The Colorado Trust Partners to Strengthen Colorado’s Healthcare Workforce
This video by The Colorado Trust describes how the Colorado Health Professions Workforce Policy Collaborative, which is administered by CRHC and funded by The Colorado Trust, is working to create policy solutions to the healthcare workforce shortage Colorado is facing. The Collaborative has brought together policymakers, healthcare providers, educators, and other importnt voices who are dedicated to strengthening Colorado's healthcare system by addressing this issue. (Video is large, please allow time to load.)
View this video on The Colorado Trust's website >
Local impact of health reform uncertain
An exerpt from the Fort Morgan Times, by Dan Barker
Just how the new Affordable Care Act health care reform will impact Colorado, Morgan County and the eastern plains is not certain yet. Analysts are still trying to figure it all out, said Terri Hurst of the Colorado Rural Health Center, who was reporting to Progressive 15 members at the organization's annual standing committees meetings last week.
"Nothing's very defined yet," said Sally Henry of the Centennial Area Health Education Center, who gave a report along with Hurst for the health and human services committee. What is known is that certain sectors of the public will be added to Medicaid, which will mean an increase in that budget area for Colorado, Hurst said. Colorado already has a $75 million deficit it needs to deal with, and probably more of a deficit to come, she said.
Traditionally, states pay 50 percent of Medicaid, although recently the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus money has meant that Colorado has only paid 40 percent, Hurst said. Unfortunately, that stimulus money expires at the end of December, she said. Since the state made a budget assuming the 40 percent funding level, it may be facing an additional $240 million shortfall with no idea where the money will come from, Hurst said.
To read the complete article, please visit the Fort Morgan Times website.
Just how the new Affordable Care Act health care reform will impact Colorado, Morgan County and the eastern plains is not certain yet. Analysts are still trying to figure it all out, said Terri Hurst of the Colorado Rural Health Center, who was reporting to Progressive 15 members at the organization's annual standing committees meetings last week.
"Nothing's very defined yet," said Sally Henry of the Centennial Area Health Education Center, who gave a report along with Hurst for the health and human services committee. What is known is that certain sectors of the public will be added to Medicaid, which will mean an increase in that budget area for Colorado, Hurst said. Colorado already has a $75 million deficit it needs to deal with, and probably more of a deficit to come, she said.
Traditionally, states pay 50 percent of Medicaid, although recently the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus money has meant that Colorado has only paid 40 percent, Hurst said. Unfortunately, that stimulus money expires at the end of December, she said. Since the state made a budget assuming the 40 percent funding level, it may be facing an additional $240 million shortfall with no idea where the money will come from, Hurst said.
To read the complete article, please visit the Fort Morgan Times website.
Kit Carson, Colorado Awarded $1 Million Grant
Kit Carson, Colorado – population 250 – will get a housing makeover due to a $1 million grant announced in July by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The funding will support production of sorely needed housing and clean-up in the community’s historic “Main Street” area.
The Kit Carson Main Street Affordable Housing Project will develop five detached homes for rental or homeownership, depending on the community’s needs. The grant will cover rehabilitation of two presently uninhabitable houses; construction of two new homes on empty lots; and demolition of a house on a fifth property and building of a fifth home on that site. Kit Carson Rural Development, a non-profit organization whose mission is rural economic development in the area, will manage the grant.
Amy Johnson with Kit Carson Rural Development explains that when rural communities work to recruit professionals, their “impression of the town” plays an important role, with housing, amenities, and parks and recreation all being intertwined in creating that impression. With 250 residents and a very small Main Street area, the three uninhabitable homes in Kit Carson contributed to a negative first impression of the town. That, coupled with a lack of housing for young professionals, makes recruitment a very difficult task. With five of Kit Carson’s 12 teachers nearing retirement age, recruitment of teachers is increasingly on the minds of town leaders like Johnson.
