Weekly E-Blast:
Voicing the latest news on Communities in Need
|
|
|
Have news to share with us? Want to be featured on our next E-Digest? Want to read about something in particular? Please email us at aneeqa@machc.com.
|
|
 |
|
CHC Spotlight
May 22, 2012 marked the Staff Appreciation Day for Walnut Street Community Health Center. The day comprised of staff awards, team building activities and lunch. Walnut Street is moving to a bigger and refined new site in the coming months and we cannot wait to visit them at their new site!
We are so proud of our member CHCs and all your accomplishments!
Want your Health Center featured on our next E-Digest? Have any special events or announcements coming up? You could be next! Please contact Aneeqa Chowdhury at aneeqa@machc.com to be placed in the SPOTLIGHT!
|
REMINDER: CFO Workgroup
When: Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Where: Henrietta Johnson on Tuesday, May 28 2013.
|
When: Thursday, May 30, 2013 | 2:00-3:30pm
This webcast will provide attendees with an orientation to social media and e-learning technologies. Participants will learn how to leverage social media networks such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter in maternal and child health programs. Additionally, case studies which successfully demonstrate the influence of social media will be presented and discussed.
|
When: Friday, May 31, 2013 | 12:00 pm-1:00 pm
- Would you like to be notified in Real Time when your patient has a hospital visit(Admit, discharge, or ER)
- Would you like to proactively coordinate your patients care and schedule necessary follow-up ?
- ENS is a FREE service , provided by CRISP, Maryland's Health Information Exchange. www.crisphealth.org
To register for the virtual workshop and learn more about the CRISP services, please click on the underlined title.
|
When: Thursday, June 13th OR Friday, June 14th, 2013
Due to the changing landscape of healthcare, particularly the implementation of Health Care Reform, the focus of this year's cultural competency training is on cultural and linguistical barriers to accessing care. The training will provide new techniques in addressing cultural and linguistic barriers to care with an emphasis on the fundamental elements of Cultural Competency for Health Care Professionals and will assist participants in providing more culturally sensitive services in a health care setting.
SAVE THE DATE for the MACHC Annual Conference
When: September 19-20, 2013
Where: Turf Valley Conference Center in Ellicott City, MD
*Registration details to come in the coming weeks!*
|
|
Policy, Advocacy and Legislation
|
|
|
|
A web-based decision-making tool that alerts heart doctors when diagnostic tests would not be useful for a specific patient can curb wasteful procedures, according to a new study."This educational tool helps doctors determine the best test for any particular patient," said lead author Dr. James Min, director of cardiac imaging research at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.Imaging tests help detect disease and motivate doctors to focus their care, but expensive diagnostic tests can be a financial drain if overused, experts said.
| Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Bob Casey (D-PA) last week introduced S. 955, the Family Health Care Accessibility Act of 2013. This legislation would reduce unmet primary care need in communities by encouraging licensed practitioners to volunteer at Community Health Centers. This legislation is a no-cost solution that would allow Health Centers to keep up with the increasing and overwhelming demand for services. Specifically, the legislation would amend the Public Health Service Act to extend FTCA malpractice coverage to qualified licensed health care practitioners who volunteer at Section 330-funded health centers.
|
|
An explosion of cheap generic substitutes for widely used prescription drugs last year helped drive the first decline in pharmaceutical spending in the U.S. in nearly six decades.
Drug makers often lament what they call the patent cliff, which is when patent protections on their drugs expire and cheap substitutes come to market. For pharmaceutical companies, it cuts into sales and forces prices down.
|
Seeking to ensure his landmark affordable care act is successfully implemented, President Obama is reprising his 2012 election strategy in hopes of enrolling millions of uninsured Americans in health plans this fall.
The new campaign, whose outcome could largely shape the president's legacy, is targeting young people, Latinos and women - groups that were crucial to Obama's victory in November.
It will rely on some of the same tools that the reelection campaign pioneered for voter turnout, including extensive use of social media, mobilization of volunteers and data-driven outreach.
|
Dr. Jim O'Connell was fresh off his residency when he took what he expected would be a six-month job at a Boston homeless shelter. He figured the staff would be thrilled to have someone with his training. He certainly wasn't expecting what the nurses there gave him as his first assignment: Soaking clients' feet.
It was a lesson: The only way to work with the homeless patients was to go slow, be present, and win their trust. And if you're at someone's feet, you're not in his personal space the way you are when you listen to his heartbeat.
|
|
|
|
The obstetrics unit at Maryland General will close June 30th displacing 10 to 15 doctors and midwives.
The news was first reported in the Baltimore Business Journal.
The University of Maryland Medical System, which owns Maryland General, made the decision to stop the services because of a declining number of deliveries at the hospital, said spokeswoman Mary Lynn Carver.
The hospital delivered about 1,200 babies annually five years ago and now delivers about 400 each year. 
|
Delawareans benefit from health care reform by:
*Increased access to health insurance and quality health care. Each state's marketplace - formerly known as an exchange - helps to provide that access to the uninsured. Delaware's uninsured: an estimated 100,000.
*Being supported in community-based settings.
