Message from the Executive Director
February 2007
Organizations wishing to support the work of the Association more substantively have been invited to participate as Nebraska Rural Health Association Corporate Sponsors. We view our relationship with these sponsors as a partnership that is vital to our mission. I am very pleased to announce two corporate sponsors for 2007. They are:
PLATINUM SPONSOR - Humana Inc.
Humana Inc, headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, is one of the nation's largest publicly traded health benefits companies, with approximately 9 million members.
Humana has proven its 45 year history that they embrace change and seize opportunities that help to transform their business. Humana's vision is to become the most trusted name in health solutions.
Humana offers coordinated health insurance coverage and related services to employer groups, government-sponsored plans, and individuals.
GOLD SPONSOR - Computer Programs and Systems, Inc
Computer Programs and Systems, Inc (CPSI) has been serving the information technology needs of community healthcare providers for over 27 years. Headquartered in Mobile, Alabama, the company provides a complete health information and patient care system that encompasses the full spectrum of financial and clinical applications. The CPSI System provides the most comprehensive single-source electronic medical record (EMR) available and allows the realization of a true enterprise – wide EMR.
Through their sponsorship, both of these companies have demonstrated their commitment to rural health care in the State of Nebraska. On behalf of the NeRHA Board of Directors, we would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their sponsorship.
Nebraska Rural Health Clinics - Constituency Section
The Rural Health Clinics Program (RHC Program) was developed in response to the unmet needs of Medicare and Medicaid recipients in underserved areas of rural America. In the RHC Program, the federal government crafted a plan to encourage physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and physicians to practice together in rural areas. Today, rural health clinics are an integral part of the Nebraska health care delivery system, with over 120 federally certified rural health clinics providing primary care services for rural Nebraskans.
The Nebraska Rural Health Association is the only Nebraska organization dedicated exclusively to improving the access to quality health care in rural Nebraska. Our mission is to bring together diverse interests and provide a unified voice to promote and enhance the quality of rural health through leadership, advocacy, coalition building, education and communications. There are groups representing hospitals, physicians, community health centers, and individual health professions, but no organization has a specific commitment to the Rural Health Clinics Program.
With NeRHA’s unique and specific focus on the rural health, the Nebraska Rural Health Clinics - Constituency Section (NRHC-CS) is being developed to serve as an important advocate for the needs of rural health clinics in the State of Nebraska. It will be a vital link between Nebraska rural health clinics and federal legislators and regulators as well as advocating on dozens of other issues of interest to rural health clinics.
For more information, click here
President's Budget Ignores Critical Role
President Bush's Fiscal Year 2008 budget proposal was released last week. Despite continued support from Congress for many rural health programs, the Administration proposed to eliminate funding for several successful rural health programs and to drastically cut others for the fourth straight year in a row. Congress reversed the cuts proposed by the President in past years.
The budget fails to acknowledge the importance of these rural health programs and the significant role they place in ensuring access to quality health care and the continued development of innovative rural health care delivery systems. The budget eliminates or cuts funding for the following rural health programs:
Rural Health Flexibility Grants -
Funding eliminated.
Small Hospital Improvement Program -
Funding eliminated.
Rural Health Network and Outreach Grants -
Funding eliminated.
Rural and Community Access to Emergency Devices - Funding eliminated.
Community Access Program -
Fails to restore funding to this important program.
Health professions programs are cut by $193 million in the President's budget, despite the continued challenge of health care workforce shortages in rural America.
The budget also proposes $78.6 billion in legislative cuts to Medicare and Medicaid over five years, $65.6 billion in Medicare and $13 billion in Medicaid. However, cuts to Medicare and Medicaid reach $102 billion over five years for both programs when the President's proposed regulatory changes are included.
NeRHA Board takes Positions on 2007 Legislation
Lawmakers have descended on Lincoln as the 2007 Nebraska Legislature got underway Jan. 3, 2007. The Board of Directors for NeRHA met on January 25, 2007 and reviewed the bills introduced in the Nebraska Legislature. The Board took a position on the following bills:
NeRHA Supported Bills:
LB85 (Howard, 9) Create the Nebraska Health Insurance Policy Coalition -- The Nebraska Health Insurance Policy Coalition would be created. The coalition would consist of twenty-one members appointed by the Governor. The coalition shall develop recommendations for legislative remedies to address the expansion of health care coverage to employed individuals and children in the state.
