The 27th Annual West Virginia Rural Health Conference is scheduled for October 8-11, 2019 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Huntington, WV. This year's conference theme is "Country Roads: Moving WV Rural Health Forward." 

For more information, click here. 

Health centers and free clinics that provide obstetric care encounter numerous risks, including factors related to patients' clinical history and social background, challenges around patient engagement, and gaps in communication with other providers and care settings. Health centers can learn from other organizations that have successfully implemented proactive strategies for reducing such risks and improving patient safety.

Please join us on July 23rd or July 24th, 2019 as we welcome guest speakers from Valley Health Systems, Huntington, West Virginia, who will share case studies, experiences, challenges, and lessons learned from their efforts to improve the quality of care for the health center's obstetric patients. Specific topics covered will include:

ECRI Institute on behalf of HRSA presents this FREE program.

Who Should Attend?  Administrators (e.g., Executive Directors, Chief Medical Officers), Risk Managers, Obstetrics Providers, Family Practice Providers, Nurses, Patient safety officers, Quality improvement staff, Behavioral Health, Social Workers

For your convenience, the same webinar will be offered on two dates. Please register by choosing one of the options below.

Tuesday, July 23:

Or, Wednesday, July 24:

You do not need a username to sign up for the FREE webinar. To register, just click above on the time you wish to attend.

Information provided by ECRI Institute is intended as guidance to be used consistent with the internal needs of your organization. This information is not to be viewed as required by ECRI Institute or the Health Resources and Services Administration.

Challenges of the Rural Opioid Epidemic: Treatment and Prevention of HIV and Hepatitis C .  Previous research on HIV and hepatitis C (HCV) among people who inject drugs (PWID) has focused on urban or international populations, yet the US opioid epidemic is moving away from metropolitan centers. In this report, researchers examine the increasing rurality of opioid injection, the challenges to treatment and prevention that are unique to rural areas, and the public health interventions needed to address them. See the Learning Events and Resources of the Week sections below for federal information on programs that can help prevent transmission of infections associated with needle use.

HRSA-funded health centers help to End the HIV Epidemic by serving as a key point of entry for people undiagnosed with HIV and caring for those with HIV. Check out the freshly updated Health Center Program HIV webpage to learn more about the innovative work done by health centers and to access useful resources that can support your efforts in this area. This is especially timely as many health centers gear up for National HIV Testing Day (Thursday, June 27). Our new content includes a TA resource on HIV testing.

HRSA is pleased to announce the release of the Health Center Program Service Area Considerations Request for Information (RFI). HRSA seeks input from the public on service area considerations that may inform HRSA decisions regarding Health Center Program expansion through an existing health center's addition of new service delivery sites.

The Service Area RFI announcement will begin with a 30-day preview period. Instructions on how external stakeholders may submit feedback are forthcoming. Following the preview period, HRSA will accept public feedback for 60 days and plans to announce those details in a future Primary Health Care Digest newsletter. We look forward to receiving your feedback.