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ACU a Partner in Health IT Week, Sept. 10-14 
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Adult Education and Family Literacy Week is Sept. 10-16 
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The August 2012 issue of the JHCPU issue is available online 
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Our Sponsors
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Sponsor Opportunities: HIT & the Underserved
 ACU's first-ever conference on Health Information Technology (IT) and the Underserved (Twitter #acuHIT) on March 7-8 in Poughkeepsie, NY, will bring together leaders in federally qualified healthcare centers, nonprofit organizations, government, the private sector, and academia to harness the power of health IT for the underserved. Meaningful use requirements and incentives have created enormous interest and prompted huge investments in health IT systems.
Sponsorship, exhibitor and advertiser information is now available online. Or download the conference prospectus here [PDF]. There are excellent opportunities to make a positive and lasting impression on key decision makers, spotlight products, and elevate your profile in the health care to the underserved market.
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JHCPU Special Issue on Quality Improvement
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Dr. Ahmed Calvo is Senior Medical Officer, Office of Health IT and Quality, Health Resources and Services Administration.
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Readers of the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved (JHCPU) received a bonus last month - a special supplement documenting a decade of work on quality improvement by safety net providers titled Evidence for Informing the Next Generation of Quality Improvement Initiatives: Models, Methods, Measures, and Outcomes. Dr. Ahmed Calvo, senior guest editor for the supplement, said the supplement shows that the "safety net is extremely sophisticated a) about the care that it delivers, b) about its quality measures, and c) about the ability to provide care to complex multi-condition patients that it serves."
The supplement was jointly sponsored by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and JHCPU. Topics include promoting healthy weight, cancer screening and follow-up, HIV care, medication use, urban health, depression, early childhood caries, diabetes, asthma, and more.
Read the full interview with Dr. Calvo online.
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Featured Mobile App 
Readers suggested several apps for this month's featured mobile app. The first isn't an app at all, but a website, AppAdvice, that includes a "best of" list of apps to Track and Maintain Medical Conditions. The recommended apps are intended to help those with chronic medical conditions track information such as test results, medications, appointments and diet. Included are apps intended for those with diabetes, high blood pressure, HIV infection, Lyme Disease, asthma, migraine headaches, epilepsy, autism and ADHD. The website provides a description, screenshots and cost information. Some of the apps are free, and most cost between $.99 and $3.99.
RxmindMe Prescription/Medicine Reminder and Pill Tracker, reminds users to take their medications. It is free from the iTunes store.
Glooko is an app for managing diabetes by tracking their blood glucose levels. A cable plugs into most standard blood glucose meters and automatically downloads readings directly into the Glooko logbook. While the app is free, there is a cost for the cable.
What are some of your favorite mobile apps? We'd like to hear your suggestions for mobile apps to feature in this column. Send an email to acu@clincians.org with "Mobile App" in the subject line. |
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Welcome New Members!
ACU is pleased to have 6 new members who joined in August, including, Mary Lynn Gonsalves, Paul Kilgore, Lois Mednex Catlin, Alice Moughamiar, Michelle Nance, and Zachary Wettstein. |
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Oral Health Online Course
Smiles for Life is a comprehensive oral health curriculum designed for primary care clinicians to enhance their role in promoting oral health for all age groups. Developed by the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Group on Oral Health, physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, students, and other clinicians can access the curriculum and learn on their own time and at their own pace. Each of the courses is available online. Free CME credit is available. Clinicians can access the modules using this quick links:
The Relationship of Oral to Systemic Health
Child Oral Health
Adult Oral Health
Acute Dental Problems
Oral Health & the Pregnant Patient
Fluoride Varnish
The Oral Examination
Geriatric Oral Health |
mHealth Technology and the Underserved
 | | Tom Martin is a manager at mHIMSSS and a doctoral student in public policy at the University of Delaware. |
In this interview, Tom Martin, author of the ACU Column Assessing mHealth Opportunities and Barriers to Patient Engagement [PDF] published in the August 2012 Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, offered his thoughts on the use of mobile healthcare (mHealth) technologies in caring for the underserved. Q. You say that text messaging is a popular example of mhealth technology. Can you give some examples of health conditions for which text messaging has been tried and what the outcomes were? A. Text messaging is traditionally used in chronic disease management and for reminders. Text messaging has helped with increased medication adherence, vaccine follow up, and management of chronic illnesses like diabetes. However, phones have advanced significantly and this mode of interaction, while robust and well documented, is falling behind the technology curve. Read more.
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Featured Jobs in the ACU Career Center
Case Manager, RotaCare Clinic at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, CA.
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Conferences and E-Learning
Sept. 25-26, the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Health Disparity & Health Equity Conference in Los Angeles. Intended for community leaders, health care professionals, researchers, educators, advocates and policymakers to focus on innovative concepts, methods and research findings on health disparities that affect the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community. Registration is available online.
