Month: April 2018

Announcements from the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

April 26, 2018

What’s New

New USDA State Fact Sheets on Rural Economy.  The Economic Research Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently updated its state-by-state report on population, income, poverty, food security, and education.  The interactive map gives state-level data on these and other economic indicators, along with metro/non-metro breakouts within states.  Links to county-level data are provided where available.

Funding Opportunities

Improve Rural Youth Literacy – May 18. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) supports innovative literacy programs for youth from birth through high school in high-needs schools and districts in the Innovative Approaches to Literacy program.  ED will give priority points to applications proposing high-quality literacy programs to students in rural school districts.  Eligible applicants include school districts serving populations at least 20% from low-income families, national not-for-profit organizations, or consortia of these.  Research has shown that education has a life-long impact on health and well-being, even reducing risk for chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity that are prevalent in rural communities.

Relatives as Parents Program – June 13.  The Brookdale Foundation Group will provide $15,000 seed money for state and local programs that support grandparents and other relatives raising children outside of a foster care system.  Recipients must establish a collaborative network with other support systems such as family services, child care, aging, education, legal, health care, mental health and extension services.  Public state agencies that receive the grant must match the funds 100 percent in cash or in-kind.  Many of the services considered important for positive child welfare outcomes are limited in rural communities, and there are reports that the opioid crisis is overwhelming foster care.  Earlier this year, the Agency for Children and Families issued a brief exploring special considerations for rural practice, including caseworker skills and availability, confidentiality and ethical practice, and the importance of cultural competency.

Resources for Tribal Self Governance Negotiation – June 17.  The Indian Health Service (IHS) will award $48,000 each for five cooperative agreements to offset the cost of negotiating participation in the Tribal Self Governance Program (TSGP). The TSGP allows tribes to tailor health care programs and services to meet the needs of their communities.  Negotiations are a tribally-driven process that requires careful planning and preparation.  The IHS will also make awards up to $120,000 to five organizations for Tribal Self Governance Planning.  The planning phase must include legal and budgetary research and internal Tribal government planning and organizational preparation relating to the administration of health care programs.  Applications for planning are also due on June 17.

Coordinating Research for Rural Opioid HIV Initiative – July 16 and August 15.  The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will select one public or private entity to provide scientific and technical support to its initiative on rural opioid use and infectious disease comorbidities. This interdisciplinary Coordinating Center will work with NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to analyze community-level datasets from NIDA’s rural opioid initiative and develop evidence-based practices.  The application deadline is August 15; letters of intent are due on July 16.

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Show-Me ECHO Rural Veterans Behavioral Health Webinar

April 25, 2018

RURAL VETERANS BEHAVIORAL HEALTH WEBINAR

“PTSD”

Noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, April 26, 2018
By Grant O’Neal, PhD, Military Sexual Trauma Coordinator,
PTSD Clinical Team Leader
Harry S. Truman VA Medical Center

How to connect:

  • Meeting ID: 9224230585
  • Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/9224230585
  • Audio: +1-646-558-8656 or +1-408-638-0968
  • Video: IP address – 162.255.37.11 (West), 162.255.36.11 (East)

For assistance, please call 573-884-7958.

This is the second webinar in the rural veterans behavioral health webinar series hosted by the University of Missouri’s Show-Me ECHO program. The series will address topics that are pertinent to understanding and treating behavioral health problems among Missouri’s veterans, including military culture, common mental health problems and resources available to veterans. Webinars will be offered Thursdays from noon to 1 p.m. Follow https://showmeecho.org/ for future webinar schedules.

The webinar series precedes the launch of a new ECHO program for Rural Veterans Behavioral Health. ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) uses videoconferencing to connect an interdisciplinary team of experts with primary care providers. They collaborate in case-based learning sessions to help primary care providers develop advanced skills and best practices, which in turn increases the availability and quality of patient care.

Registration for all Show-Me ECHOs – including opioid use disorder, chronic pain management, dermatology, Hepatitis C, child psychology, asthma, autism, healthcare ethics and community health workers – is available at showmeecho.org. The state-funded programs are provided at no cost to participants, including no cost continuing education credits for health care professionals.

