Happy Easter

 Rural Health Clinic Conference

May 9, 2012

Lake Blackshear Resort & Golf Club

2459-H Hwy.280 West

Cordele, GA 31015

Don't miss out on this great networking 

and learning opportunity!

Attendee Registration

Sponsor Registration   

AGENDA

Presentations include: ICD-10 essentials, RAC auditing documentation, rural provider's guide to meaningful use and EHR incentive programs, Medicaid billing, financial challenges of rural health clinics, telehealth, and National Health Service Corp and provider recruitment 

2011 Rural Health Clinic Conference Presentations

2012 Georgia Rural Health Association 

Annual Conference

September 17 -19, 2012

Callaway Gardens, Pine Mountain, GA

Georgia Public Policy Foundation

"Healing Health Care Policy in Georgia" by Benita M. Dodd 

After a historic three days of oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, the fate of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act known as ObamaCare lies in the hands of nine justices. Until the expected high court ruling in June, pundits and policy wonks will pick apart the questions and answers in the oral arguments. But Americans know that whether the law stands, crumbles or collapses, health care policy in these United States needs a fix.

Voters in the states know the answer is not in this federal, top-down health law, in essence cracking a nut with a sledgehammer. Just 37 percent of likely voters want the federal law upheld while 50 percent want it overturned, according to a Rasmussen poll conducted March 27-28, even as the court sat in session.  In Georgia, which is party to the 26-state challenge to the law, Attorney General Sam Olens warned: "If the individual mandate, the linchpin of the law, is not stricken, there are no conceivable limits on federal power. The idea that the federal government can compel individuals to purchase a product is a radical one and is completely at odds with the Constitution and principle of federalism."

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National health care reform is expanding access to health care coverage for thousands of Georgians, particularly young adults and people previously denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions, a new analysis by the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute shows.

The Affordable Care Act, enacted in 2009, will save Georgia taxpayers at least $100 million in health care costs through FY 2013.

The law's benefits are expected to multiply by the time it is fully implemented in 2014, allowing most Georgians who now don't have health insurance to get coverage.

"Georgians who were previously denied health insurance have new coverage options, and young adults can now remain on their parents' insurance until they turn 26," said Timothy Sweeney, director of health policy for the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.

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Researchers have ranked more than 3,000 counties for health outcomes for the past three years.  A new report ranks west Georgia's Talbot County the state's unhealthiest. It says metro Atlanta's Fayette County is Georgia's healthiest county.

Taken together, the report highlights the state's urban and rural health divide.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and University of Wisconsin researchers published the report looking at more than 3,000 counties nationwide.
 

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A Tribute to Leila Denmark, MD (b. February 1, 1898 d. April 1, 2012)

 Georgia has lost one of its favorite daughters, Dr. Leila Denmark, who said, "The secret of a long life is to eat right and love what you do." She died last Sunday in Athens, GA, at the age of 114. She was the fourth oldest person in the world. Denmark graduated from Tift College, studied at Mercer University, and taught high school science before she decided to become a doctor. She was the only woman in her graduating class at the Medical College of Georgia in 1928. She moved to Atlanta after graduation and became the first resident at the new Henrietta Egleston Hospital for Children. She admitted the first patient to that hospital, now called Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. She continued to practice pediatric medicine until she retired at age 103 in 2001 at which time she was the oldest practicing physician in the country. Denmark received the prestigious Fisher Award for outstanding research in the diagnosis, treatment, and development of an immunization for whooping cough. In 2000, Emory University awarded her with an honorary doctorate to a standing ovation. At that time, there had been only three standing ovations at commencement exercises in the school's history: for Hank Aaron, the Dalai Lama, and Dr. Denmark. She lived independently until she reached the age 106, when moved to Athens to live with her daughter.