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February 2003
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To submit information, update, or ask questions, please
contact: Diana Der Koorkanian at (301)594-4113 or by e-mail at:
dderkoorkanian@hrsa.gov
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Greetings!
STATEWIDE/REGIONAL CAP INITIATIVES AND CONFERENCES:
CAP Central and Regional Division (Field Office) Staff recently held a
conference call to learn more about what CAP grantees were doing regarding
collaboration, conferences and other initiatives at the state and regional
level. We were excited to hear about many formal and informal CAP activities
and meetings! Among those mentioned were: the Annual New England Regional
Meeting; Atlanta Region initiatives; US-Mexico Border regional meetings;
statewide meetings and activities in Arizona, Texas and California; Ohio
quarterly meetings; regular meetings in Minnesota, Florida, and Colorado; and
an all HRSA Grantee meeting in Iowa.
Hot topics and outcomes included information sharing, discussion, and
collaboration around: sustainability, return on community investment, disease
management, low-cost insurance products, state budget shortfalls, oral health,
collaboration with state Medicaid directors, the high and rising cost of
insurance premiums, and volunteer physician models. In addition, many of these
activities have established or strengthened relationships with: state health
departments, Primary Care Associations, Primary Care Offices, public health
associations, state Medicaid offices, Indian Health Services, universities,
non-CAP funded communities, and state vocational education and disability
agencies. If you believe there are opportunities for your CAP community to
benefit from similar activities and you would like to explore the
possibilities, please contact your Project Officer/ Manager or Rick Wilk, at
(312) 353-1307, email: rwilk@hrsa.gov.
INITIAL RUN OF THE AUTOMATED SYSTEM COMPLETED:
As of Friday, January 17, 2003 we concluded our first run of the CAP automated
monitoring system. The system had been available to accept data from grantees
since December 16. During the month that the system was available, 13 technical
assistance calls were held to help orient grantees to the new system. Technical
support was also available to address questions on an individual basis. We are
happy to report that most of the 136 grantees required to submit monitoring
data did so by the closing date and with few technical difficulties.
PRINGTING COPIES OF YOUR
REPORT:
We have received several requests for hard copies of the reports submitted via
the automated system. Each community was to print a copy prior to submitting
the report, but for some communities this was not an option. We are currently
developing a process to allow each community an opportunity to view and print a
copy of their report via the grantee website. We expect to have that feature
available in late February and will notify the primary contact of each
community with a final date.
NEXT REPORTING PERIOD: We are quickly approaching
the end of the next six-month reference period for reporting. This reference
period includes September 1, 2002 though February 28, 2003. All grantees,
including those initially funded in September 2002, will be required to submit
data for this reference period. We were scheduled to open the web-based
monitoring system in March 2003 to collect this data. However, the next opening
date will be postponed due to delayed reporting by some grantees during the
previous open period. Although the open period for the next reporting cycle has
been postponed, communities are encouraged to organize and document your data
now. Doing so will greatly reduce the amount of time and effort required for
you to enter your data into the automated system once it is available. Feel
free to contact Teresa Brown, CAP Evaluation Coordinator, if you have any
questions about the reporting process. (email: tbrown@hrsa.gov).
Thanks!
Diana
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Technical assistance calls for grantees are held every other Thursday
from 2 to 3 PM EST. The schedule for February appears below. To register,
search for summaries or materials from prior calls, or download materials for
upcoming calls, please go to the CAP Website:
www.capcommunity.hrsa.gov. Please remember that the site is password
protected. Grantees should contact their primary contact to receive the
password. Once you register for the call, please be sure to download the
materials that will be used during the call. You should immediately receive a
confirmation note by email that includes the call-in number for the call. If
you have difficulty registering or do not receive the call-in number, please
contact scampbell@mac1988.com or
call 301-468-6006 x437.
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CAP TA Calls
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Date
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Topic
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February 06
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How to Successfully Fulfill CAP
Reporting Requirements
This call will be led by Teresa Brown, CAP Evaluation Coordinator. Teresa will
provide feedback to CAP communities based on the review of recently submitted
monitoring reports. She will focus on identified strengths and weaknesses in
documenting and reporting progress at the local level. She will also outline
technical assistance that is available to help communities successfully fulfill
reporting requirements. Grantees will be encouraged to ask questions throughout
the call.
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February 20
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Oral Health Part I: Overview and Partnerships for Oral
Health
This will be part one of a three-part series focusing on various issues
surrounding oral health access, resources, and programs for underserved
populations. Our featured speaker will be Beth Mazzella, RN, a former Chief
Nurse of the USPHS, and a former deputy director of the HRSA/BPHC Division of
Scholarships and Loan Repayments (NHSC). She will share her extensive
experience in public health practice in multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural
settings surrounding oral health.