LB270 (Johnson, 37) -- Exclude certain rural health loan repayments from income For taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2007, federal adjusted gross income would be reduced by educational loan repayments paid under the Rural Health Systems and Professional Incentive Act; to the extent such repayments are included in federal adjusted gross income for federal income tax purposes.
LB296 (Johnson, 37) Reorganize the Health and Human Services System -- LB 296 is introduced by Senator Johnson at the request of the Governor to reorganize the Nebraska Health and Human Services System. LB 296 would collapse the three existing departments into a single code agency (the Nebraska Health and Human Services System), with a single chief executive officer, comprised of six new departments: the Departments of Public Health, Medicaid, Children and Family Services, Behavioral Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Veteran’s Homes. The Policy Cabinet and the Policy Secretary position are eliminated.
LB374 (Johnson, 37) -- Change repayment provisions for rural health education loans If the borrower of defaults, they will repay one hundred fifty percent of the outstanding loan principal with interest at a rate of six percent (not the current 24%) simple interest per year from the date the loan was granted.
LB 438 (McDonald, 41) -- Appropriate funds to the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska This bill would appropriate funds to the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska to continue the their work with the Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) for career awareness and recruitment and retention of medical allied health professionals in underserved areas.
NeRHA Opposed Bills:
LB253 (Rogert, 16) Adopt the Motorcycle Safety and Training Act and change motorcycle helmet provisions Adopts the Motorcycle Safety and Training Act and eliminates provisions requiring motorcycle riders to wear a helmet.
If you have any bills of interest or concern, please contact John Roberts at jroberts@mwhc-inc.com
For a complete list of all the legislation that NeRHA is following, click here
Groundbreaking Medicare Payment Demonstration Results in Substantial Improvement for Hospital Patient Care
Second-year results from a groundbreaking hospital value-based purchasing demonstration project show substantial improvement in quality of care, leading to incentive payments totaling $8,690,447 to 115 top-performing hospitals.
Participants in the Premier Hospital Quality Improvement Demonstration reported significant improvement in quality of care across five clinical focus areas measured by more than 30 nationally standardized and widely accepted quality indicators.
The average improvement in the project’s second year was 6.7 percentage points, for total gains of 11.8 percentage points over the project’s first two years.
The average composite quality scores, an aggregate of all quality measures within each clinical area, improved significantly between the inception of the program and the end of Year 2 in all five clinical focus areas:
>From 87.5 percent to 94.4 percent for patients with AMI(heart attack)
>From 84.8 percent to 93.8 percent for patients with coronary artery bypass graft.
>From 64.5 percent to 82.4 percent for patients with heart failure.
>From 69.3 percent to 85.8 percent for patients with pneumonia.
>From 84.6 percent to 93.4 percent for patients with hip and knee replacement.
In addition, the range of variance among participating hospitals is closing, as those hospitals in the lower quality range continue to improve their quality scores and close the gap between themselves and the demonstration’s top performers.
For more information about the HQID project, click here
Upcoming Events
Rural Health Policy Institute; Feb 26-28, 2007; Washington, D.C.
Rural Minority and Multicultural Conf May 14-15, 2007
Rural Medical Educators Meeting May 15, 2007
NRHA Annual Conference May 16-18, 2007
Anchorage, Alaska
Skill-building Workshop - June 14-15, 2007; New Orleans, LA
Rural Quality Conference - July 25, and Rural Clinical Conference- July 26-28, 2007; Hyatt Regency, Kansas City, MO
Nebraska Rural Health Conference - September 6-7, 2007 - Kearney, NE.
Rural Health Clinics Conference; October 2-3 and Critical Access Hospital Conference, October 3-5, 2007; Crown Plaza Riverwalk; San
To register or for more information, click here
NeRHA E-News February 2007
