5As part of ongoing efforts to encourage students to consider careers in health care, a new bill (HR 2891) has been introduced by Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley that seeks loan repayment options for medical professionals working in areas that have a shortage of frontline care services.
This new student loan repayment program aims to help recruit a variety of health professionals to currently underserved areas. Professions considered for the bill include pediatricians, respiratory therapists, medical technologists and radiologic technologists.
To qualify for the repayment option, graduating students would agree to provide frontline care services full time for a period of no less than two years at a health care facility serving a scarcity area.
Medical school tuition debt is a large factor in choosing where to work
This bill would be similar to the Rural Iowa Provider Education (RIPE) Program enacted at Des Moines University, which provides the equivalent of six full tuition scholarships to students enrolled in the Rural Medicine Educational Pathway. In return, DMU graduates agree to maintain a full time primary care medical practice in an approved Iowa community for a period of four years.
The tuition debt load from medical school is a known barrier for students when deciding where to serve in their profession, but perhaps programs like the Frontline Providers Loan Repayment Act can help alleviate some of that stress for students.
If this bill were to be passed, would you consider working in a frontline care scarcity area? What other factors are part of your decision process? Let us know in the comments.
As the health care reform debate continues, it is critical that Iowa’s Congressional Delegation hear from hospital leaders on the issues, especially in light of the announced cuts to hospital payments. Over the next few weeks, Iowa Senators Tom Harkin and Chuck Grassley and their staffs will be traveling across Iowa holding listening posts and town hall meetings on health care reform. Hospital leaders are encouraged to attend these meetings and take the opportunity to address concerns about health care reform.
It is very important for hospital leaders to attend these forums to address concerns and share ideas. IHA has produced talking points for hospital advocates to use while addressing Iowa’s congressional delegation in these meetings. Our health care reform hospital talking points have been updated to include the recent announcements of major cuts to Medicare.
Events hosted by Senator Grassley
Grassley is the ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee that oversees the Medicare program and other health care finance related issues. He is not holding specific hospital meetings, but will be holding the following events:
| June 30 8:15-9:15 a.m. Allamakee County Town Meeting Farmers & Merchants Savings Bank Community Room 201 West Main Street, Waukon |
July 3 7:30-8:30 a.m. Marion County Town Meeting Pella Community Services Building 712 Union Street, Pella |
| 10:45-11:45 a.m. Clayton County Town Meeting Elkader City Hall Lower Level 207 North Main Street, Elkader |
10:00-11:00 a.m. Poweshiek County Town Meeting Brooklyn Public Library 306 Jackson Street, Brooklyn |
| 1:45-2:45 p.m. Dubuque County Town Meeting Dupaco Community Credit Union 5865 Saratoga Road, Asbury |
12:00-1:00 p.m. Tama County Town Meeting Renig Toledo Civic Center 1007 South Prospect Drive, Toledo |
Events hosted by Senator Harkin
Harkin chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee’s Prevention and Public Health Working Group charged with crafting the prevention and public health components of the health reform bill. Notice time change for Cedar Rapids.
| June 29 9:00-10:00 a.m. Linn Community Health Center Medical Plaza Building- Lower Level 855 A Avenue NE, Cedar Rapids |
June 30 9:30-10:30 a.m. Adair County Memorial Hospital 609 Se Kent St., Greenfield |
July 1 9:00-10:00 a.m. Winneshiek Medical Center Conference Room B 901 Montgomery Street, Decorah |
| 10:30- 11:30 a.m. (corrected) St. Luke’s Hospital 1026 A Avenue NE, Cedar Rapids |
11 a.m.-noon Regional Health Services Of Howard County 235 8th Avenue West, Cresco |
10:00-11:00 a.m. Denison Community Room 111 N. Main Street, Denison |
| 12:30-1:30 p.m. (corrected) Mercy Medical Center 701 10th Street SE, Cedar Rapids |
1:30- 2:30 p.m. Guthrie County Hospital Todd/ Neff Conference Room 710 N 12th Street, Guthrie Center |
11:30-12:30 p.m. Crawford County Senior Center 201 S. Main Street, Denison |
| 2:45-3:45 p.m. Mercy Medical Center- New Hampton Health Education Center 308 N. Maple Avenue, New Hampton |
11 a.m.-noon Veterans Memorial Hospital Lower Level Large Conference Room 9 40 First Street SE, Waukon |
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| 4:00-5:00 p.m. Grape Community Hospital Cafeteria 2959 State Highway 275, Hamburg |
2:00-3:00 p.m. Burgess Health Center Boardroom 1600 Diamond Street, Onawa |
Attending an event? Send us your feedback
If you attend any of these events, feel free to send us your notes or feedback about what was discussed. We’d love to continue these conversations on our blog.
