Available Grants
Resources
- Health Guide USA
-
A
Bibliography August 2003 to April 2005 Reports from Rural Health Research
Centers
-
The 2005
Edition of Rural Health Research in Progress
-
Latest Data on Rural Poverty: Pervasive Poverty Still Reigns in Rural
America, but Things are Looking up in the Plains
-
School of
Education Awarded $10 Million to Study, Improve Rural Schools Nationwide
- Technical
Assistance for Rural Health Centers on Quality Improvement
- The
Pulse of CMS,
Spring 2004. A HHS quarterly regional publication for health care
professionals serving Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and
Wisconsin.
-
Rural
Monitor, Winter 2003/2004. A publication of the Rural Assistance Center
-
American
Hospital Association “Trend Watch"
- What is a Federally Qualified Health
Center?
- What is a Rural Health Clinic?
- What are Shortage Designations?
- Sources for Rural Health Data
-
Monograph on Rural Homelessness Available
-
Locate Free Medications On-Line - RxAssist
-
HRSA - New
Emergency Preparedness Publication Available on the Web
-
Smallpox information for
the public and providers, from the U.S. Department of Health & Human
Services
-
Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality
-
Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality (AHRQ) Issues New Data on the Uninsured
- National Rural
Education Association
- Healthy People 2010
- Rural Healthy People
2010: A Companion Document to Healthy People 2010
-
Key Rural Publications (Available at the Rural Assistance Center)
-
Facts
About Rural Health From MedlinePlus
- Rural Health
Newsletters
-
Search for Training
Opportunities
Rural Health Links
Publications
Links
AcademyHealth
AcademyHealth is the professional home for
health services researchers, policy analysts, and practitioners, and a
leading, nonpartisan resource for the best in health research and policy.
AcademyHealth promotes interaction across the health research and policy
arenas by bringing together a broad spectrum of players to share their
perspectives, learn from each other, and strengthen their working
relationships.
Rural health networks have captured the
attention of health care providers and policymakers as an important strategy
for improving access to health care services for rural populations, increasing
the effectiveness of network member institutions, and aiding the diffusion of
managed care in rural areas. Networks bring together rural providers-and
possibly other agencies, employers, or community organizations-to address
health care problems that could not be solved by any single entity working
alone. The aim of the Networking for Rural Health project was to
strengthen the rural health care infrastructure by fostering development of
rural health networks that seek to improve access to and the quality of health
care services in rural communities. To read five case studies of
networks that used the resources provided by the Networking for Rural Health
project to plan and implement activities to meet community needs,
click here.
These case studies highlight a range of network sizes and compositions,
service area characteristics, and relevant activities.
http://www.academyhealth.org
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Federal Office
of Rural Health Policy
A department of the
Department of Health and Human Services, ORHP is charged with promoting better
health care service in rural America. ORHP provides grants on rural health
projects and oversees the state’s implementation of the Rural Hospital Health
Flexibility Program.
www.ruralhealth.hrsa.gov/
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Glossary of
Health Care Terms
The Michigan Health & Hospital Association
has created a glossary of health care terms to help everyone navigate through
the world of health care acronyms.
www.mha.org/glossary/cover.htm
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Michigan Center for Rural
Health
The Center coordinates, plans,
and advocates for improved health for Michigan's rural residents and
communities through creative visionary education, service, and research.
www.com.msu.edu/micrh/
Several specific sources for information through
the Center include:
Tele-Health Info. & Resource Center: www.com.msu.edu/micrh/Telehealth/index.htm
Critical Access
Hospitals: www.com.msu.edu/micrh/CAH/index.htm
Rural Flexibility
Grant Overview: www.com.msu.edu/micrh/CAH/Medicareoverview.htm
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Michigan
Health Council
The Michigan Health Council (MHC) continues a tradition started
in 1943 of providing healthcare organizations, employers, health professionals
and others with opportunities to coalesce, innovate and develop
action-oriented services to address the changing needs and demands of the
healthcare workforce
www.mhc.org
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Michigan State Medical Society
A good source of
information on issues and legislation relating to the physician community.
www.msms.org
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Misc RURAL HOMEPAGE
Miscellaneous rural homepage is a newsgroup
homepage featuring discussion (not moderated) with a focus on rural life and
rural issues.
