Resources for Download
Rural Hospital Flexibility Grant Program
The Rural Hospital Flexibility (Flex) Program is a Federal initiative that provides funding to State Governments to strengthen rural health.
For program offerings available to Rural Hospital Flexibility Grantees, click here.
- Allows small hospitals the flexibility to reconfigure operations and be licensed as Critical Access Hospital (CAHs).
- Offers cost-based reimbursement for Medicare acute inpatient and outpatient services.
- Encourages the development of rural-centric health networks.
- Offers grants to States to help implement a CAH program in the context of broader initiatives to strengthen the rural health care infrastructure.
In FY2005 over 900 CAHs and small rural hospitals received direct benefits through the Flex program. To see further information on the grant application and resources availble to Flex Grantees, visit http://ruralhealth.hrsa.gov/funding/flex.htm.
NEMSIS Issues Results of Fourth Round of Compliance Testing
The National EMS Information System Technical Assistance Center is please to announce that the 23 software packages have achieved either gold or silver NEMSIS Compliance. It is important to acknowledge the significant effort required to obtain NEMSIS Compliance.
For a list of all NEMSIS compliant vendors or for additional information about the compliance testing process go to the NEMSIS project Technical Assistance Center.
Canada Publishes "The Future of EMS in Canada"
On February 22, 2007, the EMS Chiefs of Canada released their white paper The Future of EMS in Canada. Canada is the third country to release an EMS futures document in as many years. Taking Healthcare to the Patient: Transforming the NHS Ambulance Services was released in the UK in 2005, and Emergency Medical Services: At the Crossroads was released in the US by the Institute of Medicine in 2006. Each of these documents builds on the vision of EMS becoming more integrated into health care systems published in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's EMS Agenda for the Future (1996) and the National Rural Health Association’s Rural and Frontier EMS Agenda for the Future (2004).
These documents and a related one - An Exploration of Expanded Paramedic Healthcare Roles for Queensland - are available for download (only a summary of the final IOM document is available for download – the final edition is not yet published) on the International Roundtable on Community Paramedicine website at: http://www.ircp.info, under the Future of EMS tab. .
The Future of EMS in Canada calls for the fulfillment of six strategies:
- A Clear Core Identity for EMS
- Stable Funding
- Systematic Improvement
- Personnel Development
- Leadership Support
- Mobilized Healthcare (integration)
For more information, visits the EMS Chiefs of Canada website at http://www.emscc.ca.
National Volunteer Fire Council Provided Volunteer "Value" Calculator
A handy little tool to show folks the cost savings, or said another way, financial contributions volunteers have on rural services. Download at:
http://nvfc.org/calculator/index.html
Institute of Medicine Releases Report on the Future of Emergency Care
The Institute of Medicine formally released the reports on the future of emergency care on June 14, 2006. The release of the report involved a variety of activities, including a web cast, press conferences and dissemination workshops. These landmark reports will help guide congressional leaders and policy makers about EMS and trauma care for several years to come. One of the commissioned papers for the project was on rural emergency care and discussions about rural and frontier issues and needs are scattered throughout the three reports. Prepublication copies of the three reports (hospital, prehospital and pediatric) can be found on the following website: http://www.iom.edu/?id=35029 . The final published reports are now available.
Four dissemination workshops were held across the country. Each of the four workshops focused on a different aspect of the reports. The first meeting, held in September, 2006, in Salt Lake City focused on the potential impact of the reports on rural areas of the nation. The workshop series concluded with a capstone event in Washington, DC in December, 2006. Several hundred people were at the events with many of them providing oral or written comments concerning the reports. Additional information on the workshops can be found at: http://www.iom.edu/CMS/3809/34454.aspx. A workshop summary report is now available.
HRSA Publishes New Model Trauma System Planning and Evaluation Document
The HRSA Trauma and EMS program unveiled the Model Trauma System Planning and Evaluation Document at the recent Trauma Leadership meeting in Washington DC. This document represents more than two years of development, vetting and field testing. Of particular interest is a set of Benchmarks, Indicators and Scoring criteria that allow trauma care systems to conduct a baseline assessment, establish benchmarks and mark progress toward the attainment of those goals. An Adobe Acrobat™ version is available at www.hrsa.gov/trauma/model.htm
More Direct Link to Rural and Frontier EMS Agenda for the Future Available
The Rural and Frontier EMS Agenda for the Future is now available for free download in Adobe Acrobat™ format at the following address: RFEMSAgenda . Printed copies may be purchased from the National Rural Health Association Bookstore at: http://www.nrharural.org/groups/sub/EMS.html.
Checklists to help businesses and State and local agencies prepare for a pandemic
To help businesses develop specific plans to protect employees and maintain operations during a pandemic, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, joined by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, released a Business Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist today. The checklist was presented at a Business Roundtable meeting with chief executive officers of leading companies in Washington, DC.
The new checklist identifies specific activities that companies can do now to prepare for a pandemic and will also be helpful in other types of emergencies. Developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the checklist suggests companies plan how they would forecast employee absences during a pandemic; disseminate information to employees; establish flexible work sites; and establish policies for employees who have been exposed, are suspected to be ill or become ill at the worksite.
Additional information can be found at www.pandemicflu.gov.
The American Heart Association Launches CPR Anytime
The CPR Anytime™ for Family and Friends Personal Learning Program allows families, friends and the general public - those who most likely would never attend a traditional CPR course - to learn the core skills of CPR in just 22 minutes using their own personal kit.
The kit contains everything needed to learn basic CPR, and skills can be learned anywhere, from the comfort of a family home to a large community group setting. Also, at under $30, the CPR Anytime™ kit is a cost-effective way for the entire family to learn CPR at home. The American Heart Association's goal is for each person who receives the kit to take it home and share it with family members, increasing the number of potential rescuers.
Each CPR Anytime™ for Family and Friends kit contains:
- A personal, inflatable CPR manikin - "Mini Anne"
- CPR Anytime Skills Practice DVD
- An American Heart Association CPR for Family and Friends booklet
- Accessories for the program
The American Heart Association aims to help increase the number of bystanders trained in CPR to 20 million per year by 2010. CPR Anytime™ will play an important role in meeting that goal. For more information go to www.cpranytime.org.