-Learning 

For more upcoming conferences and webinars, visit the ACU website.

Dec. 14, 3:30 - 5 P.M. ET, Building Public-Private Partnerships: Assessing and Building Support for Health Plan Coverage for Quitline Services, a webinar by the North American Quitline Consortium. Register online.

 

Dec. 20, 1:30 - 3 P.M. ET, National Provider Call on Physician Quality Reporting System & Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program sponsored by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services . Speakers will provide an overview on electronic health record and registry based reporting options that are available for eligible professionals participating or looking to participate in the Physician Quality Reporting System and/or Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program, followed by a Q&A session. Early registration recommended.

 

Jan. 10 - 11, 2012, Patient Safety and Clinical Pharmacy Services Collaborative (PSPC) Learning Session #3/1, a two-day meeting for PSPC teams and those who want to learn more about the collaborative. Sponsored by HRSA at the Hyatt Dulles in Herndon, VA. Conference details and registration are available online.

 

March 12 - 14, Disparities in Environments and Policies that Support Active Living, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will be held in San Diego, CA.

 

April 17 - 18,  Promising Practices to Eliminate Tobacco-Related Disparities:� The Power of Communities sponsored by the Health Education Council and the Break Free Alliance in New Orleans, LA, will focus on innovative practice-based models to address tobacco- and chronic disease-related health disparities among low socioeconomic status and other disparate communities. Registration is now open.

 

April 18 - 20, Community-Campus Partnerships as a Strategy for Social Justice: Where We�€™ve Been & Where We Need to Go, in Houston, Texas. Take advantage of discounted registration rates by becoming a member of CCPH and registering by the early-bird deadline of February 3.

 

May 1 - 3, Health Care for Residents of Public Housing National Conference at the Westin at Alexandria, Alexandria, VA (save the date).

 

May 7 - 9, Weight of the Nation Conference: Moving Forward, Reversing the Trend, sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Washington, DC.

Diabetes prevention calendar 

 

ACU  2012 calendar
Click the image to view the full size calendar

ACU members should have received their free copy of our 2012 prevention calendar by mail recently. The calendar theme is "Things you can do to fight diabetes." Its clear and simple messages for a healthy lifestyle are repeated in English and Spanish. The calendar is in full color and suitable for hanging in clinicians' offices or exam rooms. Additional copies are available for sale for $3.50 (members) and $5 (non-members), plus $5 shipping. There is a discount for bulk purchases. To order, email Kathie Westpheling.    

 

Seeking nominees

 

The Health Care for the Homeless Clinicians' Network is seeking nominees for four positions on the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee consists of 15 Network members and is responsible for setting the clinical agenda of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council. The Committee meets monthly by teleconference and twice annually in person: once in October at the Council headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee, and again in May in conjunction with the National Health Care for the Homeless Conference. Details are available online; the deadline is January 20, 2012.

Free registration available


ACU has one complimentary registration available for Nursing Informatics Symposium: Nursing Informatics Leadership - Delivering Value with HIT Feb. 19 - 20, 2012 in Las Vegas, NV, held in conjunction with the HIMSS national conference. If you are interested in attending, send your full contact information and a brief personal statement about why you are interested in attending to Kathie Westpheling at [email protected]  
Fewer children uninsured
 

Despite current economic challenges, more children have health insurance according to a report from researchers at Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. Between 2008 and 2010, the percentage of children without insurance declined 14 percent. View the report here.

Medicare coverage for obesity

  

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently announced an expansion of Medicare coverage for obesity screening and counseling.  For a beneficiary who screens positive for obesity with a body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m2, the benefit would include one face-to-face counseling visit each week for one month and one face-to-face counseling visit every other week for an additional five months. Read more here.

Scholarships and fellowships  For a more complete list of scholarships and fellowship opportunities, visit the ACU website. 

 

HIVMA Minority Clinical Fellowship Program - HIVMA awards two one-year clinical fellowships annually, with one going to an African American physician and one to a Latino physician interested in providing HIV care to underserved populations  in the U.S.  During the year, fellows manage the ongoing care of patients with HIV disease under the supervision of an HIVMA mentor. The award includes a $60,000 stipend plus funding to support fringe benefits for one year. Additional program details are available online. The deadline has been extended to January 2, 2012.

 

Center for Dental Informatics at the University of Pittsburgh - The Center is seeking applicants at the certificate, MS, PhD and postdoctoral levels for this highly multidisciplinary program. Open to individuals with a variety of backgrounds, such as information science/computer science, dentistry, medicine, information technology or related fields. Financial support, in the form of a full scholarship, a stipend, health insurance and more from the National Institutes of Health is available to eligible individuals. Program start is August 2012. More information is available online. Applications are accepted immediately.

 

Georgetown University Community Health Center Director Development Fellowship  -  Gain administrative and executive experience working with the CEO of Unity Health Care, the largest consortium of community health centers in Washington, D.C. Fellows develop skills in CHC advocacy and public health policy through collaboration with ACU and the National Association of Community Health Centers. Board-certified or board-eligible physicians who have completed family medicine residency and are committed to advocating and caring for the underserved are eligible. Competitive salary and benefits. Additional details online. Deadline: March 31, 2012.

CCPH annual award

 

Community-Campus Partnerships for Health seeks nominees for their annual award recognizing exemplary partnerships between communities and academic institutions that are striving to achieve the systems and policy changes needed to overcome the root causes of health, social, environmental and economic inequalities. Partnerships nominate themselves and need not be CCPH members to be considered.  The award will presented at CCPH's 15th anniversary conference, April 18-21, 2012 in Houston. Details online. Deadline: January 16, 2012.

Using the ACU Career Center - tip #3


Searching for jobs on in in the ACU Career Center, is as simple as typing a word or phrase and clicking the search button. The search will also return similar versions of the keyword. For example if you search for "manager," you will receive results for "manager" as well as "management" and "managerial." Searches are not case sensitive, so Manager and manager return the same results. You also have the option to search job titles only and to request an exact match. You can narrow the search results by criteria such a state, discipline and education level. Once you've perfected your search, you can save it and review the results later or run the same search again.

Search for Illinois SEARCH participants

Illinois SEARCH Program staff are currently compiling data on all SEARCH participants back to 2000 to learn more about their practice after SEARCH, including career choice and participation in loan repayment. If you participated in the Illinois SEARCH Program between 2000 and 2010, please contact Ruth Arway, SEARCH Site Coordinator at [email protected] or 312-692-3030.