12th Annual New England Rural Health RoundTable Symposium
"Take Two Aspirin and Call Me...in 100 Days: Rural Workforce Challenges"
Friday, October 30, 2009
Marriott at Sable Oaks, Portland, Maine
The Round Table's 12th Annual Symposium on Oct. 30 brought members together in Portland, Maine to grapple with the issue that's at the top of everyone's worry list: workforce!
Outgoing President Sharleen Moffatt and incoming President John Gale
Keynoter Tom Morris, Associate Administrator, Office of Rural Health Policy, Department of Health and Human Services, Health Research and Services Administration, reviewed the challenges of getting clinicians out to the rural areas, when most training (and government funding) is channeled into tertiary care, urban settings. Family physicians are an aging group and fewer young graduates are choosing to go into primary care in rural areas; general surgeons and general dentists are in short supply outside urban communities. As Morris said, "without workforce to provide services, healthcare reform is no good."
See his presentation
Dr. Cathleen Morrow, co-Director of the Rural Health Scholars Program at Dartmouth Medical School, looked at the issues through an educator's eyes. Residency slots in family medicine have declined by 20%; medical schools have increased class size but have done nothing about primary care. Family medicine slots are increasingly filled by international graduates. "Events in a young person's life are very important as to where they will end up," she said. Dr. Morrow's own background is a testimonial to the idea that having a rural experience is key to future decisions on where to locate and practice.
Read more
Two speakers stressed integration of care. Maryagnes Gillman, Executive Director, Sacopee Valley Health Center, Porter, ME, sketched the history of her facility's adoption of an integrated approach to patient care as it has evolved over the years. Recent surveys show increased patient and provider satisfaction.
Sharon Beaty, Executive Director, Mid-State Health Center, Plymouth, NH, outlined the advantages of integrating behavioral services with primary care.
- Improved financial outcomes
- Improved patient care
- Improved physician satisfaction and retention
One piece of very good news came from Ellen Beaulieu, Associate Provost, University of New England, who outlined UNE's plans for a new dental school.
In a less optimistic vein, Jonathan Sprague, Rocky Coast Consulting, and Dr. Gerald Doeksen, economist from Oklahoma State University, spoke on the alarming decline in the number of rural general surgeons and the effect this has on both hospitals and rural communities.
Awards are always a highlight of the Symposium.
This year outgoing President Moffatt announced these winners:
Rural Clinicians of the Year: Jean Cass, Family Nurse Practitioner, Community Health Services of Lamoille Valley, Morrisville, VT and Dr. Roger Renfrew, Redington Fairview Hospital, Skowhegan, ME. For 10 years, Jean has served the healthcare needs of area residents and students at Johnson State College. Dr. Renfrew has been a practicing physician in rural Maine for 30 years and has devoted many hours to developing Maine's state rural health plan. He is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and has also been involved with the Hanley Foundation, which is devoted to improving collaboration and leadership skills in Maine's health care community.
Leadership Award: Ed Tessier, clinical pharmacist, Baystate Franklin Medical Center, Greenfield, MA. Ed saw that poorly monitored patients receiving anticoagulation therapy were clogging emergency departments with severe bleeding episodes. He received a grant to develop an education program for providers and patients, resulting in a clinically significant decline in bleeding incidents for these patients.
Ed Tessier, Clinician of the Year, and Ronnie Rom
President's Award: (two honorees) Maine Critical Access Hospital Patient Safety Collaborative, a group of 14 hospitals, and Dr. Margaret Ann Smith, Dental Director, Generations Family Health Center, Willimantic, CT. The Maine Collaborative has demonstrated an impressive willingness to learn and share from each. The group has worked on issues such as enhancing medication safety, preparing for benchmarking, and enhanced patient education and quality improvement. Dr. Smith has served on the RoundTable Board for several years and has been instrumental in growing our annual Rural Oral Health Conference into a very successful event. She has made us all believers that oral health cannot be administered in a vacuum but must be viewed with overall wellness.
A beaming Peggy Smith accepts her President's award
On Ocober 29th, preceding the Symposium, the Round Table partnered with HRSA for a highly successful HRSA Community Strategic Partnership Session. Recipients of HRSA grants were the participants. On hand to meet with constituent groups were Tom Morris, Jeffrey Reck, Division Director, HRSA Boston Regional Division, and Maureen Quinn, Regional Nurse Consultant, HRSA Boston Division.
Consensus of attendees: "Let's do this again!"
Download or View Speaker Presentations
Presentations are available in both PDF and PowerPoint Format
Tom Morris
Rural Workforce Issue
PDF (1.97MB)/ PowerPoint (6.71MB)
Cathleen Morrow MD
Primary Care Workforce
PDF (6.4MB)/ PowerPoint (3.4MB)
Sally Sutton, MA, MSSW
Take Two Aspirin and Call Me... in 100 Days:
Rural Workforce Challenges
PDF (491KB)/ PowerPoint (2.05MB)
Maryagnes Gillman
Integrated Primary Care Program
PDF (1.6MB)/ PowerPoint (4.65MB)
The Developing Crisis
Rural General Surgery
PDF (4.02MB)/ PowerPoint (4.33MB)
Sharon Beaty
Integration of Behavioral Health Services with Primary Care
PDF (300KB)/ PowerPoint (1.14MB)
Planning & Progress Update
University of New England - College of Dental Medicine
PDF (877KB)/ PowerPoint (6.34MB)
Gerry Chazi, President
Vermont HITEC
Innovatinve and Effective Workforce Development Models
PDF (83KB)/ PowerPoint (226KB)
Liz Cote, VT AHEC
Rosemary Orgren, NH AHEC
Mark Ruggiero, ME AHEC Network
Workforce and Primary Care Access
PDF (1.92MB)
More Resources
Minority Health Resources 2009
State Directors of Minority Health October, 2009
More Information:
Please contact Marion Pawlek, NERHRT Executive Director, at 603-643-2800 or mjpawlek@joimail.com.
|
Design by