Join us Wednesday, December 7th for our free COVID-19 webinar! Vaccines and boosters are our best defense against serious illness from COVID-19. Currently, many people across the country remain unvaccinated or have not received booster shots for COVID-19.

In rural Appalachia, high numbers of chronic disease, along with an aging population contribute to the unvaccinated or insufficiently vaccinated having a higher risk of severe complications or death from a COVID-19 infection.

Click here to register for this event.

Join us on this webinar with Mike Lerman on November 29th at 11am CST. 

• A healthier, happier, more present workforce who have free, instant access to healthcare for their entire household (regardless of relationship or other medical coverage).
•  An alternative, low-cost benefit for those that opt-out, are ineligible (part-time, volunteer, contract labor), or who can't afford full family health plans.
• A no-barrier, no-stigma avenue for everyone in your employees 
• An employee assistance plan where family members can get emotional, mental, financial, and legal help in time of need through a 24/7 crisis hotline and counseling.
• Telehealth appointments with Mental Health, Dermatology, Nutrition, and Dental professionals – all with unlimited use and zero copay.  
• All plans costs employers less than a 12 cent-an-hour raise.

To register for this RHA of TN-sponsored educational webinar, simply: CLICK HERE.  

If you missed hearing from the Tennessee Division of TennCare you can view the recording of the webinar by clicking the link below.

Our guest speakers included: Drew Staniewski, Deputy Director of TennCare; Zane Seals, Chief Financial Officer TennCare; Jacy Warrell, Executive Director of RHA of TN; and Nathan Baugh, Executive Director of the National Association of Rural Health Clinics. 

*This event is sponsored by Midwest Health Care, Inc. 

Would you like to learn more about maternal health in Tennessee? Family planning, pre- and postnatal care, maternal health disparities, roles of maternal healthcare professionals, maternal and fetal mortality rates are just a few of the topics that will be discussed in this webinar. 

• Attendees will understand the overall landscape of Maternal Health Care in Tennessee
• Attendees will understand barriers that lead to disparities in rural versus non-rural populations
• Attendees will understand the role of Maternal Health Professionals, Labor Support & Birth Workers
• Attendees will be able to describe “Group Prenatal Care” as a model of care for rural communities

Click Here to Register

There’s nothing as important to families as the health and safety of their babies, and the formula shortage has left many people feeling anxious about how they’ll feed them. Some young children, teens, and adults with medical needs also rely on formula for their nutrition. We know it’s not easy to change a diet reliant on formula.

If you can’t find formula in stock, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has the following resources:
Press Release: FDA Provides Educational Resources for Parents and Caregivers to Support Confidence for Imported Infant Formula Products
Resources page: Resources for Parents and Caregivers on Imported Infant Formula
Consumer Update: Infant Formula Supply

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposes new rule that creates a pathway for rural hospitals and critical access hospitals to increase access to emergency and outpatient care.

Click here to read CMS' statement on Expanding Access to Emergency Care Services in Rural Communities
Click here to read the Fact Sheet on Conditions of Participation for Rural Emergency Hospitals and Critical Access Hospital COP Updates (CMS-3419-P)

The TN AHEC Scholars Program seeks to develop, prepare, and sustain a culturally competent healthcare workforce that is prepared to deliver high quality care in a transforming heath care delivery system, with emphasis on training rural and urban underrepresented minority, and educationally disadvantaged students for practice in rural and/or underserved areas.

TN AHEC is currently accepting applications for the 2022-2024 cohort. Click here for informational letter. Click here to view the program brochure.

The Rural Health Association of Tennessee hosts a webinar titled, "Time Out for Men's Health" on June 02, 2022 from 10am-11am CST. Our guest speaker is Mike Leventhal, Executive Director with the Men's Health Network- Tennessee.

1. Who is Men's Health Network and why is men's health important?
2. "The Silent Crisis" that is men's health.
3. Ways and means for public health professionals to get involved and become part of the men's health movement.

We'd like for you to join us for this virtual event! Register Here

April is Autism Awareness Month. The RHA of TN would like to share a pre-recorded webinar featuring Lauren Pearcy the Executive Director with the Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities in a webinar titled, "Disability Resources for Healthcare Providers and Patients". 

We are continually focused on caring for the well-being of individuals with developmental disabilities. Through advanced research, we will get the help they need by providing resources that will support the health and safety of all the individuals. 

  Click here to view recording 

Thanks to the advocacy efforts of RHA of TN members and other organizations, dental coverage is now available for pregnant and postpartum women. Starting April 1st, pregnant women on TennCare will have dental coverage.  

An excerpt of the Notice of Change can be found below.

In honor of Heart Health Month, The Rural Health Association hosted a webinar in collaboration with the American Heart Association- Tennessee this morning, "Building Community Networks to Improve Heart Health in Rural Communities" .

Our guest speakers, Brenda Miller and Kacie Kennedy, offered a vast knowledge on ways you can partner with your local communities to help with heart health in your own neighborhood and recognizing the importance of heart health. 

Radon and Lung Cancer in Tennessee 

If you missed our webinar on "Radon and Lung Cancer in Tennessee" with Lexi Brown and Bruce Snead, don't worry! A recording of the webinar is available, along with resources shared. 

CDC releases "Rural Considerations for Vaccine Confidence and Uptake Strategies"

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released another COVID-related rural resource that may be of interest. A “Rural Considerations” addendum was recently added to its field guide for conducting a Rapid Community Assessment (RCA). An RCA is a process for quickly collecting community insights about a public health issue in order to inform program design. The assessment involves reviewing existing data and conducting community-based interviews, listening sessions, observations, social listening, and surveys. In addition to the rural considerations addendum, the

Tennessee’s Department of Health’s mission is to protect, promote and improve the health and prosperity of people in Tennessee. This session will provide updates on Tennessee’s COVID response as well as other efforts to improve population health.

Learning Objectives
• Understand the most recent data on COVID spread and the success of various mitigation strategies, particularly in rural areas
• How to support public health efforts through consistent messaging and education
• Discover resources available to providers and public to improve health of Tennesseans

The US-HAMP (United States Hepatitis Academic Mentorship Program), a program of the Kentucky Rural Health Association would like to invite you to the US-HAMP Summit on July 27, 2021. This will be a virtual event for Key State Leaders.  Please refer to HAMP attachment for agenda/program about US-HAMP.

US-HAMP is a multi-state collaborative learning network to train key state leaders on the implementation of a successful HAMP model in an effort to empower primary care providers in their state to screen, diagnose, evaluate, treat, cure and report hepatitis C outcomes.  Current HAMP best practice will be discussed by state leaders in Kentucky and West Virginia.

Click Here

RHA of TN hosted a 4 part series on addressing vaccine hesitancy in rural Tennessee. Visit our Rural Resource Center to view the recordings and access the resources that went with the webinar.

View Recordings

Click here to read presenter bios.

From Division of TennCare: 

Providing high-quality care and supporting TennCare members to improve their health is a longstanding primary objective of the TennCare program. The TennCare III Demonstration waiver agreement certainly prioritizes this goal by directly tying any potential shared savings the state might achieve to maintaining or improving quality of care as measured by a set of quality performance measures. As valued partners and providers in the TennCare program, we wanted to update you on the selection of these measures.