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With the exception of calls related to legal issues, many TA calls
are summarized and posted on the CAP website (www.capcommunity.hrsa.gov).
Legal issue briefs are posted on the site under legal issues and require a
password, which may be obtained by emailing Sherilyn Adams (sadams@hrsa.gov).
You may also request an audiotape copy of any previous calls (up to one month
after the call) by contacting Shandy Campbell at the email above.
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In January, the Health Access Project (HAP) fully implemented new
customized software for case management and volunteer physician network
tracking. The HAP Software includes unique components for coordinating
interpreters and tracking pledges from community resources. CAP grantees
interested in seeing a demonstration of the software should contact Connie
Satzler at satzler1@swbell.net.
In addition, working with the Utah Primary Care Association, HAP
added two AmeriCorps members to its case management staff last fall for less
than half the cost of one regular full-time employee! In early 2003, HAP will
be expanding to have outstationed case managers at five Salt Lake County
hospitals and take referrals from eight of the nine hospitals in the County. In
return, all nine Salt Lake County hospitals will support the 360 HAP volunteer
providers by providing charity care to patients being treated by those
providers. Currently four private outpatient surgery centers, two national
laboratories, and a variety of other providers also donate services for HAP
clients. Please contact Tanya Kahl at tkahl@chc-ut.org for
additional information.
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On September 24, 2002, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy
Thompson put out a call for community organizations to participate in "Take a
Loved One to the Doctor Day," a national event to encourage African-Americans
and other people of color to schedule a visit for preventive health care. NY
CAP grantee, the Institute for Urban Family Health, expanded the campaign to
include everyone who had not had a check-up in over one year, especially people
of color, immigrants and the uninsured. To create a model health care day with
as few barriers as possible, each health center offered free primary care,
prescriptions and diagnostic tests to all uninsured patients. Insurance
eligibility screenings and enrollment, as well as a host of other
health-related services, were also available.
The Institute's CAP network includes the Bronx Health REACH
coalition, a CDC-funded project that works to eliminate racial disparities in
health by reducing the rate of diabetes among people of color in the South
Bronx. CAP tapped REACH's coalition of community and faith-based organizations
to promote the event, do outreach, and give feedback. Another CAP partner, the
St. Barnabas Community Center of Excellence in Women's Health (CCOE), was on
the street, at bus stations, and in stores all over the Bronx, reaching out to
uninsured women and referring them for needed care.
A unique partnership was formed with FEGS, a local employment and
training organization that referred several women who couldn't afford a
physical, but were barred from employment without one. Over 100 new patients
were seen at Institute health centers that day, all of them uninsured. Partner
agency CCOE saw an additional 125 patients. More than half of those assisted
with applications were eligible for health insurance but didn't know it, a
statistic that mirrors national estimates. For more information about the
Institute for Urban Family Health's CAP project, contact Myra Resnick at
mresnick@institute2000.org.
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Congratulations to the Brooklyn Alliance to Strengthen the Safety
Net. The CAP grantee was presented with the eHealthcare Leadership Award for
Best Website Design from the Forum for Healthcare Strategists for their
website: www.momsandkids.org!
The award appeared in the December 2002 issue of eHealthcare Strategy and
Trends magazine.
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| Representatives from the River Cities Community Health Coalition
attended and presented at the American Society of Health System Pharmacists
37th Midyear Clinical Meeting in December in Atlanta, GA. Rory Phillips, John
Elam and Amanda Carter represented the RCCHC at the conference. The
presentation centered on MedConnex, an indigent pharmacy program operated by
RCCHC to assist in finding resources for qualified individuals to help with
maintenance medication programs. The RCCHC CAP project is an affiliation of
hospitals and health agencies in more than a dozen counties in Ohio, West
Virginia and Kentucky who work together to improve the health of their
communities. For more information about RCCHC's MedConnex program, please call:
(740) 574-MEDS. |
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Letters of intent Deadline: March 1, 2003
Application Deadline: May 1, 2003
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently
announced that it expects to make approximately $1.1 million available in
fiscal year 2003. Approximately 60 to 80 awards averaging $20,000 each will be
given to partially support non-federal conferences in the areas of health
promotion, disease prevention information, education programs and applied
research. Applications may be submitted by public or private entities for
conferences to be held between July 1, 2003 and September 30, 2004. For more
information visit:
http://www.healthinschools.org/2003/jan14_alert.asp.
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The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA) continues to hold a series of workshops through May 2003 to help
remove unnecessary barriers that may prevent these groups from receiving
federal funding. These grant-writing workshops are being held for small,
faith-based and community groups in communities throughout the country.