In areas all across rural Colorado, housing crops up as an impediment to recruiting professionals – not only educators, but healthcare professionals, as well. This sort of improvement project has a tremendous positive impact on how someone considering relocation perceives the community!
The path leading to this $1 million award began with Kit Carson Rural Development successfully implementing the $180,000 Prairie Park enhancement project, funded by Great Outdoors Colorado, or GOCO. Then, they turned their attention to a 6,500 square foot gas station / liquor store / auto sales and service center that had been abandoned roughly 20 years ago. In partnership with Colorado Brownfields Foundation, they were able to get funding from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to assess and clean up this blighted and polluted site, making way for a business ready site, for which the community is now actively recruiting a business to occupy. Having a proven track record of successfully completing grant-funded projects, Kit Carson Rural Development was ready when Darlene Scott with the Office of Economic Development brought the grant opportunity to the town’s attention.
A total of six grants were awarded by HUD, through their HOPE VI Main Street program. Johnson indicates that these six grantees were chosen from only 38 applicants, many of which were ineligible for various reasons. For more information on the HOPE VI Main Street program, click here.
Congratulations, Kit Carson, on this major grant award!
The Kit Carson Main Street Affordable Housing Project will develop five detached homes for rental or homeownership, depending on the community’s needs. The grant will cover rehabilitation of two presently uninhabitable houses; construction of two new homes on empty lots; and demolition of a house on a fifth property and building of a fifth home on that site. Kit Carson Rural Development, a non-profit organization whose mission is rural economic development in the area, will manage the grant.
Amy Johnson with Kit Carson Rural Development explains that when rural communities work to recruit professionals, their “impression of the town” plays an important role, with housing, amenities, and parks and recreation all being intertwined in creating that impression. With 250 residents and a very small Main Street area, the three uninhabitable homes in Kit Carson contributed to a negative first impression of the town. That, coupled with a lack of housing for young professionals, makes recruitment a very difficult task. With five of Kit Carson’s 12 teachers nearing retirement age, recruitment of teachers is increasingly on the minds of town leaders like Johnson.
In areas all across rural Colorado, housing crops up as an impediment to recruiting professionals – not only educators, but healthcare professionals, as well. This sort of improvement project has a tremendous positive impact on how someone considering relocation perceives the community!
The path leading to this $1 million award began with Kit Carson Rural Development successfully implementing the $180,000 Prairie Park enhancement project, funded by Great Outdoors Colorado, or GOCO. Then, they turned their attention to a 6,500 square foot gas station / liquor store / auto sales and service center that had been abandoned roughly 20 years ago. In partnership with Colorado Brownfields Foundation, they were able to get funding from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to assess and clean up this blighted and polluted site, making way for a business ready site, for which the community is now actively recruiting a business to occupy. Having a proven track record of successfully completing grant-funded projects, Kit Carson Rural Development was ready when Darlene Scott with the Office of Economic Development brought the grant opportunity to the town’s attention.
A total of six grants were awarded by HUD, through their HOPE VI Main Street program. Johnson indicates that these six grantees were chosen from only 38 applicants, many of which were ineligible for various reasons. For more information on the HOPE VI Main Street program, click here.
Congratulations, Kit Carson, on this major grant award!
Save the date for The Forum 2011!
The Forum 2011: Essential Perspectives for Safety Net Providers
Save the date for next year's Forum! It will be held April 19-21, 2011 at the Red Lion Hotel in Aurora. More details will be posted as they become available.
Save the date for next year's Forum! It will be held April 19-21, 2011 at the Red Lion Hotel in Aurora. More details will be posted as they become available.
CRHC's 2009 Annual Report
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| Click to download (PDF) |
Health Insurance Exchange Forums
As part of federal health care reform, Colorado has the responsibility for the implementation of a new Health Insurance Exchange. The 2011 general assembly and the next governor will need to make some key decisions about the structure, governance and role of the exchange in Colorado.
