Blogs

Rehabilitation for Severe Deconditioning Using Advanced Technology and Electrical Stimulation

By Dave Sen posted 06-18-2020
PLEASE CONTACT DAVE SEN AT DSEN@HANGER.COM OR (609) 471-0834 TO LEARN ABOUT ACP'S REHAB EQUIPMENT AND CLINICAL EDUCATION AND SERVICES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Individuals who present with a compromised pulmonary system, are acutely ill, or hospitalized for extended periods may become deconditioned or develop hospital-acquired muscle weakness, among other deleterious effects. Even healthy individuals may become deconditioned and frail if they decrease ...

EVIDENCE BASED PRACTICE IN SWALLOWING REHABILITATION, Part 1: Ethics and Considerations in Patient and Caregiver Perspectives

By Dave Sen posted 06-12-2020
EVIDENCE BASED PRACTICE IN SWALLOWING REHABILITATION - 3 PART SERIES - Part 1: Ethics and Considerations in Patient and Caregiver Perspectives By: Valerie Middleton, MA CCC-SLP Not unique to the field of Speech-Language Pathology, integration of Evidence Based Practice (EBP) is a hot topic and is essential in ensuring we are practicing at the top of our profession. Let’s begin by reviewing the three characteristics comprising the EBP triangle as outlined by the National Joint Committee for the Needs of Persons with Disabilities (NJC): (a) clinical expertise/expert opinion, (b) external scientific evidence, and (c) the perspectives of individuals with severe ...

Improving Activation of Accessory Respiratory Muscles with NMES

By Dave Sen posted 06-08-2020
For more information please visit acplus.com or contact Dave Sen at dsen@hanger.com or 609-471-0834: Primary respiratory muscles during normal quiet breathing include the diaphragm and external intercostals. Accessory muscles of respiration assist the primary muscles when the chest is not expanding or contracting effectively to meet ventilation demands. Increased age, stress, poor posture, COPD, pneumonia, and illness are conditions that negatively impact proper oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange in the lungs. Inspiratory Accessory Muscles: Sternocleidomastoid, scalenes, pectoralis major and minor, serratus anterior, latissimus dorsi, upper trapezius ...

Making the Connections between Rural Business, Education and Health.

By Michelle Rathman posted 04-17-2020
Not a single one among us in this space are unaware of the challenges rural communities face when it comes to broadband infrastructure. My travels and time spent in Oregon, Colorado, Georgia, Nebraska, Kentucky, Montana, Mississippi, and many beautiful rural places in between, has provided me with a much-needed perspective on what it means to be connected. I've traveled on many long winding roads with the dreaded "no-service" message on my phone, which pales in comparison to those in a position living their day to day without the essential digital tools required to be competitive. Children, as we know, are no exception. On the Podcast I host, Rural Matters, ...

Biophysical Agent Alternatives to Opioids for Pain Management

By Dave Sen posted 02-26-2020
Opioids are commonly prescribed for acute and chronic pain, including after surgeries such as THR, TKR, and ORIF. Opioids have numerous side effects and a high potential for misuse. Over-reliance on opioids for acute and chronic pain management has led to alarming trends across the United States, including a record number of people developing opioid use disorders, overdosing on opioids, and dying from overdoses. From 2015 to 2017, the annual number of opioid-related deaths rose 44% from 33,000 to 47,600.¹ Many Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries and their families have experienced opioid use disorder, commonly referred to as addiction. Given the growing body ...

Who do you know doing outstanding work in rural health?

By Michelle Rathman posted 07-11-2019
Each year, the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health (NOSORH) leads National Rural Health Day (NRHD) on the third Thursday of November. In conjunction with NRHD, nominations are sought to recognize outstanding women, men, collaborative groups, and organizations making a real difference in the health and lives of their rural communities. I am once again so fortunate to work with NOSORH, helping to develop new strategies, ideas, and communication tools to help shine a spotlight on all the outstanding work of those serving in this unique, often overlooked sector, we in this group hold dear. This year’s goal is to feature a Community Star ...

Achieving Operational Excellence in Rural Health (hint: It's communication!)