http://rip.physics.unk.edu/rural/rural.html
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National
Advisory Committee on Rural Health
The NAC on Rural Health
advises the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services on the
provision and financing of health care services in rural areas. http://ruralhealth.hrsa.gov/policy/nac.htm
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National Association of Rural Health
Clinics
The NARHC is a national organization
dedicated to improving the delivery of quality, cost-effective health care in
rural underserved areas through the Rural Health Clinics Program. NARHC works
with Congress, federal agencies, and rural health allies to promote, expand,
and protect the RHC Program.
www.narhc.org/
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National Rural Development
Partnership
The National Rural Development Partnership
(NRDP) through 37 State Rural Development Councils and a National Rural
Development Council, brings together federal, state, local, and tribal
governments, as well as the private for-profit and non-profit sectors, to work
in partnership for the improvement of rural America's communities.
http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/nrdp/
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National Rural
Health Association
The NRHA is a non-profit, national organization whose
mission is to improve the health and healthcare of rural Americans and to
provide leadership on rural issues through advocacy, communications, education
and research. The association head-quartered in Kansas City, Missouri, with a
government affairs office in Washington, D.C. www.nrharural.org
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National Rural
Health Resource Center
Funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, the
National Rural Health Resource Center, a private, non-profit organization
headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota, has been developed by a coalition of
national health organizations to bring needed technical assistance,
information and process tools to rural communities.
www.ruralcenter.org
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Pam Pohly's Net Guide
This website is designed to assist health care
professionals and administrators in finding pertinent resources, both on and
off the Internet. A wealth of links and reference materials are
available for career enhancement, employment searches, and professional
development. http://www.pohly.com/
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Rural
Assistance Center
The Rural Assistance Center (RAC)
was established as a rural health and human services "information portal."
It helps rural communities and other rural stakeholders access the full range
of available programs, funding, and research that can enable them to provide
quality health and human services to rural residents.
http://raconline.org
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Rural Family Doc
Information for Family Practice Residents &
Practicing Physicians.
http://www.ruralfamilymedicine.org
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Rural Health Clinic
This resource has been developed to incorporate
all Medicare Fee-for-Service Rural Health Clinic specific information in one
place. We will continue to add information to this page as it becomes
available.
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/center/rural.asp
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Rural Health
Research Center
The Rural Health Research
Center (RHRC) Program objective is to increase the amount of high quality,
policy relevant, rural health services research being conducted in the Nation.
The centers study critical concerns facing rural communities in their quest to
secure adequate, affordable, high quality health services.
http://ruralhealth.hrsa.gov/policy/rhrccoop.htm
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Rural Health Resource Directory
A guide to rural health consultants and
technical experts.
http://www.ruralcenter.org/consult
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Rural Health
Roundtable
The Capital Area Rural Health Roundtable
is an open forum for the exchange of ideas for important rural health topics.
Sponsored by the George Mason University Center for Health Policy, Research
and Ethics, these forums provide briefings on rural health issues to
organizations, agencies and institutions that have a strong interest in rural
America and rural health care. In addition to its Capital Hill forums, the
Roundtable maintains a listserv to update participants on forum topics, and it
maintains a directory of over 600 members and organizations.
http://www.gmu.edu/departments/chpre/ruralhealth
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Rural
Hospitals Information Resources
This website provides
links of interest to Rural Hospitals.
http://www.nal.usda.gov/ric/ruralres/hospital.htm
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Rural Information Center Health Service
The Rural Information Center Health Service
(RICHS) is a joint project of the Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP),
Department of Health and Human Services, and the
National
Agricultural Library (NAL), United States Department of
Agriculture. Operating as part of NAL's
Rural Information Center (RIC),
RICHS collects and disseminates information on rural health issues.
http://www.nal.usda.gov/ric/richs/
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Rural
Institute on Disabilities
The Rural
Institute assists in providing training, research, service demonstration
projects, leverage of funds and disseminates information which increases and
supports the independence, productivity and inclusion into the community of
persons with developmental disabilities. The site is funded by the Federal
Administration of Developmental Disabilities and is sponsored by the
University of Montana Rural Institute.
http://ruralinstitute.umt.edu/
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Rural
Policy Research Institute
The Rural Policy Research
Institute (RUPRI) conducts policy-relevant research and facilitates public
dialogue to assist policymakers in understanding the rural impacts of public
policies and programs. This site contains nation-wide demographic
information on rural America.
www.rupri.org/
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Rural
Telehealth and Community Education Network
The Rural Telehealth and Community
Education Network (RTCEN) is operated by Central Michigan University in
collaboration with a growing base of community partners. Presently, the
major network partners are the 26 member Isabella County Health & Human
Services Collaborative Council, six additional health care systems, the
Michigan Health Council, Michigan Center for Rural Health, and the Clare and
Gratiot County Collaborative Councils.
www.chp.cmich.edu/rtcen/
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80-55 Coalition
Provides political advocacy material for rural
interests and useful facts/information about rural America. 80-55 is a
nonpartisan group of advocacy, policy, and research organizations dedicated to
strengthening rural America. The 80-55 Coalition unites rural Americans
and organizations that represent their interests and educates policymakers,
decision-makers, and the public on facts about rural America.
http://www.8055.org
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Resources
Health Guide USA
Health Guide USA has been developed to give users quicker, more
efficient access to a wide variety of online healthcare related resources.