CCHI, the Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved (CCMU) and the Health Reform Implementation Board (Department of Health Care Policy and Finance) are working together to host a series of community forums, facilitated by Gretchen Hammer from CCMU, to discuss the options for our state, as well as to seek and collect input from stakeholders and consumers.
We invite and encourage you to attend any/all of these forums scheduled for the following dates and times:
All meetings are open to the public and we look forward to seeing you there!
CCHI, the Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved (CCMU) and the Health Reform Implementation Board (Department of Health Care Policy and Finance) are working together to host a series of community forums, facilitated by Gretchen Hammer from CCMU, to discuss the options for our state, as well as to seek and collect input from stakeholders and consumers.
We invite and encourage you to attend any/all of these forums scheduled for the following dates and times:
- Friday, July 23, 2010; 9–11am at National Jewish Hospital, Molly Blank Center
- Thursday, August 12, 2010; 9–11am, location TBD
- Monday, August 30, 2010; 3–5pm, location TBD
- Monday, September 13, 2010; 3–5pm, location TBD
- Wednesday, September 29, 2010; 9–11am, location TBD
- October meetings outside Denver metro area
All meetings are open to the public and we look forward to seeing you there!
2010 Do No Harm X Conference
Friday, November 19th, 2010
The Colorado Patient Safety Coalition is hosting a conference this November, entitled "Ten Years Into the Patient Safety Movement: Where Do We Come From? Who Are We? Where Are We Going?" It will be held at the University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus in the Hensel Phelps Auditorium. The Keynote Speaker will be David Lawrence, MD, Former Chairman & CEO Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals.
The Colorado Patient Safety Coalition is hosting a conference this November, entitled "Ten Years Into the Patient Safety Movement: Where Do We Come From? Who Are We? Where Are We Going?" It will be held at the University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus in the Hensel Phelps Auditorium. The Keynote Speaker will be David Lawrence, MD, Former Chairman & CEO Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals.
- Sign up early for special rates
- Nominate colleagues for safety awards
- Exhibit in the vendor expo area
- Feature your activity with a poster
Annual Conference Reflections, by Lou Ann Wilroy
As the State Office of Rural Health, our Annual Conference serves as Colorado’s premier rural healthcare meeting of the year. Every year we challenge ourselves to top the previous year’s conference, understanding how important this meeting is for our members and everyone who cares about the health of rural Coloradans. This year, I feel we achieved our goal at our conference in Breckenridge July 1-2. Conference evaluations were very generous in expressing appreciation for the incredible networking opportunities, and high caliber speakers. Thank you to our elite sponsor, The Colorado Health Foundation, premier sponsor, HealthONE, and our classic sponsors, Centura Health, Colorado Hospital Association, COPIC Companies, and The Colorado Trust without whose support the event would have been impossible!
Keynote speaker Brian Lee, founder of Custom Learning Systems, did an excellent job of getting everyone focused on proactively tackling healthcare reform and making it a positive for patients and providers . The work we do is difficult and often frustrating, and it’s all too easy to fall into the trap of being cynical about the challenges we’re presented with from the legislative arena. Brian showed us that the right attitude and a focus on the goal of providing excellent patient care makes anything possible.
Joan Henneberry, Director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Finance, continued the theme. (This is all the more impressive if you understand even a tiny portion of the challenges that this leader confronts at work each day!) Joan discussed how federal healthcare reform legislation has already benefitted us significantly in our work, and how 2014 – admittedly still a good bit down the road – will allow us to add 130,000 more Coloradans to Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) enrollment.
Brock Slabach, senior vice-president with the National Rural Health Association, urged us to push the envelope on the Health Information Technology (HIT) front. “Those who have deployed HIT systems beyond Meaningful Use and leveraged these systems to control costs and improve quality demonstrably will survive the coming storm,” Brock predicted. Despite the technological and financial challenges contained in his challenge, I saw a lot of heads nodding around the room when Brock made this point. What’s truly important is never easy.
