“I have been in practice for a long time, and I am always humbled when I learn new information from colleagues. I have also learned that we don’t always have the answers and it’s OK to tell your patients that.” —Dr. Stephanie Lacey
The COVID-19 pandemic has lingered over the medical community for more than two years, bringing an array of challenges, hardships and grief. So, when Richmond magazine asked our Top Docs 2022 survey participants to reflect on life lessons learned over the course of their work, many shared how they were affected by the horrors wrought by the novel coronavirus, professionally and in their personal lives.
Some reflected on patients who left lasting impressions, others recounted recent horror scenes of lives taken too soon and threats to their own health and well-being. The force of medical teams was a theme in many of the responses. The mindset that it is a sacred honor to serve and heal came through strongly in many stories, as well as the crucial role compassion and listening play in treating patients.
Notice of proposed rule from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposing to revise its medical regulations to establish a new pilot program on graduate medical education and residency. This proposed rule would establish substantive and procedural requirements to allow VA to administer this pilot program in a manner consistent with section 403 of the MISSION Act. Includes information on the criteria in which residency programs will be established or residents will be placed – such as VA staffing levels, location of VA facilities in certain areas deemed as health professional shortage areas, and priority for residents to be placed for the provision of specific types of health care – as well as the types of facilities in which residents may be placed. Comments are due by April 5, 2022. (Source: Federal Register)
Apply Now: AACOM 2022 Osteopathic Health Policy Internship
Kaitlyn Thomas, AACOM’s most recent OHPI, discusses the impact the internship will have on her career and the reasons why all osteopathic medical students should consider applying. Click to watchvideo of her discussing the opportunity’s impact.
AACOM Government Relations (GR) is currently accepting applications for the 2022-2023 Osteopathic Health Policy Internship (OHPI) Program, a unique eight-week virtual internship for osteopathic medical students. Interns will strengthen AACOM GR’s federal advocacy efforts and develop knowledge of federal healthcare and higher education policy. Each OHPI will gain first-hand experience working virtually at the national level where they will be immersed in policy development, analysis and implementation. Applications are due Friday, February 11, 2022 at 11:59 PM ET. Learn more.
Expanded Eligibility Allows More Rural Clinicians to Qualify for Loan Repayment
Date: Thursday, January 13, 2022 Time: 11:00am Pacific, 12:00pm Mountain, 1:00pm Central, 2:00pm Eastern Duration: approximately 60 minutes
Featured Speakers
Tom Morris, Associate Administrator for Rural Health, Health Resources and Services Administration
Mike Shimmens, Executive Director, 3RNET
HRSA BHW Speaker TBD
Are you a rural clinician that needs help paying off your student loans? There’s help. For qualified healthcare clinicians you could receive student loan repayment in return for serving at National Health Services Corps (NHSC) approved sites. Successful NHSC applicants can either receive loan repayment funding while working at a HPSA site, or receive funding while in school in exchange for service in a HPSA after their graduation, depending on the NHSC program. In FY 2020, approximately 14,000 primary, dental, and mental healthcare providers served in National Health Service Corps programs, receiving federal funding in exchange for providing care in a health professional shortage area.
Learn more about each of the three loan repayment programs
NHSC Loan Repayment Program – awards up to $50,000 in exchange for a two-year commitment to provide primary medical, dental or mental/behavioral healthcare at approved sites in high-need, underserved areas. HRSA has removed the two-tier scoring, allowing all applicants to receive up to $50,000 in awards regardless of HPSA score. NHSC LRP recipients are eligible to extend their service and potentially pay off all of their educational debt with continuation contracts.
NHSC Substance Use Disorder Workforce Loan Repayment Program – provides up to $75,000 in exchange for a three-year commitment to healthcare professionals who provide substance use disorder (SUD) treatment services at NHSC-approved SUD treatment facilities. Clinicians with DATA 2000 Waivers can receive award preference.
This webinar is free. High-speed internet is required to participate. A recording will be available on our website after the live event. Connection details will be emailed to you immediately upon registration.
If you have questions or problems with the registration process, please contact RHIhub Webinars at webinars@ruralhealthinfo.org.
Audio quality prevented uploading a full video, but here are the slides from Dr. Tina Gustin’s presentation on Telehealth. Feel free to contact her for further information.
Dr. Paul Jett with Dr. Joseph Frye discuss “long haul” COVID care
Julie Powers, Executive Director of the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation, discusses LGBTQ+ issues with patient encounters and diagnoses
Dr. Lee Learman, Dean of Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, outlines ways to correct “Race and Gender Bias in SWVA Medicine”
The Graduate Medical Education Consortium is delighted to partner with the Feeding Southwest Virginia Mobile Market. GMEC has a grant from the National Institute for Food and Agriculture to work with nutrition needs in fixed income communities. The presence of the truck is part of these outreach efforts.
Doctors often tell patients to make better food choices. Given limited access to fresh produce with transportation, and with rising costs of fresh fruits and vegetables, this can be frustrating for both provider and patient. The Consortium is working with several innovations along these lines, and welcomes suggestions from the community.
EVERYONE is welcome to use the mobile market during its visit this coming Tuesday, per the flyer below. There are no requirements for participation and no registration is needed. We will see you at the church parking lot Tuesday.
The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) funded Rural Residency Planning and Development Program (RRPD) grantees are developing new rural residency programs or Rural Training Tracks (RTT) in Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, or Psychiatry.
Due to the rise of COVID cases following the Delta Variant and in light of vaccine rates not yet sufficient to create a safe environment for face to face interaction among our very needed medical professionals, the conference has moved online. Deadline for registration is October. Please register by clicking the link below. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE EMAIL YOU SEND THIS INFORMATION FROM WILL BE THE EMAIL THAT RECEIVES THE ZOOM LINK.
Between 2000 and 2010, the nonmetropolitan areas in the US gained more than 1 million residents, but in the last decade, the population fell by 260,000 residents. The decrease from 2010 to 2020 was slight — about half a percentage point, but what is interesting about this change is that it was fueled by increased domestic migration — movement of people from nonmetropolitan counties to metropolitan ones — not by the number deaths and births.
Southwest Virginia Graduate Medical Education 