Technical assistance calls for grantees are generally held every other Thursday from 2 to 3 PM EST. The schedule for June appears below. To register, search for summaries or materials from prior calls, or download materials for upcoming calls, please go to the grantee 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 you should immediately receive a confirmation note by email that includes the call-in number. Please be sure to download the materials that will be used. If you have difficulty registering or do not receive the call-in number, please contact Latonya Dunlow at ldunlow@mscginc.com  or call 301-577-3100.

	CAP TA Calls
	Date		Topic
	June 10th		HRSA National Bioterrorism and Hospital Preparedness Program HRSA National Bioterrorism and Hospital Preparedness Program More information will be made available via the HCAP distribution list and on the grantee website.
	June 24th		Cultural Competency This TA Call will provide an overview of the cultural competency movement and discuss approaches to assessing and developing organizational/systemic cultural competence. It will also address other issues of particular relevance to consortia and networks of providers working to infuse cultural competency into their systems of care. Our featured speaker will be Robert C. Like, MD, MS., Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Healthy Families and Cultural Diversity (CHFCD) in the Department of Family Medicine at the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. The CHFCD is dedicated to leadership, advocacy, and excellence in promoting culturally-responsive, quality health care for diverse populations. Dr. Like has served as co-chair of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine's Group on Multicultural Health Care and Education, and as a member of the DHHS Office of Minority Health's CLAS Standards National Project Advisory Committee, and the Georgetown University's National Center for Cultural Competence Advisory Committee. He is actively involved in funded research and provides training and technical assistance relating to the delivery of patient- and family-centered, culturally responsive care to diverse populations by clinicians, health care organizations, and academic medical centers.

With the exception of calls related to legal issues, TA calls are summarized and posted on the grantee website (www.capcommunity.hrsa.gov). Legal issue briefs are posted on the site under legal issues. You may also request an audiotape copy of any previous calls (up to one month after the call) by contacting Latonya Dunlow at the email above.

Congratulations to the Buncombe County HCAP! On April 29, 2004, a team of Buncombe County health professionals consisting of Dr. Susan Mims and registered nurses Linda Tettambel and Nelle Gregory of the Buncombe County Health Center, HCAP grant manager Louise Cate of HealthPartners, and Dr. J. Paul Martin of Mission Hospitals earned top prize at UNC-Chapel Hill's Management Academy for Public Health. Management Academy for Public Health is a nine-month training program for public health leaders developed by the UNC-Chapel Hill's School of Public Health in collaboration with the University's Kenan-Flagler Business School. A focus of the program is the creation of a detailed business plan that solves a local health problem. The plan developed by the Buncombe County team addressed the link between mind and body in community health and examined how local health departments can meet mental health care needs in the context of reduced resources from the state's Department of Health and Human Services. For more information about Health Partners please contact Louise Cate by phone at 828-253-8240 or by email at louisecatecures@bellsouth.net.

Congratulations to Austin, HCAP grantee ICC for their consortium's work in the creation of a county hospital district for their service area of Travis County. The initiative was recently approved, despite the challenges of leveraging tax dollars in the current economic environment. The hospital district, to be established later this year, would be the first broad-based taxing authority in the area since Capital Metro was born in the mid-1980s. Tax rates in the district would be capped at 25 cents per $100 of property value. 

Under the district, a board would be responsible for overseeing health programs and collecting taxes to support them. Now, the Austin City Council and Travis County Commissioners Court each perform those tasks separately. The board's role is to set policy, enter into contracts with medical providers and ensure health care delivery to indigent people. Ownership of public clinics and hospitals would transfer to the district. The district also would encompass a dozen public health clinics and the Austin Women's Hospital, a facility that delivers babies and provides birth-control services on the fifth floor of Brackenridge.

Taxes that city and county residents pay for health care would go to the district. The city and county must reduce their tax rates by a corresponding amount. If, as expected, the district sets a countywide tax rate of 7.3 cents, city residents would pay slightly less than they do now because the health care portion of their overall tax bill would enjoy the benefit of tax exemptions allowed by the county. And county residents outside the city would pay about $92 more. The average homeowner in the district would pay about $111 in total health care taxes until taxes rise. .

For more information about Indigent Care Collaboration and the newly designated county hospital district please contact Paul Gionfriddo at pgionfriddo@icc-centex.org or visit the ICC website at: http://www.icc-centex.org/.

