Daily RX (September 17, 2013)

Infection Control Today (September 18, 2013)

CBS Detroit (September 23, 2013)

How Can a Person Go In for a Routine Surgery and Come Out with Hepatitis C? View Lauren's Story
HONOReform (September 23, 2013)

Antibiotic Resistance Threats Report
A new CDC report, "Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States, 2013," presents a snapshot of the burden and threats posed by antibiotic-resistant germs that impact human health. According to the report, at least 2 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics each year and at least 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of these infections. The full report is available here.

Live Tracking Influenza Vaccination Map from HHS

This mapping tool is a resource for researchers, providers, local health departments (LHDs), and healthcare workers to track influenza vaccination claims rates of Medicare beneficiaries in real-time. It includes information for every county and zip code in the United States. To use the tool: 

• Click on your state or search for your location to see how many Medicare beneficiaries live in your area and the vaccination claims rate. (The vaccination claims rate is the number of flu vaccine claims relative to the number of beneficiaries.)
• These numbers will be displayed in the box at the upper right corner of the map and in the table below the map.
• The map is also colored to show the vaccination claims rate as depicted in the legend. BLUE areas have higher vaccination claims rates. RED areas have lower vaccination claims rates
• You can also select a specific racial or ethnic population within your state or community and see if there are differences by race (disparities) in vaccination claims rate.
• When you select a specific race, the disparities rate will be displayed in the table on the far right. (The "disparities rate" is the difference between the minority and the white vaccination claims rates relative to the white vaccination claims rate.)
• Locations with fewer than 25 claims submitted will not display data.

March of Dimes, Sanofi Pasteur Launch Grandparents' Corner

The March of Dimes and Sanofi Pasteur unveiled Grandparents' Corner, a new online resource from the Sounds of Pertussis® Campaign to help grandparents learn more about pertussis and the importance of adult tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccination. 

 

New Laboratory Informatics Self-Assessment Tool

CDC and the Association of Public Health Laboratories recently released a laboratory informatics self-assessment tool to help state and local public health laboratories assess their own informatics capabilities and gaps across a broad range of topics. The self-assessment tool is the first resource aimed at measuring informatics capabilities in public health laboratories in a systematic and comprehensive manner. Most of the identified capabilities and guidance are universal in nature and, consequently, can provide valuable assessment and direction to clinical laboratories. The tool is currently available to the public as a downloadable PDF.  

The Georgia Health Policy Center recently released "Leading Through Health System Change: A Public Health Opportunity," a new tool to help public health organizations adapt to the changing healthcare environment. The tool's interactive website can be used to examine the basics of healthcare reform and create a simple implementation plan for improving population health.

 

Mobilizing Community Partnerships in Rural Communities 

This new NACCHO guide shares the experiences of organizations that lead effective collaborations in rural communities. These organizations include a non-profit corporation that emerged from a partnership, a behavioral healthcare provider and network, and a collaborative network based in a critical access hospital. The stories from the field are followed by a compilation of lessons learned that include brief descriptions of factors supporting the success of partnerships and lists of critical concerns during the strategic planning process.  

 

NEW: Billing For Clinical Services Toolkit and Website

NACCHO, with funding from the CDC, created a toolkit with resources, templates, and tools for LHDs to use while developing the capacity to bill third party payers for immunization, STD, TB and HIV services. More than 200 resources have currently been collected from state billing guides, CMS, state health departments, LHDs, insurance companies, and vendors of products such as electronic medical records and billing clearinghouses.  The toolkit can be found on NACCHO's new billing website along with other resources such as webinars, training opportunities, and information on peer networking.

 

NACCHO wants to talk to you about your LHD billing experiences and needs! Please contact akitlas@naccho.org and we will work with you to schedule a time to discuss LHD billing.

 

for important topics to be covered at IDWeek 2014 (October 8-12, 2014). The deadline to submit suggestions is Monday, October 14, 2013.

2014 Health Care Workforce: Meeting the Demand for Increased Primary Care
The U.S. could face a shortfall of 91,500 physicians by 2020, according to projections from the Association of American Medical Colleges. At the same time, innovations in healthcare delivery and payment, such as team-based care, medical homes and episodic bundling, could dramatically shift workforce demands. To learn more about these dynamics, watch "The Post-2014 Health Care Workforce: Meeting the Demand for Increased Primary Care," an archived webinar from August 2013.