11/23/2009   5:29 am

Department of Health (601)

Health Research, Planning and Coordination (601 406 03)

This service area is administered by the VDH Office of Minority Health and Public Health Policy (OMHPHP). The purpose of this service area is to advance health equity for all Virginians. The Office of Minority Health and Public Health Policy 's mission is to identify health inequities, assess their root causes, and address them by promoting social justice, influencing policy, establishing partnerships, providing resources and educating the public. As a part of that mission, The Office of Minority Health and Public Health Policy 1) contributes to the development of health policy in the Commonwealth through analyses and research of the issues affecting the cost, quality, and accessibility of health care; assists rural and marginalized and populations to improve their health and healthcare systems; and develops and administers programs to increase and strengthen the healthcare workforce.

Products and services include:

• State Office of Rural Health,
• Designations of medically underserved areas or health professional shortage areas,
• Healthcare practitioner Recruitment and retention programs,
• Critical Access Hospital Program,
• Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Health Care Services Program,
• Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program,
• Minority Health Program,
• National Health Service Corp Program, and
• Telehealth Program.

• Factors Impacting the Products and/or Services:
  Federal statutes regarding J-1 availability may soon limit overall pool of J-1 physicians.
  
  Demand for health care practititioners in medically underserved areas will increase as the pool of J-1 physicians diminishes.
• Anticipated Changes to the Products and/or Services
  The State Planning Grant ended on August 31, 2007.
  
  Maintaining data on the uninsured will be done on a samller scale with the loss of the State Planning Grant funding.
• Listing of Products and/or Services
  • The State Planning Grant program seeks to reduce the number of uninsured, which is cited by numerous studies as the greatest barrier to health care access. Specific products include: • Website that highlights all grant activities and relevant, Virginia-specific information on the uninsured. • Statewide and regional data reports on the uninsured • Policy reports highlighting national and other state efforts to insure citizens • Business, Community, Model Development, and Data Workgroups This grant ended as of August 31, 2007
  • The Office of Minority Health and Public Health Policy serves as the State Office of Rural Health. In this capacity, the Office helps individual rural communities build health care delivery systems by collecting and disseminating information; providing technical assistance; helping to coordinate rural health interests state-wide; and by supporting efforts to improve recruitment and retention of health professionals. Rural Health products and activities are: • Disseminate information regarding federal initiatives to improve access to care for rural residents, • Develop an economic quantification study to quantify the impact of rural health resources on rural communities, • Provide technical assistance to rural community leaders, • Co-sponsor Annual Rural Health Conference, and • Plan and host forums for discussions of rural health issues among policymakers.
  • Virginia’s eligibility for federal funding to improve access to health care is increased by the Primary Care Office program. The Office of Minority Health and Public Health Policy submits applications to the federal Health Resources and Services Administration to designate areas and facilities as having a health professional shortage or for being a medically underserved population. General activities include: • Submit applications to Federal HRSA for geographic areas and facilities to receive designation as medically underserved, • Maps and Website information regarding Virginia’s designated areas, • Provide funds to Area Health Education Centers, • Provide technical assistance to community groups interested in submitting application for federally qualified health center or rural health center, and • Allocate funds to community groups for demonstration projects to increase access to health care.
  • In an effort to improve access to care by increasing the supply of practitioners working in medically underserved areas or health professional shortage areas the Recruitment and Retention program seeks to interest a range of different types of medical practitioners to come to or continue to work in Virginia. Products include but are not limited to: • Primary Practice Opportunities - VA Website that lists all available healthcare positions, • Staff Commissioner’s Health Workforce Advisory Committee, • Migrant Health Conference, • Presentations to Medical Universities , • Marketing Tool Development, • Staff Recruitment and Retention Collaborative Team, and • Access Newsletter.
  • An additional programmatic effort to improve access to care by increasing the supply of practitioners working in underserved areas is the Conrad J-1 visa waiver program. International medical graduates who would otherwise have to return to their country of origin upon completion of their residency training as a condition of their J-1 visa may serve in an underserved area of the state as an alternative way to meet this federal requirement. Activities include: • Utilize Primary Practice Opportunities -VA to access information on available positions, • Advertise availability of J-1s, • Process J-1 Application to U.S. Department of State, • Administer verification of employment, and • Process National Interest Waiver.
  • The Rural Hospital Medical Flexibility (FLEX) program that authorizes the Critical Access Hospital (CAH) Program allows small, rural hospitals to receive Medicare cost-based reimbursement and includes activities that promote the regionalization of rural health services, the creation of rural health networks, and the improvement of emergency medical services. CAH activities include: • Coordinate CAH and SHIP hospital (CASH-IN) activities to leverage state and federal resources for the benefit of small rural hospitals, • Provide funding for equipment, • Provide funds for hospital administrators to attend national health conferences, • Coordinate financial analysis and community assessment activities for small, rural hospitals interested in CAH conversion, and • Promulgate regulations to benefit small, rural hospitals.
  • The Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services Program seeks to improve access to culturally and linguistically appropriate health care services for Virginia’s Limited English Proficient residents. Recent activities include: • Translation of health forms, • Technical assistance regarding Title VI, • Coordination of community-wide grant application efforts, and • Partial funding of coordinator to assist with community education activities.
  • The Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program (SHIP) provides funding to small rural hospitals to help them pay for the costs related to complying with the Medicare prospective payment system and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act as well as initiate programs to reduce medical errors. Financial activities include: • Administer funds to assist hospitals in complying with implementation of Medicare prospective payment system, • Administer funds to assist hospitals in complying with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and • Provide funds for hospital efforts to reduce medical errors.
  • The Office of Minority Health and Public Health Policy promotes the elimination of racial/ethnic health inequities and improves access to care by building capacity in community health systems to provide integrated, efficient, and effective health services. These efforts also improve minority health status and reduce health disparities. Activities have included: • Staff Commissioner’s Minority Health Advisory Committee, • Develop and Update Minority Health Strategic Plan, • Draft Healthy People 2010, • Administer Minority Health Townhall Meetings, and
  • The Telehealth Program facilitates the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to improve access to care by supporting long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health and health administration. Activities include: • Virginia Telehealth Initiative Consensus Conference: Developing a Vision and Strategic Plan for Telehealth in Virginia, • Coordinate Virginia Telehealth Network, • Provide Technical Assistance on federal Universal Services Funds, • Coordinate Efforts to Improve Medicaid Reimbursement, and • Legislative Study on Telehealth.
  • The National Health Service Corp program places physicians who have received federal support in Virginia’s underserved communities. Recent activities include: • Contacting recipients to assure they are still practicing in approved sites and • Assisting federal policymakers in assuring program compliance

