Rural Health News & Notes

June 2008

Outpatient Issue

News & Notes

Inland Northwest Health Services

Northwest Medical Informatics Conference

To Be Held In Spokane

Northwest Medical Informatics Conference: Improving Health Outcomes through Health Information Technology will be presented by Inland Northwest Health Services in partnership with the National Center for Health Care Informatics (Montana) and the National Rural Health Resource Center (Minnesota) on September 8 -10, 2008 at The Davenport Hotel in Spokane, Washington.

Sept 8 – Practical Solutions

INHS Customer Conference and Workshop

Explore real world solutions on this day devoted to INHS products for users who want more information and training. Learn about new activities, programs and tools from both INHS and Meditech.

Sept. 9-10 – Insights To Guide Your Planning

Northwest Medical Informatics Symposium Sessions

Keep updated about health care IT advances, legislative activities and how this applies to physicians, clinics and hospitals. A showcase of innovative health information technology featuring national and regional speakers focused on health IT, patient outcomes, safety, equipment and software purchasing, training and HIPAA issues.

Who should attend: hospital administrators, physicians, clinic staff, researchers, IT professionals, and anyone interested in health care technology and government policy.

Keynote speaker: Lee Woodruff, wife of ABC reporter Bob Woodruff injured in Iraq.

Visit www.nmis.info for more information , or call Jackie Williams at (509) 232-8142 (Spokane) or (888) 258-9632 (toll-free).

“Excitement surrounds this year’s NMIS 2008, with the partnership between INHS and the Montana and Minnesota groups,” said Jac Davies, conference manager. “Additional plenary speakers have been added and breakout sessions will focus on health information technology in rural health care organizations. NMIS 2008 offers even more opportunities to network and at the request of past attendees we have added a day leading into the conference dedicated to INHS customers.”

Sponsors/Exhibitors: If you are interested in sponsorship or exhibitor information, please contact Kirsten Carlile at 509-473-6371 or carlilk@inhs.org

Western Regional Preparedness Conference

To Be Held In Las Vegas

The 2008 Western Regional Preparedness Conference will be held July 15th-18th at the Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. Why should you consider attending this conference? If you are a health professional, emergency responder, or private citizen, you may realize in the aftermath of the earthquake in China and the cyclone in Myanmar, how unprepared we are to deal with the unexpected. The Pacific Northwest is especially vulnerable because we live near strategic targets such as our military bases, inland seaports, nuclear power plants, national forests, dormant volcanoes, and raging rivers. This conference will provide much of the information to guide your response to terrorist activities or natural disasters.

The keynote speaker is Adam Dorin, MD, MBA. He will be discussing key concepts from his book entitled Jihad and American Medicine: Thinking Like a Terrorist to Anticipate Attacks via our Health System. Dr. Dorin will have copies of his books for sale in the exhibit hall throughout the conference. On subsequent days, opening speakers from Fire Department of New York will discuss emerging threats and Dr. Wilma Wooten, Public Health Officer for San Diego, California will discuss the successful evacuation process employed by the county of San Diego during the 2007 California Wildfires. The closing speaker is Chief Commander Mervyn Edwards (retired) from London, England. The Chief Commander was in charge of the security detail assigned to the royal family and will be discussing emerging threats in Europe and the necessary security required today for dignitaries.

The conference offers two concurrently running 8-hour workshops on July 18th. Offerings include National Disaster Life Support’s Basic Disaster Life Support (BDLS) at a considerable discount and Automated Exercise and Assessment System (AEAS): Smallpox Outbreak. This is a realistic, customized, and computerized tabletop exercise encompassing all the job descriptions of the participants. This will allow each participant to practice their preparedness skills in a real world format. In addition to the exercise itself, this training offers an extensive after-action report analyzing each response at each step for each of the participants.

