August 6, 2010
Vol. 4 #26
Michigan Primary Care
Association
National Health Center Week
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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Michigan
Health Center CEO to Speak on NACHC Tele-Town Hall Today
To kick off National Health Center Week, NACHC is hosting a
Tele-Town Hall meeting today, August 6 at 3 pm ET. HHS Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius and HRSA Administrator Dr. Mary Wakefield will be the
featured guests. InterCare Community Health Network's CEO Velma
Hendershott has also been chosen to participate in the call as a guest
speaker, discussing how the Affordable Care Act is impacting Michigan
Health Centers and the communities they serve. The call is free but
everyone who wants to participate must have an up-to-date advocate profile
with NACHC, including a direct phone number where you can be called on
Friday. Click
here to register or update your advocate profile.
1.7 Million Voted in State
Primary Election
Twenty-three percent of
Michigan's registered voters (nearly 1.7 million people) voted in the
Primary Election on Tuesday, August 3. Among the highlights is that
Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero will be facing Rick Snyder for the Governor's
Seat. Click
here for the unofficial primary election results from the Michigan
Department of State. Put Election Day, Tuesday, November 2 on your
calendar! Click
here to access the Community Health Vote section of MPCA's web
site - there you will information and materials for Health Centers
interested in educating and registering voters.
Watch your email inbox within
the next week or two for information and registration materials for
attending the 2010 MPCA Annual Conference, "Home Sweet Patient
Centered Medical Home", October 10-12 in Grand Rapids. New on
the MPCA
web site is a page dedicated to the conference. We encourage
you to make it one of your favorites and check back for up-to-date
information.
MPCA Launching New Video Depicting
Benefits of Health Centers in Honor of National Health Center Week
Click here for a sneak peak of the new video that
will be released via MPCA's communications vehicles next week (web site,
blog, Facebook page, Twitter stream, and YouTube Channel).
The MPCA Community HealthCorps
program has received funding through the Michigan Community Service
Commission to support 18 full-time slots available for member placement
beginning Wednesday, September 15. Members will serve a one-year term
as Patient Navigators or Community Navigators. Applications are due
August 13 - click
here and scroll to "Interested in applying to host a
Community HealthCorps member at your Health Center or community
organization?"
HHS Secretary Sebelius announced
this week it is allocating $159.1 million in grants to health care
workforce training programs. These grants build on the multimillion
dollar investments made under the Affordable Care Act and Recovery Act to
strengthen and grow the primary care workforce. The grants will target
three Nursing Workforce Development programs, interdisciplinary geriatric
education and training programs, and Centers of Excellence programs for
underrepresented minority students. Michigan will receive $3.9
million - click here for a list of the universities across the
state that will receive funding.
On Sunday, August 1, the
Michigan Tobacco Quitline began distributing two weeks of patches, gum or
lozenges to all enrollees regardless of insurance status or income. The
uninsured are still qualified for 8 weeks of medication and will continue
to receive eight weeks of medication. Medicaid callers who
enroll will get the 2 weeks of free NRT from the quitline along with
instructions on how to access NRT benefits through their health plan.
The Michigan League for Human
Services has named Michigan
Senator Gilda Jacobs (D-District 14) as its next president and
CEO. She will replace Sharon Parks who is retiring in December.
MILHS is a statewide advocacy/public policy organization and a strong
partner of MPCA that works to improve the lives of low-income Michigan
residents. Jacobs will take over in January upon completion of her
second Senate term of office.
On July 29, the full U.S. Senate
Committee on Appropriations took up the Senate Labor-HHS-Education
Subcommittee on Appropriations annual spending bill mark up, approving
discretionary funding for the Health Centers program at last year's
comparable level of $2.19 billion.
Senate Passes Enhanced FMAP Bill
The U.S. Senate passed a $26.1
billion state aid package on Thursday, which includes $16 billion in
Medicaid assistance to states by extending the enhanced FMAP rate for six
months. Michigan would receive around $300 million, as well as
additional monies for keeping teachers employed. The U.S. House will
reconvene from its August recess next week to take up the
legislation. Whether or not Congress passes this funding package will
have a huge impact on Michigan's FY 2011 budget - without it, more cuts to
departmental budgets including MDCH are expected. Stay tuned!
