National Rural Health Association

Sunflower Health Plan and Centene Foundation Announce $160,000 Grant to Hays Medical Center Foundation

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Pressure, Community hospital, Partnership, Patient, National Rural Health Association, CNC, Centene Corporation, Medicare, CMS

LENEXA, Kan., March 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Sunflower Health Plan ("Sunflower"), a managed care organization established to deliver quality healthcare in the state of Kansas and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC), and Centene Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Centene Corporation, today announced a $160,000 grant to the Hays Medical Center Foundation to provide on-demand and scheduled telepsychiatry services at Hays Medical Center ("HaysMed").

Key Points: 
  • LENEXA, Kan., March 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Sunflower Health Plan ("Sunflower"), a managed care organization established to deliver quality healthcare in the state of Kansas and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC), and Centene Foundation , the philanthropic arm of Centene Corporation, today announced a $160,000 grant to the Hays Medical Center Foundation to provide on-demand and scheduled telepsychiatry services at Hays Medical Center ("HaysMed").
  • "Increasing access to telepsychiatry bridges the gap between isolation and care, empowering individuals to get the support they need, wherever they are," said Michael Stephens, Sunflower Health Plan president and CEO.
  • "We are confident these critical services will lead to better member outcomes while directly benefitting the rural Kansas healthcare system."
  • "We are grateful to Sunflower Health Plan and the Centene Foundation for contributing to this valuable service," said Terry Siek, HaysMed chief nursing officer.

Eagle Telemedicine Launches New Rural Care Alliance to Extend Telemedicine Specialty Services to Community Hospitals in Need

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 13, 2024
STAT, National Rural Health Association, NRHA, Hospital, Physician, Patient, Travel, Nursing

ATLANTA, Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Eagle Telemedicine, the leader in technology-enabled inpatient and outpatient care for sustainable healthcare resilience, announces the creation of the Eagle Rural Care Alliance. The Eagle Rural Care Alliance is a new program that opens access to telemedicine specialty services by fostering alliances between rural facilities to maximize economies of scale and support access to critically important specialties for their communities. The new program bundles multiple hospitals' needs together to deliver affordable access to telemedicine specialty physicians in economically consumable increments. This enables rural and community hospitals to offer specialty clinics to patients in their community that would otherwise forgo treatment or have to travel hours to get the specialized care they require.

Key Points: 
  • The Eagle Rural Care Alliance is a new program that opens access to telemedicine specialty services by fostering alliances between rural facilities to maximize economies of scale and support access to critically important specialties for their communities.
  • Our new Eagle Rural Care Alliance is solving this problem by bundling hospitals with similar needs together to cost-effectively meet the minimum volume requirements to reserve telemedicine specialists.
  • The Eagle Rural Care Alliance is offered to hospitals of every size and location across 17 physician specialties.
  • The Eagle Rural Care Alliance is available now to any hospitals needing increased access to board certified specialty physicians to serve patients in their community.

Chartis Recognizes Performance Leadership Among Rural Hospitals as part of National Rural Health Day

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, November 16, 2023
Public Policy, Government, Practice Management, Insurance, Health, Healthcare Reform, Hospitals, Professional Services, Other Health, Rural health, National Rural Health Association, Benchmarking, INDEX, Head, Hospital, Quality

On National Rural Health Day, The Chartis Center for Rural Health today announced the 2023 Performance Leadership Award recipients.

Key Points: 
  • On National Rural Health Day, The Chartis Center for Rural Health today announced the 2023 Performance Leadership Award recipients.
  • This annual award program utilizes the results of the Chartis Rural Hospital Performance INDEX® to identify top quartile performance (i.e., 75th percentile or above) among the nation’s rural hospitals in Quality, Outcomes, or Patient Perspective.
  • “This National Rural Health Day, let us recognize the efforts of this year’s Performance Leadership Award winners and all those driven to deliver high quality care throughout rural communities.”
    Now in its 13th year, the Chartis Rural Hospital Performance INDEX is a comprehensive and objective assessment of rural hospital performance.
  • INDEX performance and benchmarking data is trusted by rural hospitals, health systems with rural footprints, hospital associations, and state offices of rural health across the country to measure and monitor performance across a variety of areas impacting hospital operations and finance.

