Michigan Primary Care
Association
Budget & Finance Committee
Conference Call
Health Policy Committee
Conference Call
Michigan First Credit Union
Health Policy Committee
Conference Call
2010 MPCA Annual Conference
Upcoming State &
National Events
Click here for a list of upcoming events to be held by
other organizations in Michigan and across the country.
The MPCA e-Update is a weekly
e-bulletin intended to keep MPCA members updated on issues important to
Community Health Centers. Please feel free to forward this to interested
individuals, or they may request to be added to the distribution list by registering here. Information from outside
organizations does not represent an endorsement by MPCA, and opinions
expressed by outside authors are not necessarily official positions or
policies of MPCA.
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There was no action on the state
budget this week. We will keep you updated as developments unfold, so
stay tuned.
State Primary Election August 3
The State Primary Election will
be held Tuesday, August 3. Click
here to access the Community Health Vote section of MPCA's web site -
there you will find a link to the Michigan Primary candidate listing and
several voter guides, as well as information on materials for Health
Centers interested in educating and registering voters.
According to the annual Kids
Count Data 2010 report on child well being released this week, Michigan
fell to number 30 among the 50 states. This is the state's worst
ranking in more than a decade. Areas that have worsened in Michigan
are the ability of parents to find secure employment, infant mortality, and
child poverty. Michigan did, however, improve in the areas of the
teen birth rate, teen death rate, and child deaths.
According to data released this
week by the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of uninsured people in Michigan
reached 1,042,613 (12% of the state's population) in 2007. This
number does not include the impact on people who lost their jobs and health
insurance after the recession began in December 2007.
Governor Jennifer M. Granholm
declared a state of disaster on July 27 in Calhoun County and potentially
affected areas along the Kalamazoo River downstream of Talmadge Creek in
response to Monday's oil spill from a pipeline near Marshall, Michigan.
CMS Administrator Don Berwick
will take part in a special HealthCare.gov webchat today at 12:30 pm ET to
highlight the anniversary. It will be broadcast live on www.healthcare.gov/live.
The U.S. Senate Appropriations
Committee reported out the FY 2011 appropriations bill for the Department
of Labor, Health and Human Services this week by a vote of 18-12 that
provides $169.6 billion in discretionary funding for a range of programs
that will help create jobs and train American workers, target fraud and
abuse, and incentivize States and local communities to reform their health,
workforce and education systems.
On Thursday, the U.S. House
Energy and Commerce Committee Health Subcommittee unanimously passed HR
1745, the Family Health Care Accessibility Act. This bill extends
Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) coverage to volunteer practitioners in
Health Centers. It now heads to the full committee.
HHS Secretary Sebelius announced
this week the investment of $9 million to support Preventive Medicine
Residency Programs at accredited schools of public health, schools of
medicine, and hospitals. Of these funds, nearly $6.7 million is part
of the $200 million appropriated to HHS' Health Resources and Services
Administration (HRSA) under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
to address the nation's health care workforce shortages.
HHS announced the availability of
up to $1 million in grants per state to help states begin work to establish
Exchanges and published a request for comment calling for public input as
HHS develops standards for the Exchanges.
The CDC issued a Health Alert
Network notice to health care providers on July 22 regarding dengue.
Health care providers seeing patients with dengue-like illness who have
recently traveled to Puerto Rico, Key West, Florida, or international
dengue-affect areas should report cases to the local or state health
department and send specimens for laboratory testing. Click
here for updated guidelines for the management of dengue.
The Advisory Committee on
Immunization Practices (ACIP) published the flu recommendations for 2010 in
an early release of the Morbidity
and Mortality Weekly Review. Included is important
information about the updated 2 dose rule for children (see page 34, figure
3).
NATIONAL HEALTH
CENTER WEEK
The kickoff of National Health
Center Week is just 9 days away, and 21 Michigan Health Centers are
planning celebratory events! Leading up to the weeklong celebration,
NACHC has released a fact
sheet showing that more patients have gained access to health care
through Community Health Centers thanks to stimulus funding.
NACHC has also developed
communication tools to help you spread the word about your event - click
here for customizable press release and media advisory templates, as
well as National Health Center Week 2010 message points.
Please forward any media
coverage that your events receive to Dana Hughes at dhughes@mpca.net. We will post
them on the MPCA web site, highlight the on our blog and Facebook page, and
share them with NACHC.
HEALTH CENTERS IN THE
NEWS
While in Benton Harbor on July
20, Governor Granholm visited the construction site of InterCare Community
Health Network's new Benton Harbor Health Center that is scheduled to open
in 2011. The new 40,0000 square foot state-of-the-art,
environmentally friendly Health Center will replace two existing sites in
Benton Harbor to improve patient flow, increase efficiency, and meet demand
for services that is projected to increase 35 percent in the next few
years.
Downriver Community Services,
Family Health Center of Battle Creek, Hackley Community Care Center, and
InterCare Community Health Network have been named among the state's top
health care providers by Health Plan of Michigan. The Detroit-based
Medicaid HMO identified 19 top primary care offices based on their
excellence in quality and service.
Provides state-specific health
care quality information including strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities
for improvement.
This webcast scheduled for
August 5 will feature the author of the report "Strengthening Primary
Care to Bend the Cost Curve: The Expansion of Community Health Centers
Through Health Reform" recently released by the Geiger-Gibson/RCHN
Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative.
Click here for a list of funding opportunities posted
on the MPCA web site.
Click
here for a list of CHC career
opportunities posted on the MPCA web site.
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