Short of Dentists, Maine Adds Teeth to Doctors Training New York Times article reports that dentists are in such short supply in Maine that primary care doctors who do their medical residency in the state are learning to lance abscesses, pull teeth and perform other basic dental skills through a program that began in 2005.
President Releases $155 Million for New Health Centers AHA News Reports that President Obama on Monday released $155 million authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for 126 new health centers to offer primary and preventive care services.
City Kids Find the Breathin' Is Easier Elsewhere HealthCentral article reports that a study in the March issue of Pediatrics reports that just seven days after a group of school-age children left the city for a rural area, airway inflammation went down and lung function increased.
Text Messages Aid HIV Patients in Rural Areas Nurse.com article tells how healthcare professionals at the University of Virginia Infectious Disease Clinic have found a modern way to improve contact with HIV patients who live in rural areas.
Largest Share of Army Recruits Come from Rural/Exurban America Daily Yonder article discusses how rural and exurban counties provided more than their share of recruits to the U.S. Army in 2008, and rural counties have been disproportionately represented in the military since the beginning of the Iraq War.
Rural Areas See Lack of Broadband Access as Problem Daily Gazette article tells that broadband has become essential for economic development and is now a service that, much like telephone or electricity service, people need.
Recruiting Doctors Difficult in Rural Areas, Small Towns Beaumont Enterprise story tells of how the demand for doctors will always outrank the number of physicians willing to work in small towns. But once they find the right match, the doctors rarely wander in search of more money or bright lights.
Obama 2010 Budget Highlights by Agency Associated Press article via SFGate, (CA) reports that President Obama highlighted education, along with energy and health care, Thursday when he announced the outlines of his first budget.
Practicing Rural Health Johnson City Press, (TN) article tells how educators at East Tennessee State Universitys College of Medicine are tasked with ensuring rural areas do have access to medical care, and the school graduates twice as many doctors who pursue their practice in rural areas compared to schools across the country.
Medicare Payment Advisory Commission Releases Report on Medicare Payment Policy Today, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) releases its March 2009 Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy, offering a set of recommendations for Medicare payments designed to assure beneficiaries access to care and preserve Medicares long-term sustainability.
Technology Enables Doctors to Treat Patients Via Internet St. Louis Post-Dispatch, (MO) article tells how physicians at St. Louis Cardiology Consultants allow cardiology patients can hop online to request prescription refills, check portions of their medical records or send questions about their conditions.
Obama Budget Moves Toward Universal Health Care Los Angeles Examiner, (CA) article reports that President Barack Obama is sending Congress a budget that would boost taxes on the wealthy and slash Medicare to make way for a $634 billion down payment on universal health care.
Obama Proposes Expansion of VA Health Care Associated Press article via SFGate, (CA) reports that the president's proposed budget for Veterans Affairs would provide health care to non-disabled veterans whose income exceeds about $30,000 annually, and he would provide extra funding for programs targeting homeless veterans and those in rural areas.
Ob-Gyns Urged to Help Reduce Health Disparities for Rural Women Lack of access to adequate women's health care puts rural women in the US at a greatly increased risk of poor health outcomes compared with women in urban areas according to a Committee Opinion released today by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
Job Losses Explode in Rural America Daily Yonder article reports that in the last 13 months, the number of unemployed people living in rural America has increased by 297,000, and all but 15,000 of those jobs were lost in one month, December 2008.
NGA Creates Task Force on Health Care Reform The National Governors Association (NGA) today announced the formation of a Health Care Reform Task Force, designed to identify and define gubernatorial priorities and to inform and advise the work of Congress and the Administration.
Michigan State Doctors Provide "Virtual" Psychiatric Care to Rural Areas DOTmed.com, (NY) article tells how several doctors from Michigan State University, in the colleges of Osteopathic Medicine and Human Medicine in East Lansing, MI, have developed a program to bring psychiatric care to rural Michigan patients with therapy provided "virtually," by means of video teleconferencing over secure internet protocols.
Coalition: Ending Nurse Shortage Crucial to Health Reform AHA News reports that the Center to Champion Nursing in America today launched the Champion Nursing Coalition, a diverse group of health care consumer, payer and provider organizations that will work to educate Americans about the nation's severe nursing shortage and its impact on health care quality, access and cost.
Broadband Growth to Aid Rural Patients Sun-Sentinel.com, (FL) article discusses how, with $7.2 billion of the $787 billion federal economic stimulus set aside to expand the reach of broadband service to rural areas, Kentucky stands as a model of how the Internet can alter the lives of workers and owners of small businesses alike, but also a lesson in the challenges of connecting far-flung corners of America.
NUSSBAUM/ KENNEDY: Data Update for Health Reform Washington Times, (DC) editorial by Sam Nussbaum and Charles Kennedy discuss using high-tech to keep medical treatments on top, and how the Obama administration and Congress have acknowledged a health information technology gap through the HITECH Act, a $20 billion health information technology investment included in the economic recovery package.
President Obama Selects Top Rural Health Care Advocate to Oversee Key HHS Agency President Obama on Friday announced the appointment of Dr. Mary Wakefield, Director of the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota, and one of the nation's top rural health care professionals as Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
Rolling Caf Reaches Rural Poor Catholic Sentinel article tells how St. Vincent de Paul in Portland, Oregon, bought a school bus with dreams of making it a rolling kitchen and dining room that would go from neighborhood to neighborhood, and town to town, increasing outreach to those in hard times.