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Office of Rural Health
2008 Special Focus and ACCESS Newsletter

Each year the Office focuses on issues in rural health that our stakeholders and communities have identified as important.  Below are the special focus areas for 2008.

Certified Rural Health Clinics:  The Office sponsors three meetings per year, the focus this year is on health registries, especially for diabetes and cardiovascular, electronic medical records, telehealth and coding and billing.

Telehealth:  The Office continues to organize stakeholder meetings to create, support and enhance telehealth opportunities in Nebraska.  Focus this year is on the finalization of a telehealth backbone, education in telecommunication models, and integration of health services through this technology.

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Critical Access Hospitals:  The Office receives FLEX grant funds and works with an Advisory Council, the Nebraska Hospital Association and their partners to support the transition of rural hospitals.  Focus this year is on networking, emergency medical services, quality benchmarking and a balanced scorecard model.  Contact Dave Palm, david.palm@dhhs.ne.gov, phone:  (402) 471-0146.

Integration of Behavioral Health and Primary Care:  The Office is working with the Rural Health Advisory Commission to collect best practices and ideas for the creation of integrated training and service delivery models within our state.

ACCESS Newsletter:  The Office prepares and distributes the ACCESS newsletter quarterly.  This newsletter is prepared to inform and share current issues impacting the rural health care system.

The Office of Rural Health works with other stakeholders at a national level to address national, regional and state rural health issues.  Please contact Dennis Berens, Director at dennis.berens@dhhs.ne.gov phone: (402) 471-0142, fax: (402) 471-0180.

The Nebraska Rural Health Association's Annual Conference is co-sponsored by our Office and you may find more information about the Annual Conference at their web site http://www.nebraskaruralhealth.org/.

Contact Information:
Nebraska Office of Rural Health
301 Centennial Mall South
Lincoln, NE 68509-5026
402-471-2337
officeofruralhealth@dhhs.ne.gov

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