Welcome to News in Brief

Welcome to the June issue of News in Brief. This newsletter is published bi-monthly to feature what is happening in Rural Health Education and Services at the KU Medical Center. For more information contact Joyce Tibbals at jtibbals@kumc.edu.

Kansas Recruitment Center Makes Placements

The Kansas Recruitment Center (KRC) is pleased to announce four new placements for rural Kansas!

Michelle Prebyl, MD, family physician, will join the team at Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas, Pittsburg, Kan. in August. Dr. Prebyl is a University of Kansas School of Medicine graduate and is finishing her residency at North Colorado Family Medicine.

Hays Medical Center will welcome family physician Dan Divilbiss,MD in August. Dr. Divilbiss graduated from the University of Kansas School of Medicine in 2005. He then completed his residency at Self Regional Family Medicine Residency Program in Greenwood, S.C.

Heather Cave, RN recently started working at Lindsborg Community Hospital. Cave is a recent graduate of Wichita State University. She is very compassionate and plans to bring her passion for patients to the people of Lindsborg.

Aiman Qannan, MD, family physician, will be joining the team at Miami County Medical Center, Paola, Kan. in August. Dr. Qannan completed his residency training at the University of Oklahoma in Tulsa, Okla.

Save-the-Date for Kansas Career Opportunities

The Kansas Career Opportunities events will be held at the KU School of Medicine - Wichita on Oct. 22, 2009, and KU Medical Center in Kansas City on Oct. 29, 2009. Both career fairs are an excellent opportunity for organizations to meet physician residents, medical, nursing, and allied health students and other health care professionals who are seeking employment opportunities.

To register to attend visit http://ruralhealth.kumc.edu/krc/kco.html or contact Susan Belden at sbelden@kumc.edu.

RHES Announces a New Community has been Added to Focus on Kansas Web Site

“Good crops… Great families,” is the sign that greets you as you drive into Hoxie from the north, south, east or west. It is an apt description of this progressive agricultural community. Old fashioned values where even your neighbor is considered your family and not just a friend is the norm in Hoxie. Neighbors helping neighbors is demonstrated in so many ways.. The generosity is amazing for such a small community.

RHES’s Focus on Kansas Web site highlights communities and health care organizations across Kansas. For more information about Hoxie and other communities, visit www.focusonkansas.com. For information on how your community can be a part of this Kansas site, email Laurie Scott, lscott@kumc.edu.

RHES Exhibits at Spring Conference

The Kansas Association of Osteopathic Medicine (KAOM) spring conference was held in Overland Park, Kan., on April 23-24. RHES staff exhibited at the event and visited with physicians about RHES services.

RHES Presents to Medical Students

Every spring RHES hosts a pizza dinner for the third-year medical students at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita. While the students enjoyed dinner, Marinn Rank, senior recruitment coordinator, officially introduced the RHES programs to the students for the first time.

The first program mentioned was the Kansas Recruitment Center (KRC). KRC offers its free job searching services to health care providers looking for a job in Kansas. The Kansas Locum Tenens (KLT) program was of interest to the students because it could quite possibly put extra money in their pockets during their residency training. And last but not least, the Kansas Bridging Plan (KBP) was mentioned to the students. This program is especially important to keep in mind for the students who plan to go into primary care in Kansas. Resident physicians who sign up for the KBP can receive up to $26,000.

Recruitment Training to Benefit Kansans

Tyler Doyle, Sr. Recruitment Coordinator for the Kansas Recruitment Center (KRC), wants to be the best recruiter possible. Daily, Doyle works with clients from across Kansas and with health care providers for Kansas. In order to better serve their needs and stay up-to-date with new ideas, he attended the Physician Recruitment Intensive Training Course. The week-long in-depth seminar covered all aspects of in-house physician recruitment.

According to Doyle, he was able to take a lot away from the course. “ I learned a lot about the process that in-house recruiters go through to recruit a physician,” said Doyle. “ I also picked up some new techniques and ideas that will make me a more efficient and successful recruiter. Several highly qualified individuals shared their knowledge with the attendees. We had the opportunity to learn from lawyers, private investigators, computer program creators, medical managers, and highly experienced recruiters.”

The course, hosted by the American Academy of Medical Management, was held in San Francisco, Ca. April 20-24, 2009.

RHES Invites Kansans to Visit Rural Health Blog

Read the RHES blog for additional information about rural health in Kansas. The blog is located at www.ruralhealtheducationandservices.blogspot.com. In addition, RHES has entered the world of social networking with our new Facebook page. Become a fan by searching for us. Our page will be another opportunity to update fans on happenings and post pictures of various events.

RHES Staff Attends KAHCC Spring Conference

There is no better way to stay connected with Kansas health care communicators than through networking and taking advantage of the courses offered by the Kansas Association of Health Care Communicators (KAHCC) group.

On April 23-24, RHES staff had the opportunity to be a part of the KAHCC 2.0 annual spring conference in Overland Park, Kan. This year’s conference covered the topics, social media and writing skills.

2009 Rural Kansas Photography Contest

The 2009 Rural Kansas Photography Contest is presented by RHES, University of Kansas Medical Center. The purpose is to work with Kansans across the state to produce a collection of photographic images to help promote Kansas as a great place for health care providers to live, work, and play. Winning photos will be published and prizes will be awarded. Photographs will be accepted July 6 – Sept. 11. Download an entry form today at: http://ruralhealth.kumc.edu/photocontest/index_info.html.

New Money Available Now!! Important Information on the National Health Service Corp (NHSC) Loan Repayment

The Health Resources and Services Administration is now accepting new applications for National Health Service Corp (NHSC) Loan Repayment Program. These are new funds under the President's Stimulus package providing almost $200 million to support about 3,300 clinicians. Beginning June 2, 2009 through September 2010 (or as funding permits) NHSC Loan Repayment Program awards will be available on a first come, first served basis.

NHSC awards to up to $50,000 for loan repayment to primary health care clinicians working with the underserved. The minimum commitment is for 2 years.

The site MUST be an approved National Health Service Corps (NHSC) site before a clinician may apply. Clinics must be located in a Health Professional Shortage Area and have a sliding fee scale, these are absolute requirements. Information on a sliding fee scale is available on the NHSC web site at this link: http://nhsc.hrsa.gov/communities/discountedfee.pdf.

If you are currently an approved NHSC site, please make sure your opportunities are up to date. Go to: http://www.nhscjobs.hrsa.gov and review the vacancies listed for your facility to make sure your provider opportunities are current.

Join KDHE for a Webinar about NHSC loan repayment

KDHE webinar will provide information on the recruitment and retention programs of the National Health Service Corps, focusing on the expanded funding under ARRA for clinician loan repayment.

The webinars will be held on June 24 from 2:30 to 3:30 pm and June 26 from 10:00 to 11:00 am.