University of Missouri Show-Me ECHO is designated as an international SuperHub, meaning the founding ECHO program at the University of New Mexico has certified MU to train other organizations wanting to adopt the ECHO model. Show-Me ECHO immersion trainings and orientations have been provided to health professionals from California, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee and West Virginia, as well as Kenya, Thailand and Vietnam.

Rural Health Research & Policy Centers

April 23, 2018

Free Webinar this Thursday: Diminishing Access to Rural Maternity Care and Associated Changes in Birth Location and Outcomes

Date: Thursday, April 26, 2018
Time: 10:00 am Pacific, 11:00 am Mountain, 12:00 pm Central, 1:00 pm Eastern
Duration: Approximately 60 minutes

This webinar, presented by Carrie Henning-Smith, PhD, MPH, MSW, Deputy Director of the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center, will describe recent work from the Center on loss of hospital-based obstetric care in rural areas, including the overall change in availability of care and the county-level socio-demographic correlates of losing services. It will also include information from a study published in JAMA in March 2018, describing changes in birth location and outcomes following obstetric services loss in rural areas.

Connection Information

The webinar is free, no registration is required, but participation is limited to the first 200 to log-on that day. If the webinar reaches capacity, you will be able to access the recording, archived on the Gateway website.

Questions? Contact:
Brenda Haugen
Rural Health Research Gateway
brenda.haugen@med.und.edu

Additional Resources of Interest:

State Variations in the Rural Obstetric Workforce

Announcements from the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

April 19, 2018

What’s New

Experts Meet to Discuss Rural Health.  The National Advisory Committee on Rural Health & Human Services convenes this week for its first meeting of 2018.  This panel of experts from both public and private sectors will conduct site visits and hold discussions on two subjects: the challenges to rural health insurance markets and the impact of adverse childhood experiences.  Policy briefs, with recommendations to the Secretary of Health & Human Services, typically come out about three months after each meeting.  See the events section below for a webinar discussion of the committee’s December 2017 brief on suicide in rural America.

Medicaid Spending on Overdose Treatment.  Policy researchers at the Urban Institute looked at state-by-state Medicaid spending on prescription drugs for opioid use disorder.  They found that the average annual spending increase on these drugs between 2011 and 2016 was 19 percent.  Most was spent on buprenorphine, a drug that reduces cravings, for which spending increased 98 percent in that time period.  More dramatic spending increases went to naltrexone, which blocks the effects of opioids (up 1,072 percent) and naloxone, a drug that reverses overdose effects, for which spending increased 90,205 percent in that five-year period.  The report includes spending tables for each state and comparison charts for states with the five highest drug overdose mortality rates, including the mostly rural states of West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio.

Burden of Disease Among US States.  New research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association examined state-level data on factors affecting health, life expectancy and mortality and found that, while overall death rates declined between 1990 and 2016, the likelihood of dying young increased in some states.  The primary risk factors for morbidity and mortality were those most common in rural areas – poor diet, smoking, high blood pressure and obesity.  One significant change was found in the metrics for disability-adjusted life years, or DALYs, defined by the World Health Organization as years of healthy life lost due to disease or disability.  The two leading causes of DALYs for 1990 and for 2016 were ischemic heart disease and lung cancer. The third leading DALY cause in 1990 was low back pain; in 2016, it was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, something that’s more common in states with large rural areas.

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Upcoming HRSA Event

April 16, 2018

HRSA will be completing a Grant 101 event in Branson, MO. Please see attached registration information. HRSA will also provide a telehealth discussion. Please see the following information:

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), in partnership with the Taney County Health Department, would like to invite you to a Telehealth Discussion on Wednesday, April 25th, at the Taney County Health Department.  The meeting will include a Telehealth 101 presentation and an overview of HRSA’s telehealth investments and resources.  There will also be a listening session/discussion where we will talk about barriers/challenges, champions/innovators, local best practices, and identify telehealth resources and technical assistance needs of participants.  Representatives from the Missouri Telehealth Network, Heartland Telehealth Resource Center, Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services/Office of Primary Care and Rural Health, U.S. Department of Agriculture/Rural Development, and the Missouri Foundation for Health will be in attendance.

For more information, please contact Richard Overcast at (816) 426-5227 or ROvercast@hrsa.gov.