Content can be forwarded to Dan Royer.
by Laura Malone on Thursday, June 18, 2009
Summer campers who are accustomed to swimming, riding horses and sitting by a campfire will have the opportunity to attend a different kind of summer camp at Genesis Health System in Davenport, Iowa.
With the assistance of a grant from the Genesis Health Services Foundation, the Genesis Adventures in Nursing Summer Camp (GAIN) will be held for the first time this July.
Getting an early start in health care
This camp will reach out to young people who may someday be interested in a health care career. Campers will tour the hospital, observe a mock trauma in the emergency department, visit an operating room and learn first aid and CPR.
Campers will also learn the basic anatomy and physiology of the heart and brain and will learn about health assessment.
Ensuring an adequate supply of nurses is essential to any health care delivery system. Genesis is doing its part by creating an exciting summer adventure that will allow campers to explore the many options a career in nursing can provide.
The 2008 presidential campaign introduced mainstream America to the power of social media and online communication in a way it had never experienced before. People organized events, made donations and contacted supporters like they have always done, but the amplification for their messages that social technology provided enabled them to reach more people more quickly. As people began realizing how impactful this technology could be when used in the right way, more organizations and political groups began integrating it into their communications strategies.
Social media penetrates politics and the public
This leads us to today, when individuals, groups and companies are using freely available technology to engage loyal supporters and introduce their messages to people who may never have heard them before. Aside from consumers and private-sector organizations, these users also include members of local, state and federal government.
What was once often only discussed behind closed doors or in whispers between party members is now made available to consume in the public forum. This new age of transparency and interaction allows people to make opinions and thoughts known before they have the chance to pass through political filters or press secretaries.
Be ready for real-time feedback and responses
A recent example includes several messages sourced from Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) illustrating his frustration with President Obama, who was making a stop in Europe last week. There is nothing new about Senators and politicians having disagreements with the president, but the channel through which Grassley’s views were presented and the public availability of said comments would have been unheard of just a few years earlier.
Grassley posted several messages on his Twitter account, a microblogging social network where users can exchange short messages with friends, addressing his concerns with the president:
“Pres Obama you got nerve while u sightseeing in Paris to tell us ‘time to deliver’ on health care. We still on skedul/even workinWKEND.”
“Pres Obama while u sightseeing in Paris u said ‘time to delivr on healthcare’ When you are a ‘hammer’ u think evrything is NAIL I’m no NAIL.”
These messages from Senator Grassley were seen by at least 11,000 people who follow the senator’s messages (tweets) directly, while hundreds and perhaps thousands more read them as the media caught wind of the story. There is nothing inherently wrong with what Grassley posted (and they are still available to see at http://twitter.com/chuckgrassley), but the message and the lesson are that we need to be aware of the tools that surround us and know how best to use them.
People are out there talking; are you ready to listen?
Conversations are taking place all over the world about the topics, issues and concerns of everyone, just as they always have. The new problem is understanding how those messages can spread and what role we play in addressing or interacting with them.
IHA has taken a strong stance in the realm of social media – this interactive, participatory two-way type of dialogue – by establishing our own grounds online and staking claim to the issues most important to Iowa’s community hospitals. As the voice of hospitals and health care in Iowa, it is IHA’s responsibility to be represented wherever discussions are happening, be it on Capitol Hill or Facebook.
Apart from the IHA Web site, the blog acts as IHA’s authoritative clearinghouse for contact via social media with the public and beyond. All of our interactive actions direct back to this home base in an effort to clarify IHA’s mission, vision and values.
As IHA continues along this path into the future of communication and dialogue, it will adapt to change, but the core existence and purpose will remain: supporting the missions of Iowa’s hospitals.
Looking to learn more about how IHA is engaging individuals and influencers by using these social technologies? Keep reading our blog and see the about page for more details.
What questions do you have? How are you using these techologies to impact your goals?
by Shannon Strickler on Tuesday, June 16, 2009
During his weekly address to the nation on Saturday, President Obama announced that he will seek more than $300 billion in additional cuts from Medicare and Medicaid payments to help finance health care reform.
Two-thirds of the new proposed spending cuts come from hospital payments. The President proposed $106 billion in ‘savings’ by cutting the Medicare and Medicaid DSH programs by 75 percent. In addition, the President proposed $110 billion in ‘savings’ by reducing inflationary updates with an annual ‘productivity adjustment,’ the greatest impact on hospitals.
These ‘savings’ are in addition to the President’s FY2010 budget proposal to cut Medicare and Medicaid spending by $309 billion. They are also in addition to the $38 billion in previously announced reform-related cuts, and $41 billion in cuts in the proposed FY 2010 inpatient PPS rule.
IHA will be analyzing the proposal’s specifics and determining as best possible the Iowa impact. IHA will also be coordinating our messages and advocacy strategy with AHA. Please stay tuned for next action steps on this important issue.
