2012 Georgia Rural Health Association 

Annual Conference

September 17 -19, 2012

Callaway Gardens, Pine Mountain, GA

   CALL FOR SPEAKER SESSIONS 

 Deadline extended to July 1, 2012

 

CALL FOR STUDENT POSTER SESSION

 Deadline extended to September 7, 2012

 

 AWARD OF EXCELLENCE NOMINATION APPLICATION 

Deadline is August 1, 2012

 

 

Reservations: 1-888-312-8002

Ask for GRHA Rate

 

REGISTER FOR CONFERENCE NOW AND SAVE 50% ON FIRST YEAR GRHA MEMBERSHIP 

OFFER AVAILABLE

MAY 21,  2012 TO AUG. 23, 2012

 

ATTENDEE 

SPONSOR

 

NEW THIS YEAR!

3 New Sponsorship Opportunities

Presenting

Diamond

Platinum

    FREE MEMBERSHIP FOR ONE YEAR!

Discounted membership rates at all GRHA events

Timely legislative tracking reports throughtout the General Assembly session, guided with the issues members say are important 

Up to date state and national public policy and advocacy e-mail alerts guided by GRHA Legislative Affairs Committee and the NRHA

Grant information available only to members

Time to Nominate Your Colleagues for 2012 GRHA Awards of Excellence

Shelley Spires, Awards Committee Chair for the 2012 Annual Conference wants to hear from you!

The nominations are now open for the 2012 GRHA Awards of Excellence. No messy paperwork! No postage required! Simply click here to make a nomination. 

You can nominate people or organizations for the following awards:

The Legislator of the Year award is presented to the member of the Georgia General Assembly who demonstrates wisdom and foresight in dealing with rural health issues, understanding of rural health, and exemplary leadership in addressing the needs of rural areas and resolution of their health problems.

The Outstanding Rural Health Practice or Practitioner award recognizes a community-oriented rural health care practice, whether a group or an individual physician, that has improved direct access to health care services and information for rural people through innovative, comprehensive approaches.

The Outstanding Rural Health Program award recognizes a program that meets a healthcare need in a community or a group of communities and has demonstrated outcomes. This effort can include a collaboration of clinics, doctors, hospitals, wellness programs (i.e. recreation department or wellness facility), civic groups, or faith-based organizations.

The Distinguished Educator/Researcher is awarded to the individual whose research or teaching has made the most significant contribution of the year or whose sustained history of teaching and educating over a period of time is deemed to be the major contribution of the year.

The James Alley Award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement in Rural Health Care is awarded to the practitioner, educator, public health employee, volunteer, or other individual who has excelled over a lifetime in service to rural people, either directly or indirectly.

The Outstanding Volunteer is awarded to a volunteer who has made a significant contribution toward improving rural health.

The Future Professionals in Rural Health is awarded to a student currently studying at a higher education institution in Georgia whose work exemplifies a passion for rural health. Nominees' work can include the following: conducting their own research over the past year that significantly contributes to rural health; have studied under and been instrumental in research conducted by faculty over the past year that significantly contributes to rural health; and have been instrumental in the implementation of a program that significantly contributes to rural health.

Nominations will be accepted until August 1st. Awards will be presented at the GRHA Annual Conference in Pine Mountain, Georgia on October 17.

Thanks to 2012 GRHA Awards Committee volunteers Chair Shelley Spires, and members Sue Nieman, Sheila Freeman, Deidre Howell, and Paula Guy

The state's Medicaid agency has a projected $300 million hole to fill in next year's budget.

If the shortfall remains at that level, the financial request to the General Assembly in January will be ''very high'' from a historical perspective, said Vince Harris, chief financial officer of the Department of Community Health, after the agency's board meeting Thursday.

The projected $308 million shortfall for fiscal 2013 stems mostly from growth in the program's spending, plus the delay of a month's payment to the care management organizations that deliver services to children and pregnant women.

Medicaid and PeachCare cover a total of 1.7 million Georgians, most of them children of lower-income parents

The programs' financial crunch also includes $245 million more in future claims from medical providers for services rendered but not yet billed. And it comes as Georgia Medicaid and PeachCare are undergoing a redesign process that seeks to improve health outcomes and contain spending.

A consulting firm, in a state-commissioned report on the Medicaid redesign, recommended that people with disabilities and in nursing homes be switched to a managed care format, run by private companies. Though 25 percent of the Medicaid enrollment is in the ''aged, blind and disabled'' (ABD) population, that segment accounts for 54 percent of overall Medicaid spending.

David Cook, commissioner of Community Health, noted during the board meeting that coordinating care can improve health outcomes and save money.

The Medicaid budget numbers ''are pretty daunting,'' he said. "Figuring out where we go, particularly with ABD, is where the focus will be.''

Full Story 

"Source: Georgia Health News, an independent, nonprofit news service".

What: "The Road to Freedom," a Policy Briefing Luncheon

When: Noon, Wednesday, Jun 27, 2011

Where: The Georgian Club, 100 Galleria Parkway, Suite 1700, Atlanta, GA 30339

 Register by Monday, June 25, online at http://tinyurl.com/y27h3dk 

 Directions:  http://tinyurl.com/4cf9yy2