The Area Health Education Center of Southern Nevada (SNAHEC) sponsors this conference under the direction of Roberta Keeley, Program Manager for Emergency Preparedness and Response Education. For more information please visit this website http://www.snahec.org/wrpc08/site/Information or contact Dr. Keeley at (702) 318-8452 ext. 222 or (877) 318-2432 toll free.

Health Department Takes Steps To Speed Licensing And Cut Backlog

The Washington State Department of Health launched a new computer licensing system in February. The new system replaces seven very old ones that were beginning to fail and lacked technical support.

The department has had a sharp, temporary rise in backlog during the system’s break-in process. The backlog has improved as bugs are worked out and we’ve added staff to process renewals. Yet, there are still some processing delays.

The most common delays are in manual license renewals. These involve license renewals in which some information was left out, a renewal payment is made without a renewal card, an incorrect fee is submitted, or the applicant has made changes — such as an address. These cases require additional staff work.

“We really appreciate our customers’ patience during this transition,” said Shannon Beigert, director of customer service for the department’s Health Systems Quality Assurance Division. “The good news is that we’re fixing the backlog problem and there are some easy steps you can take to ensure your license renewal is acted on quickly.”

First, avoid the need for a manual renewal. The agency’s automatic renewal system is working smoothly, with renewals processed in a day or two. To take advantage of it, send in the bar-coded renewal card, submit the correct fee, provide all required information including continuing education, and avoid name or address changes.

Second, submit address changes separately. Name or address changes can be submitted prior to renewal. Send any changes in names or address to the department’s e-mail box or fax machine. The e-mail address is hpqa.csc@doh.wa.gov and fax number is 360-236-4818.

Third, don’t wait to send in your renewal. Returning your renewal and fee shortly after receiving it will help avoid a gap without a current license.

Because of changes in fees and the new legislative process for approving them, some renewals for licenses that expire in August may arrive later than in past years. Typically, the department sends these out about 60 days before a license is set to expire.

For the next month, renewal cards may only be sent about 30 days in advance. So, returning your renewal promptly, making sure to include your renewal card, is particularly important this summer.

Processing time is continuing to speed up. The department hopes to cut the backlog substantially in early summer. As a bonus, the system will support the development of a new Web-based service to renew licenses and pay fees. The goal is to have that feature online in the next year.

Health Professional Loan Repayment Site Applications Available Soon

One of the key activities that the State Office of Rural Health actively engages in is the recruitment and retention of qualified health professionals to rural and urban underserved areas of the state. The Health Professional Loan Repayment program was created to attract and retain licensed health professionals to serve in critical shortage areas in Washington state. The program provides educational loan repayment assistance to licensed primary care health professionals. While the program is managed by the State Office of Rural Health and the Office of Community and Rural Health, it is funded through the Washington State Health Education Coordinating Board. The next cycle of awards will begin soon. Here are some specific bits of information that you, if you are interested might need to know:

Site applications for the Health Professional Loan Repayment Program will be available mid-July on the Office of Community and Rural Health web site. If you are interested in offering loan repayment to a provider or would like to use loan repayment as a recruitment incentive, you MUST be an eligible site. Even if you have applied before, you must reapply to recruit or retain with current program dollars.

To become an eligible site, you must complete and submit a site application to the Office of Community and Rural Health by September 12, 2008. Once the site application is received, it will be scored and prioritized. Notification of eligible sites is expected in late October. A list of eligible sites is included with the provider application materials, available in November.

This program has made great strides in helping local communities address their health care needs. Since 1990, the loan repayment program has placed over 350 primary care providers in over 150 facilities in 36 counties across Washington State. The Program is experiencing record growth in both site and provider loan repayment applications. In response to this growth, the state legislature approved an increase of $1.25 million earlier this year. The additional funds will help recruit an additional 10-15 primary care providers in rural and underserved urban areas of Washington.

For more information about the site application, go to the web site or contact Kathy McVay or Chris Wilkins at kathy.mcvay@doh.wa.gov or chris.wilkins@doh.wa.gov.

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