Health Safety Net Legislative Day
Mark Your Calendar! Wednesday, January 20th
Now, more than ever, your voice is needed! As the General Assembly grapples with declining state revenues and very tough discussions about state spending, your legislators must hear from you!
Legislative Day is an opportunity to tell your legislators about the increasing demand for your service and all the good work you are doing to help uninsured and underinsured Virginians obtain needed health care. We hope you'll come to Richmond for this exciting and critically important event!
Mark your calendars now. More information to follow. |
Website of the Quarter:
2-1-1 is an easy to remember phone number connecting people with free information on available community services. When you dial 2-1-1, a trained professional listens to your situation and suggests sources of help using one of the largest databases of health and human services in Virginia. 2-1-1 VIRGINIA provides access to services in your community and statewide. All referrals are confidential and you can search for these same services on this 2-1-1 VIRGINIA Web site. |
| Save the Date!
Tooth Talk
December 15th, Richmond
Beginner:
December 4th, Norfolk
December 11th, Roanoke
Intermediate/
Advanced:
December 15th, Online |
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Profile of the Uninsured
We have received preliminary data from the Urban Institute, based on the Current Population Survey and the new American Community Survey. In the two year period 2007-2008:
15.1% of non-elderly Virginians (1,030,000) were uninsured. 64.6% (660,000) work full-time or live with someone who does. Another 15% work part-time. 62% (630,000) have household incomes below 200% of the federal poverty limit (FPL)
9.3% of Virginia's children (180,000) were uninsured. Almost 70%(130,000) are income-eligible for the FAMIS Programs. 69% have parents who work full time. Another 8% of parents of uninsured children work part-time.
Additional analysis of the data is underway and a full report will be available in December. | |
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Nominate Your Hero in Health Care!
Do you have an individual or team who has "gone beyond the call of duty" to help your organization and its patients? Why not nominate them for an Unsung Hero Award? There are five categories: volunteer, donor, physician, team, and employee. Which fits your hero?
A distinguished panel of judges will select a winner from the nominees in each category. All five Unsung Heroes will be honored at VHCF's annual Heroes In Health Care event in the spring, and receive a $2,000 check for the organization which nominates them.
To learn more about the Unsung Heroes Award and the nomination process, as well as to see a list of past winners please click here. Who should you nominate?
The nomination deadline is January 22, 2010. Don't procrastinate, nominate now! |
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Grantee Spotlight
Fan Free Clinic - Going Viral to Grow Support
The Virginia Health Care Foundation is currently funding a Nurse Practitioner (NP) at Fan Free Clinic (FFC). Now in its third year of funding the clinic is now preparing to sustain the entire cost of the position without VHCF support. FFC's leadership is keenly aware that maintaining a viable pool of donors and supporters requires strategies to attract new donors and volunteers to the clinic, and to reenergize long time supporters.
One such strategy was the recent overhaul of the Clinic's online presence. To reach more donors, supporters, and patients the clinic revamped its website with the in-house expertise of their Director of Development, Richard Corbett. The new site is bold, informative, edgy, fresh and professional all in one. An ever changing home page rotates images and information. Text on the home page grabs the reader's attention because it is short and to the point, like tweets (that's Twitter speak for "short messages").
"FFC is psyched to have been chosen as Monster of Folk's RVA partner charity for their upcoming concert on 11/10/09 @ the Landmark Theater".
Speaking of Twitter, FFC website visitors can link directly to FFC's Twitter and Facebook pages from any page on the FFC site. Visiting those sites reveals a coordinated branding effort. Frequent posts and tweets from both sites link visitors to FFC's website, articles, and information about upcoming events. Currently FFC has more than 400 fans on Facebook and 339 followers on Twitter; this is pretty impressive considering that both that both strategies were initiated during the summer of 2009.
FFC's presence and sudden following on Twitter was recognized in an article in of the September edition of Fast Company where it was listed as one of five "Up-and-Coming Nonprofits to Watch on Twitter."
FFC is certainly getting the word out about the clinic, but has its new online presence improved its fundraising efforts? According to the clinic's Executive Director, John Baumann thinks so. "Though it is not always easy to connect individuals to specific public relations efforts, we're excited to be more targeted in expanding from a base of committed supporters rather than looking for needles in haystacks. We believe in the potential to receive more attention and for donations to 'go viral' with social media."
Want to learn more about maximizing your organization's online presence? Here are a few links to get you started:
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Health Reform Update
Health reform took a big step forward with the House of Representative's vote on the bill, but what happens next is anyone's guess. As health care providers, you are probably fielding many questions about health care reform- how it will affect your patients, your clinics and even yourself. But how do you keep track of an ever changing issue? The organizations below are doing the work for you! Each of these resources will provide you with the most up-to-date information:
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Health Safety Net Leaders Ponder Policy Challenges at the State and Federal Levels
Leading for the Long Term graduates reconvened for an Alumni Session in October and engaged in a timely, informative, and lively discussion about health reform (uncertain), the state budget (unpleasant), and advocacy (needed now more than ever)!
Wayne Turnage, Chief of Staff to Governor Tim Kaine, offered the grim state budget picture, along with important historical perspective on the changing nature of state spending. He described the unprecedented reductions made to the state budget thus far in Governor Kaine's administration, and predicted some harsh realities for the upcoming biennium.
Mark Rubin, the Governor's Counselor, spoke about the importance of constituent voices in the legislative process and offered valuable tips on communicating with legislators and keeping them well-informed about the needs in your communities, as well as the services you provide and outcomes you affect for their constituents.
After lunch, two experts from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities discussed federal health reform and advocacy at the federal level. While the federal health reform picture remains uncertain, and its full impact on the health safety net will not be known for a while, there are some important considerations:
- Many more Virginians will likely be covered by Medicaid. With the proposed increase in eligibility to include adults with income up to at least 133% FPL, starting in 2013, as many as 320,000 uninsured Virginians could ultimately be covered.
- There will remain uninsured individuals. Even with an individual mandate and subsidies, there are populations who will not be covered. This includes illegal immigrants, those who are exempt, and/or those who have problems with affordability.
- Newly eligible adults will need assistance with the application process.
- Coverage does not guarantee access. The current shortage of primary care providers is expected to worsen in the years ahead.
The leaders in this group all agreed that it is time to think differently and creatively about the future. Health reform offers many opportunities for both patients and providers in the safety net. They committed to work together to identify these opportunities and lead the way!
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