HRSA
Expanding Enrollment in 340B Program to New Entities
Expanded enrollment in the 340B
program began on August 2, making discounted medications available to new
enrollees including children's hospitals, freestanding cancer centers,
critical access hospitals, rural referral centers, and sole community
hospitals.
HHS Seeking Public Comment
Regarding Health Insurance Exchanges
As reported in last week's MPCA e-Update, HHS is
allocating $51 million to states and other stakeholders to begin
establishing health insurance Exchanges. HHS is seeking public
comment from states, consumer advocates, employers, insurers, and other
interested stakeholders as the rules and standards for the Exchanges are
being developed. Comments are due by Oct. 4. Click
here for a copy of the request for comments.
CDC, FDA Notified of Shorter
Expiration on Select H1N1 Vaccine Lots
Sanofi Pasteur has notified the
CDC and FDA that their H1N1 2009 monovalent vaccine manufactured in 2009 in
multi-dose vials will have a shorter expiration period than indicated on
the label. There are no safety concerns with these lots, and Sanofi
Paseur will provide more specific notification of which lots are affected
and the new expiration date in the near future. Sanofi Pasteur will
send a notification to providers who received this product regarding the
specific lot numbers and the new expiration date.
100,000
Homes Campaign
The 100,000 Homes Campaign is bringing together change agents from
across the country to find homes for 100,000 of the most vulnerable and
long-term homeless individuals and families by July 2013. Detroit is
among the 43 communities currently participating across the country.
NATIONAL HEALTH
CENTER WEEK
National Health Center Week 2010
kicks off on Sunday, August 8. More than 400 Health Centers across
the country, including a record number of Michigan Health Centers, are
holding celebratory events next week. Thank you to the Health Centers
that have shared the details of their events with MPCA - we have posted
them on the Health Center Week web site at www.healthcenterweek.org.
It's not too late to get your event posted if you don't see it listed -
just email the event date, time, location, and goings-on to dhughes@mpca.net.
Promote National Health Center
Week
Available on NACHC's web site is
a media toolkit for promoting National Health Center Week. We encourage you
to take the time to contact your local newspaper and ask them to write a
story about your Health Center, send out a press release announcing
National Health Center Week, or contribute to your local news outlets by
submitting an op-ed or letter to the editor. Click
here to access the media toolkit.
Please Share Your Stories and
Media Coverage With Us
If your National Health Center
Week event is highlighted by the local media in your community, or if you
would like to share some great stories or photos from an event, please
email them to dhughes@mpca.net.
We will post these news items on the "CHCs
in the News"page of the MPCA web site, and forward them on to
NACHC to showcase how Michigan celebrated!
HEALTH CENTERS IN THE
NEWS
Follow MPCA's Coverage of
National Health Center Week
Walk for Healthy Communities,
presented by the Detroit Wayne County Health Authority and co-chaired by
Detroit Community Health Connection President/CEO Wayne Bradley, will
depart from the Belle Isle Casino this Saturday, August 7.
Details the impact of the
Medicare upper payment limit (or "Medicare cap") and productivity
screens on Medicare reimbursement to Health Centers. It finds that 72% of
Health Centers nationwide are negatively impacted by the cap, with a total
health center loss of more than $58 million each year.
According to the report,
Michigan's adult obesity rate was 29.6% in 2009.
$500 scholarships to clinicians
interested in attending the National Summit for Clinicians for Healthcare
Justices designed to engage frontline clinicians in environmental and
occupation health
Funder: National Summit of
Clinicians for Healthcare Justice
The Michigan WISEWOMAN Program
provides cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke risk factor screening to
BCCCP-enrolled women. All program participants receive information
regarding their risk factors at the time of screening, and many receive
additional lifestyle counseling focused on improving nutrition, increasing
time spent engaged in physical activity and quitting smoking.
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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