By Michelle Rathman posted 06-04-2019
A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of delivering the opening address at the Cerner CommunityWorks annual client summit. Before the event, I wrote a piece that captured the essence of my speech, and I'd like to share it with this community as well. If you do me the honor, you can read it here: https://www.cerner.com/blog/achieving-operational-excellence-in-community-hospitals. After 30 years of working in health care, the past 20 in the rural space, I say with high confidence that communication always has -- and will always be, the key to excellent quality, care, and service. Too often, communication is an afterthought. For example, leaders make decisions ...

Rural Training Track, A Year in Review

By Greg Dobash posted 01-04-2019
​This is the first entry in the Rural Training Track Blog, and truth be told, my first attempt at blogging anything. I must confess, I do not understand much of the blog-o-sphere other than that there are mommy bloggers that get routinely shamed and somehow this becomes news on MSN. We have a Rural Training Track at St Luke's Miner's Campus as of July 1, 2018. We are a 1+2 program, where the majority of the PGY-1 year is spent at the "urban site," in our case St Luke's Warren Campus and the majority of the PGY-2 and PGY-3 years are spent at the "rural site." To our knowledge, we are the only RTT program in Pennsylvania. We are also the first residency program ...

Celebrate National Rural Health Day

By Alan Morgan posted 11-14-2017
Rural communities are wonderful places to live and work, which is why nearly 62 million people – nearly one in five Americans – call rural home. This Thursday, November 16th, we celebrate National Rural Health Day, a date set aside to honor the selfless, community-minded, ‘can do’ spirit that prevails in rural America. Across the US, several national organizations and local community groups will celebrate this special day in multiple ways. The National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health has a listing of the many activities . What can you do? I hope you will join me today in giving to NRHA’s Rural Health Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization ...

NRHA president testifies before Congress on rural health

By Erin Mahn Zumbrun posted 07-20-2017
The U.S. House Committee on Small Business’ Subcommittees on Agriculture, Energy, and Trade and Health and Technology held a joint hearing today on the importance of rural health and telehealth to help and support rural communities. NRHA President David Schmitz, MD, testified on how federal investments in rural health care help ensure that rural health care thrives leading to healthy communities and sustainable their communities Dr. Schmitz explained how improving access to care by investing in rural health care—from workforce to telehealth—is a means to bolster the local economy and must be a priority for both the Administration and Congress. “Rural health ...

Health Care Reform Update

By Diane Calmus posted 07-18-2017
The Senate’s Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) does not appear to be moving forward. As of last night, four Republican senators - Mike Lee (Utah), Jerry Moran (Kansas), Rand Paul (Kentucky) and Susan Collins (Maine) - publicly stated they would oppose the revised version of the BCRA, leaving the bill short of the 50 votes required to proceed. As a result, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pivoted to a strategy of moving just a repeal bill using the text from a 2015 repeal bill that passed the House and Senate (and was vetoed by then President Obama). ( https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/3762 ). However, at least three Republican Senators ...

Secretary Price seeks NRHA input

By Diane Calmus posted 07-13-2017
NRHA CEO Alan Morgan just spoke with Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price regarding proposed regulations just released by HHS for the Hospital Outpatient, Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment System. In this conversation, Secretary Price made a commitment to prioritize rural hospitals and health care. NRHA is pleased this proposed rule addresses one of our major regulatory concerns, the supervision requirement for outpatient therapy services by providing a two-year moratorium on enforcement. Additionally, Secretary Price discussed a proposed change to the 340B drug discount program. This program currently provides discounted outpatient drugs to ...

New Senate Health Care Bill, Same Problems for Rural

By Diane Calmus posted 07-13-2017
The Senate released their revised version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 (BCRA) today . While the National Rural Health Association is pleased the bill includes an additional $100 billion to help low-income Americans buy coverage and to combat the opioid epidemic, we are disappointed that the BCRA still falls woefully short in making health care affordable and accessible to rural Americans. The bill maintains some of the provisions that led to NRHA's opposition of the original language. The bill is expected to be reviewed by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) this weekend, with an estimate (also known as a score) of the impact of the ...