Stroudwater Associates Releases First of Its Kind Rural Provider Compensation Report

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, December 6, 2023
Federal Medical Centres, National Rural Health Association, Partnership, Health care, Hospital, NRHA, Nursing

PORTLAND, Maine, Dec. 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Stroudwater Associates, the nation's leading source for operational, financial, quality, and clinical strategy for rural and community healthcare, has released the results of The State of Rural Compensation in 2023 in partnership with the National Rural Health Association (NRHA).

Key Points: 
  • The survey results and report illustrate the enormous variability in provider pay across rural organizations and the pressing need for rural healthcare to align its provider compensation with the organizations' goals.
  • "The inaugural results of the survey underscore that current rural provider compensation strategies are unsustainable, defy best practices, and could lead to compliance risks for hospitals."
  • The Rural Provider Compensation Survey measured total compensation paid within a calendar year, consistent with the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) definition of total compensation.
  • Key results from the rural provider compensation survey include:
    Stroudwater Associates plans to update and distribute this survey annually at no cost to continue to provide rural hospitals with information on physician and advanced practice provider compensation.

Community and Critical Access Hospitals Select Oracle Health CommunityWorks

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, November 14, 2023
National Rural Health Association, EHR, Bed, Oracle Health Sciences, Patient, Research, KLAS, Caregiver, Health, Oracle, Hospital, Nursing

AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Several new healthcare organizations across the U.S. have recently selected Oracle Health's CommunityWorks, an integrated electronic health record (EHR) that supports the clinical, financial, and operational needs of smaller hospital operations in acute and ambulatory settings. These include Crawford County Memorial Hospital, Golden Plains Community Hospital, Murray-Calloway County Hospital, Nashville General Hospital, and Sarah D. Culbertson Memorial Hospital and Culbertson Clinics.

Key Points: 
  • Oracle Health recognizes the challenges faced by healthcare providers in community and critical access hospitals such as geographic isolation, workforce shortages, technology disparities, and diminishing resources.
  • CommunityWorks is specifically designed for community, rural, and critical access hospitals to help overcome these challenges.
  • Oracle Health believes everyone deserves access to high-quality care, regardless of where they live," said Travis Dalton, executive vice president and general manager, Oracle Health.
  • It chose CommunityWorks along with Oracle Health products that support the oncology specialty and simplify infusion suite processes.

America's Veterans Deserve High Quality Anesthesia Care

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, September 20, 2023
Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Brookings Institution, National Rural Health Association, Education, MSN, AARP, Prosperity, Bangladesh Technical Education Board, USAFR, Woman, Multimedia, Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners, Veteran, National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Crna, American Medical Association, Organization, Medicare, Anesthesia, Bipartisan Policy Center, AANA, CRNA, Congress, Patient, Patient safety, RET, Veterans' affairs, Pain management, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, Trauma, House, Society, Nursing, Anesthesiology, Health

WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- During Congressional testimony today, the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA) urged the Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system to provide the same anesthesia care and services to our veterans as is in place in healthcare systems in 49 states. AANA President-Elect Jan Setnor, MSN, CRNA, Col. (Ret), USAFR, NC, in testimony before the House VA Committee Subcommittee on Health, defended Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists' (CRNAs') ability to deliver high-quality anesthesia care to all populations, including the complex needs of our nation's veterans, as a result of their specialized and detailed anesthesia training.

Key Points: 
  • Setnor stressed the need to allow CRNAs to apply this extensive training in delivering healthcare to our nation's veterans.
  • The men and women who have selflessly served our nation deserve the highest quality of care and all scientific evidence and multiple independent groups have concluded that that is CRNA care."
  • This decreases wait times, increases access to quality care and improves patient safety and satisfaction.
  • All anesthesia providers do high acuity/complex cases and take call independent of each other.

Equum Medical Launches the Lighthouse Series™: Inspiring Success Stories in Telehealth and Healthcare Transformation

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, July 20, 2023
Pressure, Telehealth, National Rural Health Association, Health care, American Telemedicine Association, MBA, Hospital, Patient, Length of stay, Patient safety, Nursing, Series, Mortality, ICU, MPH, ED, Management

The company, a leading provider of innovative telehealth services, has released the Equum Medical Lighthouse Series™ .

Key Points: 
  • The company, a leading provider of innovative telehealth services, has released the Equum Medical Lighthouse Series™ .
  • These customer success stories showcase the transformative power of telehealth in addressing key challenges faced by health systems and hospitals worldwide.
  • Dr. Scurlock, CEO and Founder of Equum Medical, emphasized the importance of sharing these success stories: "We are thrilled to launch the Equum Medical Lighthouse Series.
  • Equum Medical is an active member of the American Telemedicine Association and the National Rural Health Association , through which participating hospital systems can access thought leadership and engage with Equum Medical executives to expand telehealth understanding and applications.

