Virginia Receives Grants to Expand Primary Care Workforce

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has announced $320 million in grants under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to strengthen the health care workforce. Of those grants, $253 million will go to improve and expand the primary care workforce under the Prevention and Public Health Fund of the Affordable Care Act. Another $67 million in Health Profession Opportunity Grants will provide low-income individuals with education, training and supportive services that will help them prepare to enter and advance in careers in the healthcare sector. Here are the Virginia award recipients:

Advanced Nursing Education Expansion
Shenandoah University Winchester $1,188,000.00

Expansion of Physician Assistant Training Program
Shenandoah University Winchester $1,069,200.00

Primary Care Residency Expansion
Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond $1,585,520.00
Carilion Medical Center Roanoke $1,920,000.00

Nurse Managed Health Clinics
St. Mary's Health Wagon, Inc. Clinchco $1,493,634.00

State Health Care Workforce Grants: Implementation
Virginia State Department of Health Richmond $1,935,137.00

TOTAL: $9,191,491.00

Virginia Health Professional Grants: $2.8 Million

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced $130.8 million in grants to strengthen and expand the health professions workforce. Six areas are targeted: primary care workforce training, oral health workforce training, equipment to enhance training across the health professions, loan repayments for health professionals, health careers opportunity programs for disadvantaged students, and Patient Navigator outreach and chronic disease prevention in health disparity populations. The grants include $88.7 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. $2.8 million is coming to Virginia! Congrats to all the recipients!

ARRA - Equipment
Virginia Highlands Community College Abingdon $293,718.00
James Madison University Harrisonburg $192,378.00
Southwest Virginia Community College Richlands $300,000.00
Bon Secours Richmond Health Care Foundation Richmond $300,000.00
Bon Secours Richmond Health Care Foundation Richmond $147,375.00

ARRA - Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry: Residency Training in Primary Care
Eastern Virginia Medical School Norfolk $800,000.00

Grants to States for Loan Repayment
Virginia State Department of Health Richmond $400,000.00

Pre-Doctoral Training in Primary Care
Eastern Virginia Medical School Norfolk $330,250.00

Virginia Health Professional Grants: $5.6 Million

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will announce $159.1 million in grants to health care workforce training programs that will support programs to train nurses, geriatric specialists and improve the performance and recruitment of underrepresented minority students. Here are the grantees from Virginia. Congrats to all:

Advanced Education Nursing Grants
The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia Charlottesville $408,395.00
Hampton University Hampton $382,846.00
Old Dominion University Research Foundation Norfolk $236,764.00
Old Dominion University Research Foundation Norfolk $246,966.00
Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond $210,581.00
Shenandoah University Winchester $248,621.00

Advanced Education Nursing Traineeship Grants
Marymount University Arlington $13,184.00
University of Virginia Charlottesville $79,150.00
George Mason University Fairfax $64,146.00
Hampton University Hampton $39,647.00
James Madison University Harrisburg $26,795.00
Old Dominion University Research Foundation Norfolk $47,528.00
Radford University Radford $26,241.00
Carilion Medical Center (doing business as Jefferson College of Health Sciences) Roanoke $18,992.00
Shenandoah University Winchester $35,215.00

Nurse Anesthetist Traineeship Grants
Old Dominion University Research Foundation Norfolk $4,184.00
Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond $27,488.00

Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention Grants
Virginia Highlands Community College Abingdon $1,221,175.00
George Mason University Fairfax $313,170.00
Hampton University Hampton $266,381.00
Old Dominion University Research Foundation Norfolk $238,175.00

Nursing Workforce Diversity Grants
Hampton University Hampton $399,305.00
Southwest Virginia Community College - Virginia Appalachian Tricollege Nursing Program Richlands $306,394.00

Geriatric Education Centers Grants
Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond $413,113.00

Comprehensive Geriatric Education Programs Grants
George Mason University Fairfax $157,481.00
Radford University Radford $124,368.00

Want to Learn How to Use the Geospatial (Mapping) Component of the Virginia Rural Health Data Portal?