House Appropriators release draft Labor-HHS funding bill

By Diane Calmus posted 07-13-2017
The House Appropriations Committee released its draft Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) funding bill. The draft bill is funded at $156 billion, $5 billion below the Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17) enacted levels. The HHS portion of the bill is $77.6 billion, $542 million below FY17 enacted levels, but $14.5 billion above the President’s budget request. A summary of the bill is available here , and full bill text is available here . While we do not have all of the details about the many important rural programs, the budget does fund the Flex grant program at $43.6 million and for State Office of Rural Health at $10 million, both are the same ...

Senate delays health care vote; NRHA urges no vote on bill

By Erin Mahn Zumbrun posted 06-27-2017
The Senate has delayed a vote until after the July 4th recess on the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 (BCRA), the Senate version of the health care reform bill passed by the House. The National Rural Health Association urges the Senate to vote no on the BCRA . The Senate had an opportunity to fix the great inequities in the ACA for rural America , but instead has offered a plan that will lead to more uninsured, greater health disparities and ultimately poorer health outcomes for rural populations nationwide. Additionally, the Better Care Reconciliation Act will be the death sentence for many rural hospitals across the country. Rural hospitals ...

3 Amendments Needed in Health Care Reform

By Erin Mahn Zumbrun posted 06-22-2017
The National Rural Health Association is concerned that the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 falls woefully short in making health care affordable and accessible to rural Americans. The Better Care Reconciliation Act will hurt vulnerable populations in rural Americans, leaving millions of the sickest, most underserved populations in our nation without coverage, and further escalating the rural hospital closure crisis. Let’s be clear – many provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) failed rural America. The lack of plan competition in rural markets, exorbitant premiums, deductibles and co-pays, the co-op collapses, lack of Medicaid expansion, ...

The Senate Health Care Reform Bill and Rural America

By Erin Mahn Zumbrun posted 06-22-2017
The National Rural Health Association is disappointed the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017, the recently released Senate version of the House passed American Health Care Act (AHCA), did not address NRHA's concerns with the AHCA nor shortcomings of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Neither of the bills address the loss of access to care in rural America or include the three reforms that are needed to remedy the state of rural health in America. It is critical you contact your Senators now and tell them to vote no on the Better Care bill . Tell your Senators that rural health care access and coverage can be dramatically and cost-effectively improved ...

Senate releases health care reform bill

By Erin Mahn Zumbrun posted 06-22-2017
The Senate released their version of the House passed American Health Care Act entitled the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017. The text of the bill can be found here . While the bill appears to have some changes from the House version, the bill maintains some of the provisions that led to NRHA's opposition. NRHA is disappointed that the bill includes deep Medicaid cuts that change the program from an open-ended federal commitment to a capped federal payment that limits federal spending, leaving either states, patients, or providers to struggle with the loss of funds. The Medicaid expansion is also eliminated, being phased out over a four-year period ...

NRHA endorses reintroduction of Save Rural Hospitals Act to new Congress

By Erin Mahn Zumbrun posted 06-20-2017
Nearly 80 rural hospitals have closed since 2010 , and 673 additional facilities are vulnerable to closure — representing over 1/3 of rural hospitals in the U.S. Continued cuts to hospital payments have taken their toll, forcing closures, creating medical deserts across rural America and leaving many of our nation’s most vulnerable populations without timely access to care. That’s why the National Rural Health Association supports the bipartisan Save Rural Hospitals Act , reintroduced today to the 115 th Congress by U.S Reps. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Dave Loebsack (D-Iowa). The bipartisan bill will stabilize and strengthen rural hospitals by: Stopping ...

NRHA to Senate: Vote No on the American Health Care Act

By Erin Mahn Zumbrun posted 06-15-2017
The National Rural Health Association urges the Senate to protect rural Americans’ access to health care and to vote no on the American Health Care Act (AHCA). NRHA does not support the AHCA and has called on members of Congress to vote no on this legislation. While many provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are not working in rural America, the AHCA does not address the problems and instead provides coverage for fewer rural Americans leading to poorer rural health outcomes and an increase in the rural hospital closure crisis. If the AHCA is passed in its current form, CBO estimates this bill will result in 23 million fewer people with health insurance ...