It provides the ideal gateway to a wide array of online health information
sources.
http://www.fatrat.com/index.htm
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Healthy People 2010
Healthy People 2010 provides a framework for
prevention for the Nation. It is a statement of national health
objectives designed to identify the most significant preventable
threats to health and to establish national goals to reduce these
threats.
http://www.healthypeople.gov/About/
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Rural Healthy People 2010: A Companion
Document to Healthy People 2010
It is
this recognition of the unique health challenges faced by rural America that
serves as the impetus for the Rural Healthy People 2010 Project. The primary
goal of this research effort is to identify and address the priority health
concerns of rural America.
http://www.srph.tamhsc.edu/centers/rhp2010/default.htm
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Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality (AHRQ) Issues New Data on the Uninsured
Details about the
uninsured are in several statistical briefs just released by AHRQ,
including:
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What is a Federally Qualified Health Center?
Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) constitute an
important component of the nation’s health care safety net. FQHC is an
umbrella term for a number of safety-net programs and refers to how they are
reimbursed by Medicaid. The following types of delivery sites are considered
FQHCs:
For more information on the FQHC programs, you may want to
contact:
Top of Page What is a Rural Health Clinic?
The
Rural Health Clinics Services Act (PL 95-210) was passed by the federal
government in 1977. The intent of this Act is to increase the availability
and accessibility of primary and emergency health care to residents of rural
areas that have a shortage of health care services and professionals. The
Rural Health Clinic Services Act is the financing mechanism for increasing
Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement to any type of public or private sector
physician practice, clinic, hospital, nursing home, or home health agency
that meets the certification criteria.
The
law authorizes Medicare and Medicaid to reimburse qualified Rural Health
Clinics (RHCs) for covered health care services furnished by nurse
practitioners, physician assistants, and certified nurse midwives working
with the supervision/collaboration of a physician. The RHC certification in
effect expands the Medicare reimbursable provider types beyond physician to
include nurse practitioner, physician assistant, certified nurse midwife,
clinical psychologist, and/or clinical social worker.
A
Rural Health Clinic may be either provider based (i.e., and integral part of
a hospital, nursing home, or home health agency), or it can be independent
unit housed in a mobile or permanent structure. A clinic can be privately or
publicly owned and operated either on a for-profit or not-for-profit basis.
For more information on the rural health
clinic program, you may want to contact:
To apply for certification as a Rural
Health Clinic, please contact Carole Presson, Division of Licensing and
Certification, at (517) 241-3841.
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What are Shortage Designations?
Medically Underserved Areas
(MUA) and
Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA),
established under the U.S. Public Health Service Act (Sections 330 and 332),
are federal designations of a geographic area (usually a county or a
collection of townships or census tracts) which meet the
federally-established criteria as needing additional primary health care
services.
Federal designation as a MUA or a HPSA is based on measures
of the availability of health professional resources within a rational
service area. The definition of a rational service area is usually based on
a thirty-minute travel time. Other factors considered in the designation
process are the availability of primary health care resources in contiguous
areas and the presence of high need indicators, such as high infant
mortality rate or high poverty rate.
An amendment to Section 330 instituted a Medically
Underserved Population (MUP) designation for a population that faces
significant barriers to accessing primary health care services. HPSA
designations usually apply to geographic areas, but may apply to population
groups or facilities.
The Shortage Designation Branch of the National Center for
Health Workforce Analysis, Bureau of Health Professions, Healthcare
Resources and Services Administration, Department of Health and Human
Services is responsible for the designation process.
For assistance in applying for a federal shortage
designation, you can contact Monica Balderson, Michigan Department of
Community Health, at (517) 241-9947.
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Sources for Rural Health Data
The Internet is rich with
data. The key is to know where to look and what sources to trust. The
Michigan Rural Health Association (MRHA) has compiled some reliable sources
for data.