• Percentage of census tracts with more than 20% of population below poverty level that are designated as medically underserved areas or health professional shortage areas.
  Objective Description
  All Office of Minority Health and Public Health Policy programs seek to eliminate health inequities within the Commonwealth. To fulfill this mission, Office of Minority Health and Public Health Policy looks at ways to identify and monitor inequities in helath and health care and identify the social determinants that contribute to these inequities. Although Virginia has an overall favorable number of practitioners statewide and a practitioner to population ratio that mirrors the nation, a maldistribution of providers exists in many areas of the state resulting in underserved areas for access to primary health, oral health, and mental health care services. The scholarship and loan repayment programs seek to correct this maldistribution through contracting with students and practitioners to serve in these areas in exchange for funding for tuition or debt reduction of school loans.
  Alignment to Agency Goals
  • Agency Goal: Collaborate with partners in the health care and human services system to assure access to quality health care and human services.
  • Agency Goal:
  Objective Strategies
  • The Office of Minority Health and Public Health Policy will strengthen promotion efforts for its activities to increase access to care. The designation program will be marketed directly to providers and community leaders. The benefits of the program will be made better known. A rational service area plan that is under development will provide data that will identify areas eligible for designation yet not designated.
  • The Office's telemedicine efforts will be promoted. Telemedicine offers small, rural hospitals access to the specialty care services that they oterwise could not support given their smaller population base.
  • The Office has a number of recruitment tools that can assist providers. One such tool, PPOVA is a free online recruitment service. By promoting this tool better, rural providers will be able to recruit additional providers without sacrificing scarce resources.
  Objective Measures
  • Increase access to primary health care services in medically underserved areas of the Commonwealth
    Measure Class:

    Other

    Measure Type:

    Outcome

    Measure Frequency:

    Annual

    Preferred Trend:

    Up

    Measure Baseline Value:

    50.1

    Date:

    12/31/2006

    Measure Baseline Description: Percent of census tracts designated as medically underserved or health professional shortage areas

    Measure Target Value:

    60.1

    Date:

    6/30/2010

    Measure Target Description: Percent of census tracts designated as medically underserved or health professional shortage areas

    Data Source and Calculation: The most current census tract data for poverty population is obtained through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Data Warehouse.

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