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GRHA Newsletter  Week of September 20, 2013    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 2013 GRHA Board of Directors

President

Denise Kornegay

Immediate Past President

Sallie Barker

President Elect

Ann Addison

Vice- President

Shelly Spires

Treasurer

Sheila Freeman

Secretary

Laura Bland Gillman

Board Members

Carla Belcher

Tim Trottier

Mary Mathis

Sue Nieman

Charles Owens

Chris Parker

Chuck Adams

Paula Guy

Monty M. Veazey

Joseph Barrow

Robert J. Briscione

Matt Caseman 

 

Meet our Board of Directors

 

GRHA Corporate Members

 

Platinum Corporate Sponsor PPHS

 

 

Peach State Health Plan 

  

 

GACH   

 

 

 

Blue Cross Blue Shield 

 

Coca Cola 


   

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gaphc  

 

 

 

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Al-GA Rural Health Clinic Conference 

 

Free Webinar Series:

Rural Health Clinic Billing 101

 

Registration

 

Please join us for a webinar on rural health clinic billing presented October 1, 2013 at 2:30 EDT and 1:30 CDT. This webinar is the second of three being offered as follow up to the joint Alabama-Georgia Rural Health Clinic Conference. All are invited to participate - this webinar is for everyone, regardless of whether or not you attended the joint rural health clinic conference. There is no cost for participation. 

 

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Free GRHA archived webinars are available for viewing:




11/14/2012 
  
2013 County Health Rankings


RAC 

Funding And Opportunties

September 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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GRHA circulates state and national news as an information service only. Inclusion of information is not intended as an endorsement.

Please join us for the 
2013 GRHA Annual Conference 
in Savannah!

$140 Conference Room Rate Ends 

September 24, 2013



Keynote Speaker


Georgia Department of Community Health Commissioner 
Clyde L. Reese III, Esq

Desoto Hilton, Savannah
October 21-23
1-912-232-9000
Conference room rate is $140.00 (Ends Sept 24)
Please use the group code GRH to make your reservation.
 


  

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Free Webinar

"Patient Centered Medical Home: The Basics and How it Works" 

WebinarDate: Monday, September 30, 2013

Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (EDT)

Sponsor:  Georgia Rural Health Association 

Presenter: Harry Strothers, III, MD, MMM 
 
Session Description: The Patient Centered Medical Home is a team based healthcare delivery approach to providing care and maximizing health outcomes. With goals of raising patient satisfaction, improving overall health, and increasing access to health care, the PCMH model is growing in popularity throughout the country.

This webinar will cover the basics of a PCMH and how it works. Additionally, information will be provided on utilizing health information technology and a trained staff to provide coordinated care through team based models, which is a critical aspect of PCMH. 

Gov. Deal Open but "Skeptical" to Medicaid Expansion Alternative
 
By JIM BURRESS
 
Gov. Nathan Deal has long said Georgia will not expand its Medicaid roles, citing long-term costs to the state. That's the joint federal/state medical program for the poor.
 

But Deal seems open to consider alternatives now under consideration in Pennsylvania, Iowa and Arkansas -- all three states that also denied Medicaid expansion.  

 

Those states want to use federal Medicaid money to buy private insurance for those who would otherwise gain coverage under expansion. 

 

Read more

Georgia near bottom in health rankings

By Andy Miller
Published: Sep 18, 2013 

 

A new report ranks Georgia 45th on how well the state's health care system works for low-income families.

 

For people with low incomes, Georgia ranked 46th in health care access and affordability, 47th in performance and treatment, 34th in potentially avoidable hospital use, and 35th in healthy lives, according to the report.

 

It was released Wednesday by the Commonwealth Fund, a New York City-based foundation that supports independent research on health policy.

 

The report appears a day after the U.S. Census Bureau reported that Georgia has the sixth-highest rate of uninsured residents, with its three-year average at 19.3 percent. While that rate has recently been relatively stable, the state has shown a long-term decline in insurance coverage, says the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.

 

Read more
ACA Likely to Deliver Bigger Bang in Rural Areas
 
Published: Jul 29, 2013
By David Pittman
 

WASHINGTON -- The rural uninsured may reap a bigger benefit from the Affordable Care Act than their city-dwelling counterparts, which prompted health policy experts to call for a ramped-up campaign to publicize ACA in rural communities.

 

More rural residents than urban dwellers (10.7% versus 9.6%) can receive tax subsidies under the ACA to purchase private insurance and more uninsured are eligible for an expanded Medicaid program (9.9% versus 8.5%), Keith Mueller, PhD, director of the Rural Policy Research Institute'sCenter for Rural Health Policy Analysis in Iowa City, said.

 

Read more


What's the Fuss?

 

By Wayne Myers - Daily Yonder

 

About 1,340 rural hospitals - that's a quarter of all American hospitals - are "Critical Access Hospitals." These facilities get special treatment and payment from Medicare, and, in some states, from Medicaid, too.

 

But this special treatment is in jeopardy on a couple of fronts. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, an influential federal advisory body, wants to end or at least change the special treatment. President Obama's budget calls for reducing payments a tiny bit and doing away with the special payments for a few hospitals. Against these proposed changes, some rural advocates want to wrap the whole bunch of Critical Access Hospitals in the flag and defend them to the death.

 

You may be wondering what all the fuss is about.

 

Read more   

SOWEGA AHEC
Physician ICD-10 Survival Program

This is a 12 month program which includes monthly webinars on the third Wednesdays of each month (12:30pm-1:30pm) starting in October  2013 to October 2014 and administrative checkpoint lists to prepare physician offices for ICD-10. Those participating in the webinars will also have access to a regional workshop in June 2014.

Mark Your Calendar

Georgia Association for Primary Health Care

2013 Annual Conference

October 2-4

Augusta, Georgia 

Augusta Marriott at the Convention Center

Registration 

 

National Rural Health Association

Rural Health Clinic ConferenceOct. 1-2, and 

Critical Access Hospital ConferenceOct. 2-4

Austin, Texas

More Information

Registration

 

American College of Physicians, Georgia Chapter

Scientific Meeting

October 4-6

Hyatt Regency

Savannah, Georgia

More Information

Registration

 

30th Annual Georgia Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates Conference:

September 20-22, 2013
Evergreen Marriott Resort
Stone Mountain, Georgia 30083
4021 Lakeview Drive 

2013 Georgia Chapter Scientific Meeting
American College of Physicians
October 4-6, 2013
Hyatt Regency
Savannah, Georgia

1st Annual Wound Care Conference
River City Wound and Ostomny Group
October 30, 2013
Columbus Regional Conference Center
710 Center Street
Columbus, GA 31901
More Information

Matt Caseman 
GRHA