The Health Resources and Services Administration announces the availability of the complete lists of all geographic areas, population groups, and facilities designated as primary care, mental health, and/or dental care Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs). Lists are available on the HPSA Find website and are current as of May 1, 2018.
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health (OMH) and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) invite you to a 2.5 day free hands-on grant writing workshop:
REGISTER TODAY – Course ID#1076730
“Vision, Design, and Capacity” Grant Writing Workshop
August 15-17, 2018
Great Bend Public Library
1409 Williams St., Great Bend, KS
The FY 2019 budget recently signed into law by Governor Colyer includes authority for expenditures up to $350,000 for expansion of the tobacco cessation benefits in KanCare. Individuals covered by KanCare are now eligible to receive up to four rounds of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) each year with no lifetime caps as well as ongoing cessation counseling services. The budget provision replaces the previous limitation of one quit attempt per year and the limitation on counseling which had been reserved only for pregnant women.
This means that all individuals who are covered by KanCare and want help in quitting tobacco now have access to both NRT and counseling services, which together are considered a best practice for increasing the chances of long-term recovery from tobacco use. The budget language prohibits the state Medicaid agency or any MCO from imposing any prior authorization requirements for any of the covered tobacco cessation treatments.
Many hands were involved in achieving this milestone. Special appreciation is due to Senators Barbara Bollier and Vicki Schmidt and members of the Budget Conference Committee. Leadership in advocacy for the policy change was provided by Kimber Richter, PhD and Tami Gurley-Calvez PhD, both with KUMed, Tracy Russell with the American Heart Association and Hilary Gee with the American Cancer Society. Supporting testimony was provided by more than 14 organizations.
This policy change is effective on July 1, 2018 by the The Kansas Department of Health & Environment. Assurances have been offered by KDHE that these changes to cessation services will become a permanent part of the KanCare program. Partner organizations are moving ahead with plans to develop educational materials and a marketing campaign designed to drive utilization of these new benefits. For more information about getting involved with efforts to promote the new program, contact Rick Cagan.
On June 20, the AAFP sent its comments to the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in response to proposed rules on a nicotine standard for combustible cigarettes, on premium cigars, and on flavors in nicotine products. Read more about the AAFP’s response in the June 26 AAFP News article.
Use the Speak Out advocacy tool to add your voice to the public comments due July 16. More information is also available on the AAFP’s position on Tobacco Use.
In July, Health is Primary highlights the importance of adolescent health. Great information to share with your patients – facts about what adolescents need to do to take care of their health now to prevent health complications later in life is in the July toolkit.. #MakeHealthPrimary #AdolescentHealthisPrimary
As of July 1, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas has limited prescriptions for immediate release opioids to a seven-day supply for opioid naïve members. Opioid naïve is defined as a member who has not had a claim for any opioid prescription in the past 60 days. Read the official announcement.
The seven-day fill limit was chosen based on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention guideline that notes acute use of immediate release opioids for more than seven days should rarely be needed.
Other details of the program include:
The Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition presents a new two-day conference. Mark your calendars for:
Eugene Hughes Metropolitan Complex
5015 E. 29th Street N., Wichita, KS
The first day of the conference will focus on building the capacity of local breastfeeding coalitions to successfully create communities supporting breastfeeding. Registration for Day 1 will be FREE and will include a KBC membership for 2019 for all attendees.
The second day of the conference will focus on “hot topics” in lactation to provide clinical skills and breastfeeding knowledge for healthcare professionals and others who serve families. The registration fee for Day 2 is anticipated to be approximately $110 and will include continuing education credits for Registered Nurses (RNs), IBCLCs & CLCs.
Registration will open in early September – join the KBC to receive registration information first.
Applications for the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program- Planning (RCORP-Planning) are being accepted until July 30, 2018. Read the notice of funding opportunity. The purpose of RCORP is to support treatment for and prevention of substance use disorder, including opioid use disorder, in rural counties at the highest risk for substance use disorder, including the 220 counties identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as being at risk for HIV and Hepatitis C infections due to injection drug use (See Appendix A for additional eligibility information). Notice of awards will be September 30, 2018.
Eligible applicants include all domestic public or private, non-profit or for-profit, entities, including faith-based and community-based organizations, tribes, and tribal organizations, who will serve rural communities at the highest risk for substance use disorder and who meet the RCORP-Planning specifications for the Applicant Organization and Consortium.
AAFPWith funding from PCORI, the American Academy of Family Physicians National Research Network project brings three stakeholder groups (patient, researcher, clinician) together in a vibrant discussion of how to make engagement meaningful, cost effective, sustainable and valuable to primary care. This will be a very interactive, result-based event that will use liberating structures to ensure everyone participates. See schedule of events.
You are invited to:
Family Medicine & Patient Engagement Reception
Thursday, June 28 from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
KUMC, 5th floor Ad Astra Room, Health Education Building, Kansas City, KS
Family Medicine & Patient Engagement Conference
Friday, June 29, from 8:00 a.m. – noon
KUMC, Health Education Building, Kansas City, KS
The conference is free, but you must register. Click to register.
To help stimulate new knowledge relevant to supporting practice improvement and facilitated practice transformation, the Annals of Family Medicine (Annals) is issuing a call for manuscripts that address learning from practice transformation efforts.
Papers are being sought on successes and failures that inform future efforts to improve practice and its system supports and partnerships. Accepted papers will be published in a 2019 supplement to the Annals made possible by the American Board of Family Medicine’s PRIME Support and Alignment Network, part of the federal Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative (supported by Funding Opportunity Number CMS-1L1-15-002 from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services). Articles with the potential to assess outcomes, describe methods, or otherwise translate learning from these and other practice transformation models will be considered.
Submission Instructions
Original research, methodology, and theory papers are welcome. Please include a cover letter that states the manuscript is intended for the practice transformation supplement. All manuscripts are subject to the peer review process.
Manuscripts must be submitted through the Annals’ eJournal Press system no later than Friday, August 31. “Instructions for Authors” and “Instructions for Submitting a Manuscript” are available on the Annals “author” webpage.