The Utah Department of Health (UDOH) recently released a report using the Billings algorithm to analyze ER use in Utah. UDOH has been an active member of the Health Access Project (HAP), an HCAP Grantee, since it was formed and decided to initiate the report after HAP approached it about obtaining the data to run the report for Salt Lake County. Given HAP's limited resources, it was excited that UDOH decided to run the report for the entire state and validate the methodology for Utah. With hospital permission, UDOH provided HAP the analysis by hospital in Salt Lake County, as well as aggregate data. HAP has used the data to discuss the extent of preventable uninsured ED use in Salt Lake County. The report can be downloaded at: http://health.utah.gov/hda/Reports/Primary_Care_ERvisits_Utah2001.pdf . If you have any questions about the collaboration, contact HAP Director, Tanya Kahl at tkahl@healthaccessproject.org . 

The Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) Program is a national program of the American Academy of Pediatrics that increases children's access to medical homes or specific health services by supporting pediatricians and communities who are involved in community-based efforts for children. The CATCH Planning Funds grant program supports pediatricians in planning a community-based child health initiative. Grants of up to $10,000 are awarded each year on a competitive basis to pediatricians who want to assess and document the needs of children in the community, develop collaborative partnerships for planning the initiative, and successfully prepare for implementation of a program. Pediatricians and pediatric residents across the United States are eligible to apply. For more information, please visit: http://www.aap.org/catch/ 

Changes in Health Care Financing and Organization (HCFO) is an initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that supports policy analysis, research, evaluation, and demonstration projects. Projects may be initiated from within many disciplines, including health services research, economics, sociology, political science, public policy, public health, public administration, law, and business administration. Funded projects should provide public and private decision makers with usable and timely information on health care policy and financing issues. Grants are available in two categories: small grants for projects requiring $100,000 or less and projected to take twelve months or less; and large grants for projects requiring more than $100,000 and/or projected to take longer than twelve months. For more information visit: http://www.hcfo.net. 

Volunteers in Health Care welcomes panelists from the Children's Dental Health Project for this teleworkshop, Closing the Access Gap: Improving the Medicine-Dentistry Interface. Over the past two years, the panelists have explored the range of complex and sometimes controversial issues that lie at the interface between primary medical care and primary dental care for children. This exploration was part of the Interfaces project. Interfaces identifies the issues underlying coordination between medical and dental primary care for children and considers, in detail, issues requiring their resolution and development so that optimal health care can be provided to all children. Join us for a presentation of the Children's Dental Health Project's findings from their Interfaces project and a discussion of ways organizations can better integrate medical and dental care services for children.

Participants in this teleworkshop will learn: how coordination of primary medical and dental care can effect health disparities; policy questions that arise as primary medical providers are engaged in oral health prevention and treatment; and ways volunteer programs can better integrate medical and dental care services for children. The cost to participate in the teleworkshop is $50 per phone line, which can be payable by check, VISA, or MasterCard. To register for the call, please visit the VIH website (http://www.volunteersinhealthcare.org). Registrations and payment must be received in our office by June 21st. If you have any questions, please contact Volunteers in Health Care, toll-free at 877-844-8442.

Join health care leaders from communities across the nation who are interested in information technology (IT) and electronic health information exchange for this first-ever forum designed specifically for health care stakeholders that want to mobilize information across organizations to support and improve patient care. Learn about gaining key stakeholders' buy-in, facilitating ongoing organizational development and program management, selecting the right technical architecture and applications for your community, and successfully implementing standards. For more information about this conference please visit: http://www.ehcca.com/CCBH/index.html.

The Eighth Annual 340B Coalition Conference, Improving Access to Pharmaceutical Care and Ensuring Compliance with Federal and State Laws, will take place at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC from July 12-14, 2004. This event is hosted by the 340B Coalition, a group of 15 national associations that represent the thousands of health care providers and programs participating in the Federal 340B drug discount program. You will hear from key officials from Federal and State government who administer the 340B, Medicaid drug rebate, and Veterans Affairs drug discount programs. The Pharmacy Affairs Branch will provide presentations and will be available each day to answer your questions. This conference is unparalleled in providing timely information and relevant strategies for providers and industry representatives on how to provide high quality pharmaceutical care and handle various compliance issues. In addition to the 340B program, there will be sessions on the new Medicare drug law and discount card program, pharmaceutical legislation, pharmaceutical manufacturer patient assistance programs and much more. There will be continuing education credits for pharmacists. For more information and to register for the conference, visit: http://www.phpcrx.org/2004conf/.