Promoting healthy lifestyles
What's expect from DE Marketplace?
*Delaware's marketplace must go live by Jan. 1, 2014; enrolling clients by October 2013.
*Approved for a state-federal marketplace partnership rather than create our own state-based marketplace.
*Partnership option permits Delaware to maintain control of plan management and consumer assistance functions.
*Expect to enroll up to 35,000 people.
State leadership working with DHSS and Department of Insurance.
|
|
|
|
|
Industry analysts and insurance officials say market forces and an impetus to attract younger, healthier people into the insurance market will help keep health insurance premiums lower as the 2010 health care law takes effect on January 1st.
Starting Jan. 1, most Americans will be required to buy insurance or pay a fine. Insurers may not turn away these customers because of pre-existing conditions, age or gender, so Americans previously unable to buy insurance are likely to sign up by the millions. The changing health environment, say industry figures and analysts, will offer these new customers...(read more)
|
|
New homes are popping up across Delaware.
"Our builder members are saying that their traffic has increased at their sale sites. People are coming back. They're buying sooner," said Howard Fortunato, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Delaware.
The 400-member organizations is a trade association that garners members like builder firms, subcontractors or even electricians.
Fortunato said that with more homes being built, it is a sign people are feeling more comfortable about the economy.
|
Much concern has been placed on funding for Medicaid financing under the Affordable Care Act. Currently, reimbursement percentages are dictated by a formula which indicated the FMAP (Federal Matching Percentage). FMAP creates a formula that ties reimbursement to the state's average personal income. States with lower per capita incomes receive a higher reimbursement rate. Additionally, for every two dollars that states pay for a service covered by Medicaid, they are guaranteed to receive a minimum of 1 dollar back from the federal government.
A new development in ACA and Medicaid is that matching rates will be changing for certain populations. One of the big changes is that the federal government will provide100% of federal financing for newly eligible Medicaid recipients from 2014-2016. After this period, the federal government will gradually reduce funding to 90% by 2020. The largest group of uninsured (non-elderly adults) with income up to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), defined as $32,499 dollars for a family of four in 2013. For additional information, please click here.
|
|
Grants & Funding Opportunities
|
|
Innovative Approaches for Treating or Preventing Childhood Obesity
Application Deadline: May 15, 2013
This Safeway Foundation grant opportunity funds innovative and collaborative projects that prevent and/or treat obesity in children and adolescents, including programs that increase access to healthy foods, increase physical activity, and/or improve food choices. Eligible applicants must be within 10 miles of a Safeway store; some flexibility offered for rural applicants.
EMPOWERED Community Grants Program
Application Deadline: May 15, 2013
The EMPOWERED Community Grants program looks to play a strategic role in supporting the development of model programs that address the needs of underserved women and offers support to the HIV/AIDS community to continue progress of recent decreases in HIV among women.
2013 UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Executive Program
Application Deadline: May 15, 2013
The program provides an intensive eleven days of management and leadership development at the UCLA Anderson School of Management in Los Angeles, California. Johnson & Johnson covers the majority of the program costs (tuition, training materials, lodging and meals) for both the participant and their co-participant.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Roadmaps to Health
Application Deadline: May 23, 2013
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Roadmaps to Health Prize is awarded annually to honor outstanding community efforts and partnerships that are helping people live healthier lives. Winning communities will each receive a $25,000 cash prize and have their success stories celebrated and shared broadly with the goal of raising awareness and inspiring locally-driven change across the country.
National Health Center Week
Check out this advocacy toolkit provided by NACHC for National Health Center Week with excellent details for health centers on how to invite elected officials to visit a health center! NHCW has a list of national sponsors for NHCW who look at events taking place and choose events they would like to sponsor. Some sponsors are specifically interested in events where Members of Congress have confirmed attendance. Sponsorship is not guaranteed for all events and the only way to get a sponsorship is for all of a health center's event details to be posted on the NHCW website.
|
Scholarships
As part of our commitment to build a stronger, more empowered workforce, the National Council has partnered with USC to offer a $2,500 scholarship ($1,250 for advanced standing) for your employees when they enroll in the MSW@USC program in 2013.
Program Start Date Application Deadline
August 7, 2013 June 25, 2013
September 3, 2013 July 22, 2013
September 3, 2013 - Advanced Standing July 1, 2013
Your employees can request more information by clicking here. They should mention their National Council membership to admissions counselors to qualify for the scholarship.
You can also sign up here to request a special onsite or virtual information session just for your staff.
|
May is Asthma Awareness Month!
The Childhood Asthma Leadership Coalition (CALC) has created an Asthma Awareness Month 2013 Coalition Toolkit that is available for download. The toolkit offers ideas and examples Community Health Centers can use to communicate with their local community on public policy's role in helping children with asthma stay healthy. Afflicting low-income and minority children at greater rates, Asthma affects approximately seven million children in the U.S., making it the single most common chronic condition among children.
|
|
4319 Forbes Blvd. Lanham, MD 20706 | www.machc.com | 301.577.0097
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright © 2013. All Rights Reserved.
|
|
|
|