Equum Medical and National Rural Health Association partner on IT, telehealth to help sustain the healthcare safety net

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, July 13, 2023
HRSA, DNA, Health Resources and Services Administration, Partnership, NRHA, National Rural Health Association, Coalition, Policy, Health Care Service Corporation, MBA, Research, NHRA, HIT, Government, Organization, Hospital, Vital signs, MD, Patient, Risk, Scurlock, High-integrity pressure protection system, Falling, Nursing

NEW YORK, July 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Rural Health Association (NRHA) has designated Equum Medical as its exclusive Health Information Technology Coalition Partner.

Key Points: 
  • NEW YORK, July 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Rural Health Association (NRHA) has designated Equum Medical as its exclusive Health Information Technology Coalition Partner.
  • In 2009 a "Rural Health Information Technology (HIT) Coalition" was convened under the aegis of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the National Rural Health Resource Center (NRHRC).
  • The Coalition identifies emerging technologies (as well as current policy issues) of critical importance to rural healthcare offering insights of particular interest to rural health care delivery through technology.
  • We have seen that Equum has the depth and breadth of rural health expertise to aid in providing that assistance."

HomeTown Health hosts 23rd Annual Spring Conference for Rural Hospitals

Retrieved on: 
Monday, April 24, 2023
Business development, M. Caldwell Butler, Medicaid, Executive, HomeTown (band), National Rural Health Association, Education, National Center for Trauma-Informed Care, COVID-19, Survival, NAMD, Trauma, Georgia House of Representatives, Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus, Bermuda Hospitals Board, Congress, Patient, Representative, Georgia Department of Community Supervision, Rural health, Knowledge, National Association, Manning, SHIP, Conference, Town hall, Community health, Nursing

CUMMING, Ga., April 24, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- HomeTown Health, a network of rural hospitals and partners throughout the Southeast United States, held its 23rd Annual Spring Conference April 12 - 14, 2023 at the Jekyll Island Convention Center in Jekyll Island, Georgia. The event brings together key rural healthcare stakeholders, rural hospital leaders and staff, industry experts, business partners and educational experts who share a commitment to the sustainability of rural healthcare.

Key Points: 
  • HomeTown Health, a network of rural hospitals and partners throughout the Southeast United States, held its 23rd Annual Spring Conference April 12 - 14, 2023 at the Jekyll Island Convention Center in Jekyll Island, Georgia.
  • CUMMING, Ga., April 24, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- HomeTown Health, a network of rural hospitals and partners throughout the Southeast United States, held its 23rd Annual Spring Conference April 12 - 14, 2023 at the Jekyll Island Convention Center in Jekyll Island, Georgia.
  • It is our goal to help rural healthcare not only survive but thrive in the rural communities that our members call home," shares Kristy Thomson, COO of HomeTown Health.
  • Morgan shared valuable statistics and insights on the status of rural health and rural health patient outcomes nationwide, rural workforce impacts from COVID-19, as well as Congressional updates that impact rural healthcare facilities.

AAIHR responds to US State Dept. retrogression of international nurse green cards

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, April 20, 2023
American Hospital Association, New York State Department of Health, Baby boomers, National Rural Health Association, International healthcare accreditation, Visa, Medicine, United States Department of State, Dialysis, American Medical Association, Congress, Hospital, Patient, Nursing, COVID-19, Roger Hawkins (drummer)

WASHINGTON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Association of International Healthcare Recruitment responded today to the State Department's May Visa Bulletin, indicating a catastrophic green card freeze for international nurses.

Key Points: 
  • WASHINGTON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Association of International Healthcare Recruitment responded today to the State Department's May Visa Bulletin, indicating a catastrophic green card freeze for international nurses.
  • to throttle green cards for international nurses
    The freeze means that only those nurses with green card petitions filed earlier than June 2022 may proceed with their green card interviews.
  • American hospitals, particularly those serving rural populations, would have collapsed long ago without the contributions of international nurses," remarked AAIHR President Patty Jeffrey, R.N.
  • The HWRA would not create any new visas but recapture old ones that have mothballed under bureaucratic inefficiency, thereby solving the State Department's visa retrogression.