Participants will receive hands-on training in writing an application and
understanding the grant process; matching project ideas to funding sources;
developing a budget; and establishing an evaluation plan. For workshop
conference locations, dates and registration contact: Shelly Burgess at
301-443-8956 or visit www.samhsa.gov
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Application Deadline: March 3, 2003
Depression in Primary Care: Linking Clinical and System Strategies is
a national program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation designed to increase
the use of effective treatment models in primary care settings for patients
with depression. The Targeted Leadership Grants initiative of the program is
intended to find and develop leaders in primary care who will advance the
treatment of depression as a chronic illness. For more information visit:
http://www.rwjf.org/applying/cfpDetail.jsp?cfpCode=DPC&type=open.
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Deadline for receipt of brief proposals: February 14, 2003
The Policy Advocacy on Tobacco and Health (PATH) program is a
national funding and capacity building initiative to support diverse,
community-based organizations and tribal groups in the development and
implementation of effective tobacco control policy initiatives at the local
level. The Program is a partnership between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
and The Praxis Project to provide technical assistance, training and 24-month
grants of up to $150,000 to ten local, geographic community-based groups
serving and working in communities of color. For more information visit:
http://www.thepraxisproject.org/path.html or call 202-234-5921 or
email: info@thepraxisproject.org.
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March 10-March 16, 2003
The United Way of America (UWA) is working with government and
foundation partners to improve access to health care and eliminate health
disparities. As part of this effort, UWA has joined the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation and other national organizations for Cover the Uninsured Week, a
major effort to establish the issue of the uninsured as a top national priority
and to encourage the nation to seek solutions for the more than 41 million
Americans who have no health insurance.
As part of this public awareness campaign, a weeklong series of
national and local events will take place from March 10 through March 16, 2003.
United Ways are planning diverse activities in collaboration with hospitals,
universities, churches and community-based organizations across the country.
For more information about UWA's partnerships and Cover the Uninsured Week,
visit: http://national.unitedway.org/mobilization/zero/ or
http://coveringtheuninsured.org/.
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The Association for Community Health Improvement (ACHI) offers
educational audio conferences to members and non-members on a bi-monthly basis.
These sessions address a range of topics, including: population health
improvement, access to care, collaborative service strategies, planning and
outcomes measurement, and more. For information on conference topics, fees,
dates, and registration, visit:
www.communityhlth.org/education/audio.html.
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Always a hot topic for CAP Grantees, this study from the VHA Health
Foundation working with the American Hospital Association's Health Research and
Educational Trust, investigates how and why health care organizations with
recognized commitments to improving the health of their communities sustain
this commitment over time.
The study, Sustaining Community Health: The Experience of Health Care
System Leaders, focuses on strategies leaders have used to adapt to changing
markets, and taps the experience of 15 recipients of national community health
awards. For more information or to download the report, visit:
http://www.vhahealthfoundation.org/lessons.htm
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A new Commonwealth Fund publication offers insight into ways that
states can provide health insurance coverage to more people. Toward
Comprehensive Health Coverage for All: Summaries of 20 State Planning Grants
from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, details the efforts
of the first 20 states that received planning grants from the federal
government to collect data on their uninsured populations and devise plans to
provide them with affordable coverage. Key aspects of current and proposed
coverage policies are presented in an easy-to-use format that helps users
quickly identify the highlights of states' efforts. To access the publication
visit:
http://www.cmwf.org/programs/insurance/sacks_20hrsagrants_577.pdf.
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This new report from the Commonwealth Fund, Small but Significant Steps to Help
the Uninsured, outlines a dozen policy options that, for less than $1 billion
each, would provide uninsured and underinsured Americans with access to private
health coverage, public coverage, or both. The report presents options focused
on small business employees, low-wage workers, and other groups for whom health
coverage is often unaffordable. To read or download the report visit:
http://www.cmwf.org/publist/publist2.asp?CategoryID=4.
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The Center on an Aging Society has just released the seventh in a
series of Data Profiles on chronic and disabling conditions, titled Rural and
Urban Health: Health Care Service Use Differs. The Profile reports that the
rural population is consistently less well off with respect to health. Although
differences between the rural and urban populations are not always substantial,
rural residents have higher rates of fair and poor physical and mental health
than urban residents and tend to experience higher rates of physical
limitations. Adults in rural areas are less likely than adults in urban areas
to be tested for chronic conditions, though chronic conditions are somewhat
more common among adults in rural areas. Rural residents also are more likely
to be uninsured and to stay uninsured for longer periods of time. To view the
report visit:
http://ihcrp.georgetown.edu/agingsociety/rural/rural.html.
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Each year, the Rural Health Research Centers funded by the Office of
Rural Health Policy (ORHP) publish reports on topics ranging from rural health
care financing to quality in rural health care settings to rural residents'
access to specific health care services. The annotated bibliography of the
Rural Health Research Centers' 2001-2002 publications is now available on the
ORHP website. The bibliography includes the title, date of publication, and a
brief description of each report. To access the bibliography visit:
http://ruralhealth.hrsa.gov/policy/rhrcpublist.htm.
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