The goal of the workshop is to provide a comprehensive approach to the issue of health disparities. The aim is to provide the attendee with a broad base of knowledge so that they may address health disparities with a bio-psychosocial approach. After attending the conference, participants should be able to: acquire introductory knowledge and experience related to the complex social, behavioral and medical determinants of populations' health, which will enable them to understand the origins of health disparities within a population and to conceptualize programs and policies to reduce and eliminate those disparities; examine and gain an understanding of the latest findings of specific research that demonstrate that there are wide disparities in health among certain populations; demonstrate awareness of factors that currently contribute to wide disparities in health among certain populations; identify the role of (various) health professionals in eliminating disparities; and investigate community and state-level resources that can be mobilized for planning, policy development, program interpretation and funding for reduction of health disparities.

This program should be of interest to physicians, nurses, social workers, health educators, and other health care professionals, as well as active members of the community and community organizations. This conference should be of value to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as pre- and post-doctoral fellows. While there is no deadline for registration, there is an early bird registration deadline of July 8, 2004. For more information visit: http://www.mdanderson.org/cancer_pro/pro_education/display.cfm?id=d4a56f46-3eb5-49e9-8a994785d24575b5&method=displayfull.

For further information on the Center for Research on Minority Health visit: www.mdanderson.org/departments/crmh/.

"Pre-diabetes" -- a condition that raises a person's risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke -- is far more common in America than previously believed, according to a new HHS estimate. About 40 percent of U.S. adults ages 40 to 74 -- or 41 million people -- currently have the condition, which is marked by blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet diabetic. Many people with pre-diabetes go on to develop type 2 diabetes within 10 years.

The new estimate is based on a revised, more accurate definition of pre-diabetes made by an international expert committee of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and published in Diabetes Care in November 2003. Under previous criteria, it had been estimated that some 20.1 million in this age group had pre-diabetes. The new definition of pre-diabetes identifies more people who are likely to develop type 2 diabetes, highlighting the importance of preventing this disease.

HHS' National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) has launched the first national multicultural diabetes prevention campaign, Small Steps. Big Rewards. Prevent type 2 Diabetes to take action against the diabetes epidemic. The campaign includes motivational tip sheets for consumers as well as print and radio public service ads, tailored for specific high risk groups: African Americans; Hispanic and Latino Americans; American Indians and Alaska Natives; Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders; and adults aged 60 and older.

A National Diabetes Fact Sheet provides up-to-date information about diabetes, its prevalence, incidence, complications and costs to the nation. Overall, about 18.2 million Americans currently have diabetes, with about 1.3 million new cases being diagnosed each year. Most of these individuals - 90 percent to 95 percent - have type 2 diabetes, which is associated with older age, obesity, physical inactivity and ethnicity. The fact sheet is available at www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/factsheet.htm or by calling 1-877-CDC-DIAB (232-3422).

Systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels for children and teenagers have risen substantially since 1988, according to a new study supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health. The study links part of the rise to a concurrent increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity. This has resulted in the announcement that new Practice Guidelines will be released. To view the article about this issue, visit: http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/may2004/nhlbi-04.htm.

Medicare Background Materials

The Kaiser Family Foundation has released three new fact sheets that will help provide some general information about Medicare. These sheets include:

• Medicare at a Glance: This fact sheet provides a basic overview of the Medicare program, including how it is financed, who is eligible, and what benefits are covered under the program. In addition, it describes supplemental health insurance, benefits provided by the new drug law, and data on Medicare expenditures and financing.
• The Medicare Prescription Drug Law: This fact sheet, describing the new Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, explores the new drug benefit, as well as additional changes to the Medicare program.
• Medicare Advantage: This fact sheet provides an overview of the Medicare Advantage program; describes program changes made by the new drug law in plan participation and beneficiary enrollment; presents data on benefits and premiums; and explains changes in Medicare payments to participating plans.

These fact sheets can be found at http://www.kff.org/medicare/factsheets.cfm . For additional information about Medicare, visit: http://www.kff.org/medicare.

HHS And WebMD Pilot Project On Consumer Health Information

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced the launch of a 9-month pilot project with WebMD Health to make Department of Health and Human Services consumer health information more widely and more rapidly available to the public on a new HHS "channel" on WebMD.

The partnership will also accelerate the ability of HHS to disseminate life-saving information to the public in the event of a major public health emergency. The new HHS channel on WebMD is available at http://hhs.webmd.com.

To view the press release about this new service visit: http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20040517.html.