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GRHA Newsletter    Week of June 29, 2012    www.grhainfo.org    [email protected]    478-552-3620

Georgia Rural Health Association (GRHA) is the oldest state rural health association in the country. Founded in 1981, this nonprofit network of healthcare providers, educators, and individuals is united in its commitment to improve the health and healthcare services of rural Georgians. Join now!

FY 2012 GRHA Board of Directors

President

Sallie Barker

Immediate Past President

Nannette Turner

President Elect

Denise Kornegay

Vice President

Ann Addison

Treasurer

Sheila Freeman

Secretary

Deidre Howell

Board Members

Carla Belcher

Laura Bland Gillman

Sue Nieman

Charles Owens

Chris Parker

Carie Summers

Paula Guy

Monty M. Veazey

Shelley Spires

Joseph Barrow

Robert J. Briscione

Matt Caseman 

 

Meet our Board of Directors

  GRHA Welcomes

     New Member

 

Organizational Member

Assocaition County Commissioners of Georgia

(ACCG)

 

Coventry Health Care

 

Empower Systems

 

Individual Member

Alma Jones

Steve Wall

GRHA Corporate Members

 

Summit Funding Group

 

Platinum Corporate Sponsor PPHS

 

 

Peach State Health Plan 

  

 

GACH   

 

Blue Cross Blue Shield 

 

Coca Cola 


   

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gaphc  

FREE MEMBERSHIP FOR ONE YEAR!

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Non-members who register for the 2012 GRHA Annual Conference will receive a one year free membership with the Georgia Rural Health Association!
 
Some Membership Benefits Include:
 

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

 

 

This offer will end August 23, 2012

  New Funding Opportunity

 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced available funding of $70 million to improve the health of small communities across the nation. Grants will be awarded to governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations across a variety of sectors, including transportation, housing, education, and public health, in an effort to save lives and control the nation's growing health care costs associated with preventable chronic diseases.

 

The official funding opportunity announcement for the Community Transformation Grant program Small Communities component can be found by clicking here

 

Application closing date: July 31, 2012

  

DCH-i June 2012, Vol. 1 Issue 8  

 

DCH-i is the monthly newsletter from the Georgia Department of Community Health for all matters DCH. It provides timely and important information to you as physicians, dentists, hospitals, third-party payers, vendors, health care advocates, consumers and legislators. Our goal is to help create 

A Healthy Georgia -- together. Write us at

[email protected].

  New Funding Opportunity

 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced available funding of $70 million to improve the health of small communities across the nation. Grants will be awarded to governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations across a variety of sectors, including transportation, housing, education, and public health, in an effort to save lives and control the nation's growing health care costs associated with preventable chronic diseases.

 

The official funding opportunity announcement for the Community Transformation Grant program Small Communities component can be found by clicking here

 

Application closing date: July 31, 2012

  

Save the Date
 
1st Annual Medical Fair 

October 12-13, 2012

Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation

 

More Information Coming Soon!

 



georgia map

Community Facilities Funds Available from USDA

 

USDA, Rural Development Community Facilities Program  

June Health Observances

 

For those who want to stay up to date through social networks, please like the Georgia Rural Health Association Facebook page and follow us on Twitter! 

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By joining our social media sites, you have the ability to stay updated on the latest rural health information in Georgia. Please help us spread the word! Thank you for your support and feel free to contact us with any questions.

 
Join Our Mailing List
Notice
GRHA circulates state and national news as an information service only. Inclusion of information is not intended as an endorsement.

 

2012 Georgia Rural Health Association 

Annual Conference

September 17 -19, 2012

Callaway Gardens, Pine Mountain, GA

2012 Annual conference logo

   CALL FOR SPEAKER SESSIONS 

 Deadline extended to July 1, 2012

 

 Deadline extended to September 7, 2012

 

Deadline is August 1, 2012

 

Callaway Gardens Resort  

Reservations: 1-888-312-8002

Ask for GRHA Rate

 

 

 

NEW THIS YEAR!
Presenting
Diamond
Platinum

Time to Nominate Your Colleagues for 2012 GRHA Awards of Excellence

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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 U.S. Supreme Court today upheld the landmark federal health law, affirming its mandate that nearly all Americans carry coverage and retaining sweeping changes to the health industry.