Sept. 23 - 25, Communities Joined in Action's 7th Annual Conference, Community Collaboratives Transforming Health through Innovation, Achieving Better Health and Lowering Costs, at the Los Angeles Conference Center at the Center for Healthy Communities.
Sept. 25 - 26,The Healthcare Quality and Equity Action Forum offered by the Disparities Solutions Center at Massachusetts General Hospital in Cambridge, MA.
Sept. 27 - 28, 12th Annual Primary Care and Prevention Conference on "Best Practices for Planning the Future of the Patient Centered Medical Home," sponsored by the Morehouse School of Medicine at the Hilton Caribe, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Sept. 30 - Oct. 9, the 2012 National Primary Oral Health Conference, sponsored by the National Network for Oral Health Access, in San Diego, CA.
Oct. 13, DiversityDoctor 2012: Remaining Competitive while Reducing Healthcare disparities and Improving Patient Satisfaction sponsored by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. More information and registration online.
Oct. 27 - 31, 140th Annual Meeting and Exposition "Prevention and Wellness Across the Life Span", offered by American Public Health Association in San Francisco, California.
Oct. 31 - Nov. 3, the 2012 Summit on Science of Eliminating Health Disparities-Integrating Science, Policy and Practice; Building a Healthier Society, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, in coordination with the Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Minority Health, and the National Institute on Minority Health Disparities at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. For more information, please contact 2012summit@nih.mail.gov.
Dec. 3 - 5, mHealth Summit, sponsored by mHIMSS, at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, Washington DC area.
Save the Date: March 7-8, 2013, Health IT for the Underserved, sponsored by ACU in Poughkeepsie, NY. Information for sponsors, exhibitors and advertisers is available online.
Save the Date: March 14-16, 2013, Beyond Health Care Reform, sponsored by the National Health Care for the Homeless Council in Washington, D.C. Pre-conference institutes will be held on Wednesday, March 13.
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National Quality Forum Scholarships Available
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Call for Papers on Obesity Prevention
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institutes of Health (NIMHD/NIH) announced a call for papers for a special theme issue of the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved (JHCPU) on "Advancing Obesity Prevention: Quality Improvements, Emerging Models and Best Practices."
ACU members are encouraged to submit their work. Please note the deadline for submitting abstracts is September 21, 2012. Details are available online.
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Ad Campaign on Kids' Oral Health
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Children's Oral Health - Brushy Brush
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The new Kids' Healthy Mouths campaign developed by the Ad Council and the Partnership for Healthy Mouths, Healthy Lives, a coalition of 34 leading oral health organizations, aims to educate parents and caregivers about the importance of a healthy mouth and motivate them to modify their children's behaviors through simple, low-cost, preventive strategies. The campaign focuses on parents and caregivers of children 0-12 years of age, with an emphasis on low income and minority (Hispanic and African American) parents and caregivers. The key message is that it only takes brushing two minutes, twice a day to help prevent severe tooth pain. To help support the effort, visit the online toolkit, which has a number of helpful resources related to the campaign.
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Two Pharmacy Services Initiatives
The HRSA-funded Patient Safety and Clinical Pharmacy Services Collaborative (PSCPS) is now accepting new enrollments for its 5th annual cycle. More than 220 teams and nearly 600 organizations currently participate and are enthusiastic about the value it has brought to their organizations. This article from the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved provides and overview of the work of the PSPC and the results it is generating. Learn more about enrolling online.
The UCSF Medication Safety and Leadership Program, is an interdisciplinary program providing the knowledge, leadership skills, experiences, and networks necessary to effectively promote medication safety in a complex and rapidly changing health care environment. Offered by the UCSF Center for the Health Professions in collaboration with the UCSF School of Pharmacy, the program is intended for nurses, pharmacists, physicians and other leaders practicing in acute care, ambulatory care, and long-term care settings. The program begins Nov.1, 2012 and ends in February 2014; the application deadline is Oct. 1, 2012. More information is available online.
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Medicare EHR Incentive Program
Wednesday, October 3rd, is the last day for eligible professionals (EPs) to begin their 90-day reporting period for calendar year (CY) 2012 for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program. For EPs, this means that they must begin their consecutive 90-day reporting period by October 3rd in order to attest to meeting meaningful use and be eligible to receive an incentive payment for CY 2012.
Take a look at all of the other EHR Incentive Program important dates that are coming up by going to the CMS Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs Milestone Timeline, or reviewing the "Important Dates" section of the EHR Incentive Programs Overview page.
Make sure to visit the EHR Incentive Programs website for the latest news and updates on the EHR Incentive Programs.
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Depression Care Collaborative
The National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare is accepting applications for the next iteration of the Depression Care Collaborative (PDF). The goal of the collaborative is to help your organization implement a standardized tool and process for measuring treatment response to depression. This year-long learning project, sponsored by AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb, will involve five community behavioral health organizations chosen through a competitive application process. Participating organizations will receive expert consultation from the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI). Learn more about the program and how to apply online. The application deadline is September 12, 2012.
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