Thank you to all the wonderful speakers and conference attendees, especially those in rural Colorado who traveled long distances to join us for our Annual Conference. Thank you also to my staff for exceeding my expectations for this meeting. I left the mountains more energized and ready to do our part to take on healthcare reform together and achieve the mission of providing rural Coloradans with access to high quality healthcare services. If you were there with me, I hope it was a good meeting for you too.
Sincerely,
Lou Ann Wilroy
CEO, Colorado Rural Health Center
Grants Available for CHP+/Medicaid Enrollment
MORE grant funds are now available to provide outreach, enrollment and application assistance to enroll children and pregnant women up to 250% Federal Poverty Level (FPL) in Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) and low-income parents qualifying for Medicaid up to 100% FPL. You have the opportunity to receive funding to help your community in the way that you know works.
The first year of funding for the MORE Grant Program is $640,000, with each grantee eligible for up to $100,000.
Applications are due August 9, 2010 by 3:00 p.m.
Eligible recipients:
Certified Application Assistance Sites, PE sites, Medical Assistance sites, county departments of human/social services, or other community-based organizations serving families or individuals that may be eligible for CHP+ or Medicaid.
If you are interested in applying for MORE Grant Program funding, please click here or contact Cindi Terra.
The first year of funding for the MORE Grant Program is $640,000, with each grantee eligible for up to $100,000.
Applications are due August 9, 2010 by 3:00 p.m.
Eligible recipients:
Certified Application Assistance Sites, PE sites, Medical Assistance sites, county departments of human/social services, or other community-based organizations serving families or individuals that may be eligible for CHP+ or Medicaid.
If you are interested in applying for MORE Grant Program funding, please click here or contact Cindi Terra.
CHAMPS Immunization Teleconference
CHAMPS will be holding the Fall 2010 Immunization Update Teleconference: HPV, Pertussis, Influenza/H1N1, and More on Tuesday, August 3, 2010, at 11:45 to 1:00 pm MT. This teleconference is being sponsored by CHAMPS, Colorado Community Health Network (CCHN), and Colorado Children’s Immunization Coalition (CCIC). The teleconference is free to all health care professionals.
Presenter: Dr. Robert Brayden is Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and Pediatrician at the Child Health Clinic, The Children’s Hospital, Denver, Colorado.
This teleconference will cover the following objectives:
1) Understand the epidemiology and clinical features of HPV including the HPV4 vaccine for males.
2) Understand transmission and complications of Pertussis and the concept of cocooning for the protection of infants.
3) Learn about the 2010-2011 influenza and H1N1 vaccine strains and recommendations.
4) Learn about new candidate vaccines including pneumococcal 13-valent, RSV and CMV.
5) Hear updates on vaccine shortages including Hib, Hep A, and MMRV.
6) Learn answers to questions regarding current vaccine recommendations.
CME credit of 1.25 hours will be provided through the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), pending approval. CME credit will be provided for free to members of CHAMPS and CCHN. Non-members of CHAMPS or CCHN will be charged a $15 fee for CME.
Click here for further information and instructions on how to register. Please note that all participants must register for this event.
Presenter: Dr. Robert Brayden is Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and Pediatrician at the Child Health Clinic, The Children’s Hospital, Denver, Colorado.
This teleconference will cover the following objectives:
1) Understand the epidemiology and clinical features of HPV including the HPV4 vaccine for males.
2) Understand transmission and complications of Pertussis and the concept of cocooning for the protection of infants.
3) Learn about the 2010-2011 influenza and H1N1 vaccine strains and recommendations.
4) Learn about new candidate vaccines including pneumococcal 13-valent, RSV and CMV.
5) Hear updates on vaccine shortages including Hib, Hep A, and MMRV.
6) Learn answers to questions regarding current vaccine recommendations.
CME credit of 1.25 hours will be provided through the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), pending approval. CME credit will be provided for free to members of CHAMPS and CCHN. Non-members of CHAMPS or CCHN will be charged a $15 fee for CME.
Click here for further information and instructions on how to register. Please note that all participants must register for this event.
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