Michigan Organizations
Federal Government
Private Organizations
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Monograph on
Rural Homelessness Available
The National Health Care for the Homeless Council has produced a very nice 32
page monograph titled, "Hard to Reach: Rural Homelessness and Healthcare."
This is the first publication in quite some time on the topic of rural
homelessness. The .pdf file can be downloaded from their Web site and printed
for free, or a spiral bound print version can be purchased from the same site:
http://www.nhchc.org/publist.html.
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Locate Free Medications On-Line - RxAssist, an On-line Tool to Assist Health
Care Providers for the Uninsured
RxAssist is an on-line tool created to assist health care providers in
locating sources of free pharmaceuticals for their uninsured patients. The Web
site contains a searchable database with up-to-date information on accessing
more than 100 manufacturers' programs.
RxAssist will help locate pharmaceutical manufacturer programs that match
patients' needs, and provide step-by-step instructions on how to apply.
Searches can be performed by company name, brand name, generic name, or drug
class to receive a list of matching programs.
Many application forms, sample letters of need, and other useful information
can also be downloaded. The program is updated continuously to ensure the
latest information is available. To learn more about the program, visit
http://www.volunteersinhealthcare.org.
RxAssist is a program of Volunteers in Health Care to aid health care
professionals who care for the uninsured and is supported through a grant from
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
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HRSA Announces a New Emergency Preparedness Publication Available on the Web.
The Health Resources and
Services Administration (HRSA) has a new publication available on the Web.
"Rural Communities and Emergency Preparedness," prepared by the Office of
Rural Health Policy, addresses the special emergency preparedness concerns
unique to rural areas.
The need for well-prepared emergency response agencies was never more evident
than on September 11, 2001. While much of the aftermath of those events has
resulted in an increased focus on these agencies in urban areas, it has also
become clear that such a focus is also necessary in rural areas. Rural areas
are not only home to 65 million Americans, but are also the sites of most of
the country's farms, numerous power facilities and weapons of mass
destruction. A lack of emergency-related resources in rural areas may
compromise rural readiness for future.
The document can be downloaded from the following link:
ftp://ftp.hrsa.gov/ruralhealth/RuralPreparedness.pdf.
The NRHA has also issued a Policy Brief of Rural Preparedness. This Policy
Brief can be downloaded from the Advocacy Section of the NRHA Web site in pdf
format by clicking on the following link:
http://www.NRHArural.org/pdf/RuralPreparednessBrief.pdf.
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Rural Health Newsletters
This resource guide provides
links to full-text newsletters that include articles and information on
rural health issues. Various organizations, federal agencies, and
universities prepared most of the national newsletters while the state
newsletters were prepared mainly by state agencies and offices of rural
health, state rural health associations, area health education centers, and
university.
www.nal.usda.gov/ric/richs/newsltrs.htm
Grants
Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT)
Grant Program
Administered under Rural Development’s
Telecommunications Program. The application deadline for Fiscal Year
2006 DLT grants is June 12, 2006.
Grants: $20 million
Minimum: $50,000
Maximum: $500,000
Advanced telecommunications services
play a vital role in the economic development, education and health care
of rural Americans. The Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) Program
is specifically designed to meet the educational and health care needs
of rural America through the use of advanced telecommunications
technologies. With DLT grants, loans, and loan-grant combinations, we
help rural communities enjoy enhanced educational opportunities,
improved health care services and greater economic development.
http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/mi/
Outreach Grant Program
The Office of Rural Health Policy's
Outreach Grant Program is designed to encourage the development of new and
innovative health care delivery systems in rural communities that lack
essential health care services. The emphasis of this grant program
is on service delivery through creative strategies requiring the grantee
to form a network with at least two additional partners. Programs
funded have varied greatly, and have brought care that would not otherwise
have been available to at least two million rural citizens across the
country. Through consortia of schools, churches, emergency medical
service providers, local universities, private practitioners, and the
like, rural communities have managed to create hospice care, bring health
check-ups to children, and provide prenatal care to women in remote areas.
To be eligible, the grant recipient's headquarters must be public or
nonprofit private entity and be located in a designated rural county, or
exclusively provide services to migrant and seasonal farm workers in rural
areas, or be a Native American Tribal or quasi-tribal entity. See
Geographic Eligibility for Rural Health Grant Programs at
http://ruralhealth.hrsa.gov/funding/outreach.htm for more information.
Note: To be placed on a
mailing list for the Rural Health Outreach Grant application package, you
must call the HRSA Grants Application Center at 877/477-2123 and ask for
Grant Package HRSA 04-001.
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