Here is a simple screencast demonstration of the geospatial component of the Virginia Rural Health Data Portal.

Telemedicine As One of the State Rural Health Plan's Recommendations For Addressing Access to Care

"Promote a statewide telehealth system for health care" is one of the recommendations for addressing the access to care issue. This video provides a prime example of this here in Virginia!

More On Integrating Behavioral Health with Primary Care

As most of you know, two of the recommendations of the Virginia Rural Health Plan Access Council are:

Research existing models of care that integrate primary care with mental/behavioral health within Virginia and in other states.

and

Develop pilot projects that focus on the integration of quality systems of care.

A major report just came out this month (May 2010) entitled: "Evolving Models of Behavioral Health Integration in Primary Care". The Milbank Memorial Fund commissioned this report to provide policymakers with a primer on integrated care that includes both a description of the various models along the continuum and a useful planning guide for those seeking to successfully implement an integrated care model in their jurisdiction. Take a look!

Best Practices and Models of Care in Rural Health

The Access Council of the Virginia State Rural Health Plan has issued Best Practices and Models of Care in Rural Health. The compendium compiles best and promising practices and models of care for rural health in the following four specialized areas: oral health, maternal and newborn health, behavioral and mental health, and telemedicine and telehealth. The document will serve as a resource for implementing the recommendations of the Virginia State Rural Health Plan, including effective new programs and practices to address Virginia’s most challenging health issues.

Give a Child a Smile Day

VCU Pediatric Dental Clinic will see any child (0 - 15 years) that needs dental services - Free of Charge! Dental care at this event will include cleaning, extractions and minor restorative work (as much work as possible will be done on this day for your child starting with the most urgent dental needs)

One day only: February 5, 2010 from 7:30 AM - 1:30 PM

Location: VCU/MCV at 521 N. 11th Street, 3rd Floor; Suite 315, Richmond, VA

Appointments are strongly urged as the number who will participate is expected to b e high. Please call 804-828-9095 to secure your child's appointment.

Since this event is part of the national "Give a Child a Smile Day" initiative, other events may be occurring at other sites in Virginia as well.

"Health Disparities in Rural Settings" Graduate Level Course Via Podcast with 1.8 CE credits

Shenandoah University Division of Nursing’s Graduate Program is offering a course titled “Health Disparities in Rural Settings.” It is available for 1.8 CE credits from the Virginia Nurse’s Association and the American College of Nurse-Midwives and is offered through podcasts that can be downloaded onto ipods through iTunes U.

This course analyzes the complex health disparities that occur in rural settings and that are rooted in historic and contemporary inequities. Topics include discussions of health care systems, health policies, distributions of resources, community needs assessment strategies, access to health care professionals and ethical considerations. Existing multi-level intervention strategies aimed at eliminating health disparities will be assessed, including those specific to rural settings as well as community-academic partnerships that translate research into action.

The podcasts are lectures and interviews with experts in the field. They can be downloaded from www.shenandoahgraduatenursing.com Go to “Electives and CEUs.”
Click on “Health Disparities in Rural Settings”
On ITunes U, get all lectures and subscribe to the course. By subscribing, you will be able to get new interviews as they occur.

When you are finished with the course, fill out the “Health Disparity CE Evaluation Form”. Email jfehr@su.edu notifying us that the Evaluation form has been filled out. Give us your address so that we can mail you your certificate.

Rural Healthcare Workforce Recognition Awards

Just a reminder to submit your nominations. For more information, visit Virginia's State Rural Health Plan Rural Healthcare Workforce Recognition Awards web page!

Let us know about your rural community success stories!

The National Rural Health Association in partnership with the National Offices of State Offices of Rural Health will be sponsoring the Rural Health Policy Institute at the end of this month. They are collecting success stories of rural communities at work to improve rural health.

If you have something to share, please share it as a comment on this blog! Please include information on the name of community – and a little narrative about the project or the success of the community. They are interested in hearing about workforce initiatives, initiatives to increase access to health services or promote health – or any other success story you can share!

We would love to pass along several Virginia success stories to be featured at the Rural Health Policy Institute!