Rural Health Association is ready to assist patients in keeping their TennCare Coverage! Trained assisters will be at Saint Louise Clinic in Murfreesboro each Friday in May and June from 9am - 1pm CT to help individuals determine if they are still eligible for TennCare and provide other helpful information. Can’t attend the event? Call 866-675-7092 or click here to schedule an appointment with a trained assister.

The address for Saint Louise Clinic is 1020 N Highland Ave A, Murfreesboro, TN 37130.

Do you have TennCare or serve those who do? Mandatory re-enrollment of TennCare, Tennessee's state Medicaid program, has started, and we are here to help! We are partnering with Anderson County and Clinton City Schools to participate in their Family Resource Fair!

Join us to if you are in need of help with re-enrollment on May 11th, from 3:00pm-6:00pm at the Clinton Community Center, 101 S. Hicks St., Clinton, TN 37716. 

Rural Health Association of Tennessee invites you to learn more about provider recruitment and retention and how to become a National Health Service Corps Site. Elizabeth Burrows with Burrows Consulting will be presenting this webinar on May 23rd at 10am CST.

Learning Objectives include: 

RCORP Drug Take-Back Event Flyer

Rural Health Association of Tennessee (RHA) has released an RCORP Drug Take-Back Event Flyer. Attached below is a flyer template with space for event details and a logo, as well as a PDF of instructions for using the flyer template. If you have a drug take-back event coming up, get the word out by using the resources below!

View the instructions and editable flyer here.

Join us this spring! 

Regional events are an opportunity to learn more about health issues affecting your community, such as substance use disorder, maternal health, and more. Lunch will be provided to in-person attendees.

A Town Hall, moderated by Jacy Warrell, RHA's CEO, will be available from 2:00-3:00pm. 

Join us!                                    

You are invited to learn more about RHA's mission, programs, and volunteer opportunities. Agenda topics include: 

—     RHA’s History, Mission, Vision, Values
 —     Benefits of Membership
 —     RHA Staff and Programs
 —     RHA Volunteer Committees
 —     RHA Board of Directors, Roles and Responsibilities
 —     Annual Conference and Member Meeting

This training includes Rural Health Clinics (RHCs), Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), mental health care providers, and primary care organizations that provide SUD/OUD screening, MAT services, and behavioral health services.

The training will differentiate between RHC, FQHC, CAH, and traditional provider coding and billing requirements and will speak to the unique billing challenges stemming from RHCs, FQHCs, and CAHS having to bill using different claim forms and receiving different types of payments from Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurers than traditional providers. Click for more training details. 

Register Here Tennessee Rural Health Clinics, Rural FQHC, CAH: Apply discount code "RCORP2023" to receive training for free. Non-providers and/or out of state guests must pay $200.

Community Health Worker Training Program The Tennessee Community Health Worker Training program (CSWTPT) will train individuals across the state to work in clinics, schools, social services agencies and other community organizations.

Join session presenters: Tonya Elkins, Nikayla Boyd, and Beth Keylon on January 19th 10 a.m.-12 p.m. CST.

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.

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. 

Conference and holiday season is upon us. If you have COVID-19 questions or want updates, then this webinar is for you!

• Describe the current disease landscape of COVID-19 in Tennessee

• Deploy proactive strategies for mitigating COVID-19 risk

• Use evidence-based tools to make informed health decisions for you, your family, and your patients

You don't want to miss this event, register here!

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

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government increased funding to hospitals and clinics and incentivized states to pause terminating enrollees from the Medicaid program to help increase access to health care and ease the financial burden caused by the global public health emergency. With the end of the pandemic in sight, we all need to prepare for the unwinding of the public health emergency (PHE). TennCare (our state’s Medicaid agency) has estimated that 300,000 people will lose their Medicaid health insurance after the PHE ends.

Hospitals and clinics are bracing for a significant reduction in funding, particularly in rural areas where providers were struggling even before the pandemic to provide health care to many uninsured people. Join the Rural Health Association of Tennessee and the Tennessee Justice Center to learn how the PHE unwinding will impact access to health care in your community. Click here to register today!

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

Registration for this event is closed. 

Join us on May 17th from 9:00am-2:00pm ET at Bishop Hall at East Tennessee State University as we partner with ETSU Rural and Community Programs and Coordinated School Health to bring you RHA of TN's East Tennessee Regional Event: "Rural Resilience: Strengthening Restoration through Partnerships and Collaboration."

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 

RHA of TN hosts, ArchProCoding Virtual Training for RHCs on April 20, 2022: 9am-2pm CST Curriculum specifics include:

•  The “Key Components” associated with E&M code selection
• The differences between the CPT and CMS E&M documentation guidelines
• Discuss the use of utilization benchmarks to target potential risk areas
• Explain the differences between the 1995 and 1997 examination guidelines
• Determining the complexity of medical decision making (MDM)
• The importance to ‘link’ ICD-10-CM codes to E&M services
• Risks associated with certain EHRs solutions (e.g, “wizards”)
• Distinguishing “problem-oriented” from “preventive” E&M services
• What to look for when modifiers are reported with E&M services (e.g., -25)
• How to use a well-constructed audit template to conduct reviews
• Key steps to present audit findings to providers successfully and non-confrontationally

Attendees must be a certified Rural Health Clinic in the state of Tennessee.

The University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine and The University of Kentucky Healthcare CE Central are hosting a conference titled "Healthcare in Appalachia: Practical Approaches to Addressing the Unique Needs of our Region" in Pigeon Forge on April 28-30, 2022.

Approximately 25.7 million people live in the Appalachian region of the United States (U.S.) Forty-two percent of the region’s population lives in rural areas, compared with only 20% of the nation. This region has historically been plagued with unique healthcare needs and poor health outcomes.