REGISTER TODAY! USDA Rural Utilities Service Distance Learning & Telemedicine Grant Workshops

April 16, 2018

Rural Utilities Service Distance Learning & Telemedicine Grant Workshops

Please plan on joining USDA for a Distance Learning & Telemedicine Grant Workshop.

The Distance Learning & Telemedicine (DLT) Grant program helps rural communities acquire the technology and training necessary to connect educational and medical professionals with the teachers and medical providers who serve rural residents at the local level.

These DLT Grant Workshops are open to telephone and electric coops, local units of government, current and potential grantees, consultants, and any interested organizations!

Topics covered will include program compliance and eligibilities, application requirements, program resources, application process examples, and guidance toward submitting a complete application.

Three workshops are being held across Missouri.  The content will be the same, but please select the location most convenient to you:

  • April 19th 9am – 12pm – Columbia, MO
  • April 23rd 1pm – 4pm – Kirksville, MO
  • April 26th 9am – 12pm – Springfield, MO

The registration form, attached below, must be completed and emailed to Chris Collins at chris.collins@wdc.usda.gov by April 18th if you plan on attending any of the sessions.

If you have any questions about the workshop, please email Chris at chris.collins@wdc.usda.gov or call (573) 208-0574.

USDA Seeks Applications for Technology Grants

April 12, 2018

USDA Seeks Applications for Technology Grants to Expand Access to Health Care and Education in Rural Areas

Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development Anne Hazlett today announced that USDA is accepting applications for grants to use broadband e-Connectivity to improve access to health care and educational services in rural communities.

“Under Secretary Perdue’s leadership, USDA is tackling e-Connectivity as a foundational issue for rural communities because it affects everything from business opportunities to adequate health care access,” Hazlett said. “These grants are one of many tools USDA provides to help ensure that people who live and work in rural areas can use broadband to gain access to essential services and economic opportunities.”

USDA is awarding grants ranging from $50,000 to $500,000 under the Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) program. Grants can finance projects such as those to provide job training, academic instruction or access to specialized medical care.

Proposals for projects whose primary purpose is to provide opioid prevention, treatment and recovery will receive 10 priority points when applications are scored. USDA is approaching the opioid misuse crisis with a dedicated urgency because it impacts the quality of life, economic opportunity and rural prosperity.

USDA also will provide priority points for grants that offer access to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) courses.

Grants are available to most state and local governmental entities, federally recognized tribes, nonprofit groups, for-profit businesses or a consortia of these.

The application deadline is June 4, 2018. Applications can be submitted via paper or electronically. For details on how to apply, see page 14245 of the April 3 Federal Register.

In South Dakota, Horizon Health Care used a $238,303 DLT grant in 2015 to develop a video-based mental health network for the central and southwest regions of the state. The video network was launched last year. It covers more than one-third of the state.

In April 2017, President Donald J. Trump established the Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity to identify legislative, regulatory and policy changes that could promote agriculture and prosperity in rural communities. In January 2018, Secretary Perdue presented the Task Force’s findings to President Trump. These findings included 31 recommendations to align the federal government with state, local and tribal governments to take advantage of opportunities that exist in rural America.

To view the report in its entirety, please view the Report to the President of the United States from the Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity (PDF, 5.4 MB). In addition, to view the categories of the recommendations, please view the Rural Prosperity infographic (PDF, 190 KB).

USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities and create jobs in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community services such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural areas. For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov.

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USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

Announcements from the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

April 12, 2018

What’s New

Rural Communities Opioid Response Funding Opportunity – Coming Soon.  HRSA’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy plans to award up to 75 grants to rural communities as part of a new Rural Communities Opioid Response initiative that will support treatment for, and prevention of, substance use disorder with a focus on the 220 counties identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as being at risk, as well as other high risk rural communities.  Successful awardees will receive $200,000 for one year to partner with at least three other entities and develop plans to implement opioid use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery interventions designed to reduce opioid overdoses among rural populations.  It is anticipated the Notice of Funding Opportunity will be available on Grants.gov later this Spring 2018.  Please note that the process for registering for federal grants can take up to 30 days to complete. Learn more about how HRSA is addressing the opioid crisis with funding, resources and technical assistance.

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