 

By Julie Appleby- KHN Staff Writer

GA Community Health Centers Get $4.2 Million 
 

 The Obama administration announced nearly 129 million dollars in grants to community health centers across the country. 

The money comes from a fund established through the Affordable Care Act, which is currently under review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Seven community health care centers in Georgia are splitting a total of $4.2 million. That will allow them to serve 40,000 additional patients.

The centers serve uninsured and under-insured people across the state.

Full Story

Value of Rural Hospitals Linked to ED Utilization
John Commins, for HealthLeaders Media
 
 

Any comparisons of urban and rural healthcare costs come freighted with caveats.

 

For starters, rural hospitals usually cannot provide the array of specialized and expensive care seen in larger urban hospitals, making per-patient cost comparisons difficult. There can also be stark differences in patient populations. And rural hospitals do not enjoy the economy of scale and leverage with vendors and insurance companies that are seen in larger urban hospitals.  Critical access hospitals get higher reimbursements from the federal government for care delivery, further muddying comparisons.

 

Still, there is a nagging perception out there that the 1,700 or so management teams at rural hospitals across the nation don't provide the same level of care delivery value as urban hospitals. 

 

Read full story

Caring for the people who pick Georgia's crops

by Andy Miller 

 

caring for crop dusters

The caravan pulls out of a Moultrie hotel at 7 p.m., heading for a nearby farm.

 

Inside the chain of vehicles are dozens of university students who are learning to be nurse practitioners, nurses, physical therapists, dental hygienists and pharmacists. They are joined by volunteers and faculty members who are veteran health care professionals.

 

Sharon Quinn, RN, of Atlanta leads the procession onto rural roads outside the South Georgia town, and eventually down a dirt road, past a dirt basketball court, stopping in a lot between a barracks and a cantina. It's a camp for workers at a huge, privately owned vegetable farm.

 

Read Story

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

New system in works for transporting needy rural Georgians to health care

 

Georgia is heading toward a new model for transporting the poor, elderly and disabled from home to health care in rural Georgia.

 

A new system is needed simply because the costs are forecast to rise dramatically - up by 64 percent by 2030, according to a recent report to a committee of the Governors Development Council.

 

The new system seems likely to rely on the use of one entity to coordinate the overall transport system, which will continue to use a variety of local transport providers to transport rural Georgians.

 

State planners call this a "bundled" approach, because services now paid for by three state departments would be consolidated in some way.

 

Read on 

Mark Your Calendar

 

 

2012 Annual National Forum on Education Policy  

July 9 - 11, 2012 

Education Commission of the States
InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta Hotel
Atlanta, GA
For more information, contact:

303.299.3621

[email protected] 

 

 

What's Up, Doc: What You Need to Know About Medical School 2012

Date: Thursday, July 19, 2012
Time: 
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM (EST)  Sponsor:  SOWEGA AHEC
REGISTRATION

 

 

Georgia Oral Health Summit

Monday, August 13, 2012

Macon, GA

Registration and Agenda coming soon!

 

2012Georgia Rural Health Association Annual Conference

September 17-19, 2012

Registration 

 

20th Annual NALBOH Conference

Aug 8 - 10, 2012

National Association of Local Boards of Health

Hyatt Regency Downtown

Atlanta, GA

For more information, contact:

Tracy Schupp

[email protected]

http://www.nalboh.org/NALBOH_Conference.htm

 

 

2012 National Medicare Region IV Train-the-Trainer Workshop

Aug 21 - 23, 2012

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Atlanta, GA

Information and Registration Link

 

2012 Annual NASCSP Conference

Sep 11 - 14, 2012 

National Association for State Community Services Programs

Grand Hyatt Atlanta

Atlanta, GA

http://www.nascsp.org/Events.aspx?id=130 

 

 

ICD-10-CM Workshop

Dec 14, 2012  

American Medical Association

Hyatt Regency Atlanta

Atlanta, GA

Details and Registration

For more information, contact: Desiree Evans

[email protected]


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