ARHA Member's Listserv Notice
- September 8, 2008
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LET ARHA KNOW HOW TO ENHANCE ALALBAMA'S
RURAL PHYSICIAN'S INCOME TAX CREDIT
Several ARHA members, including the Executive Director, have
been asked to provide input into enhancing the value of
Section 40-18-130 Legislative intent.
It is the intent of
the Legislature to institute programs that will make
For the purposes of
this article, the following words have the following meanings, respectively,
unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(1) RURAL PHYSICIAN.
A physician licensed to practice medicine in
(2) SMALL OR RURAL
COMMUNITY. A community in
(3) SMALL OR RURAL
HOSPITAL. An acute care hospital that meets one of the following requirements:
a. Contains less than
105 beds and is located more than 20 miles, under normal travel conditions,
from another acute care hospital located in
b. Receives Medicare
rural reimbursement from the federal government.
Beginning with the
1994 tax year, a person qualifying as a rural physician shall be allowed a
credit against the tax imposed by Section 40-18-2, in the sum of $5,000. No
credit shall be allowed to a rural physician who is, on May 4, 1993, practicing
in a small or rural community. No credit shall be allowed to a physician who
has previously practiced in a small or rural community unless, after May 4,
1993, that physician returns to practice in a small or rural community after
having practiced in a large or urban community for at least three years. The
tax credit may be claimed for not more than five consecutive tax years. The
Department of Revenue shall promulgate any rules and regulations necessary to implement
and administer the provisions of this article.
(Acts 1993, No.
93-313, p. 470, §3.)
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ARHA BOARD MEMBER, DR. REGINA
BENJAMIN WINS MACARTHUR 'GENIUS AWARD'
Dr. Regina Benjamin, a Bayou La Batre physician known
for her work in rural health care whose clinic has persevered through
hurricanes and fire, has been granted a MacArthur
Fellowship, often called the "genius award."
Benjamin, 51, will receive $500,000 over the next five years from Chicago-based
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to
spend on whatever she chooses. The foundation selects fellows from a range of
talents and fields of study each year.
The founder of a rural clinic in Bayou La Batre is
among this year's list of 25 fellows that includes a novelist, an inventor of
musical instruments and a neuroscientist.
"It's just an honor to be chosen and even to be nominated," Benjamin
said.
The Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic treats all
sick patients including the poor and uninsured. About 4,500 patients rely on
the clinic that has a sliding scale of fees for people with low or no income.
As a health care provider in the rural fishing town, she has been committed to
serving patients even in times of crisis.
After Hurricane Georges struck the coast in 1998, she made house calls to
patients in her pickup truck until her facility was repaired.
In the weeks after Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, she treated patients on
the stage of a local community center.
"When Katrina happened, I went out to look for patients, but the patients
didn't have any homes anymore, because all of Bayou La Batre
was affected one way or the other," Benjamin said.
The clinic was quickly rebuilt and the staff was beginning to move in by year's
end. But in the early morning hours on New Year's Day 2006, a fire destroyed
the rebuilt facility.
Construction on an 8,000-square-foot clinic elevated on pilings at the site of
the original office began last year, Benjamin said, but her nonprofit operation
has run out of rebuilding funds.
For now, the clinic continues to take patients in an office with a waiting room
and two exam rooms, she said.
Benjamin said she has seen a rise in the number of her rural patients without
insurance.
"People who were insured all their lives are losing their insurance,
losing their jobs, or they just can't afford it anymore," Benjamin said.
Recipients of the MacArthur award are nominated
anonymously. Benjamin had no idea she was in consideration until she got a
phone call last week.
Fellows receive $100,000 each year over five years. They can spend the money
however they choose.
Benjamin said she wants to give a lot of thought and planning to how she'll
spend the grant, but she knows she wants to help the community with the award.
She has considered creating a scholarship for middle school and elementary
school students that would encourage them to become health care providers and
study math and science.
"We don't have enough kids from rural communities, and particularly minority
kids, going into health careers," Benjamin said.
Benjamin was the first black woman to be elected to the American Medical
Association's board of trustees. She was a 1998 recipient of the Nelson Mandela
Award for her commitment to providing health care to disadvantaged communities.
The MacArthur Fellows Program, started in 1981, has
named 781 fellows in its history. Fellows are selected based on their
creativity and potential to make future contributions.
"As a group, this new class of fellows takes one's breath away," said
Daniel J. Socolow, the program's director, in a
prepared statement. "Each is an original, and each confirms that the
creative individual is alive and well, at the cutting edge, and at work to make
our world a better place."
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RMSP ANNOUNCES NEW CLASS MEMBERS - ADDS AGRICULTURAL SAFETY/HEALTH COMPONENT
The thirteenth class of The University of
Alabama Rural Medical Scholars has begun their premed year of study of rural
health issues and community medicine before entering medical school next
summer. The Rural Medical Scholars Program, a part of the “Rural
Health Leaders Pipeline” that assists rural students into medical and health
career training, is a premed and medical education program for rural
The new class includes: Sarah Boutwell and
Justin Yancey, both from
The RMSPis
now working with the UAB-based
Funding from the National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health
(NIOSH), a division of the Centers for Disease Control, is being used to
develop the new Training Program. The NIOSH grant to the Deep South Center
(DSC) provides $394,000 over four years to the RMSP to add the agricultural health
and safety courses to the RMSP’s rural medical
education curriculum. Kent Oestenstad, PhD,
Director of the
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NEW DATABASE TRACTS
PREVALENCE OF CHRONIC CONDITIONS BY LOCATION
The National Minority Quality Forum has
announced plans to launch an online database that will help public health
organizations forecast demand for health care services related to chronic
conditions such as diabetes, obesity and HIV by location, Government Health
IT reports. Scheduled to go live this fall, the ZIP Code Analysis Project
will compile data on disease rates by postal code for both the general public
and minority populations. Database users will be able to view the data by
congressional district, state legislative district or other geographical
parameters, as well as by gender, age, and race or ethnicity. The information
will be made available to advocacy groups, not-for-profit organizations and
policy-makers looking to gauge current and future demand for health care
services and to target awareness campaigns by location. According to Government
Health IT, the forum previously launched an online diabetes atlas to track
the condition's prevalence across the United States and plans to launch similar
atlases this fall for cardiovascular disease, obesity, HIV and chronic kidney
disease (Foxhall, Government Health IT, 9/18/08).
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FREE PROSTATE CANCER
SCREENINGS IN HALE, MARENGO COUNTIES
One in
every six men will get prostate cancer some time in his life. The death rate from
prostate cancer for African American men in
Prostate cancer
is the most common cancer in men, with the exception of skin cancer, and is the
second leading cause of cancer death after lung cancer. Nationally, an
estimated 230,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and 30,000 will
die from the disease this year. African American men are much more likely than
white men to get prostate cancer and are more than twice as likely to die of
the disease.
The cause
of prostate cancer is not known, but a family history places a man at higher
risk. Other possible risk factors include a high fat diet and obesity. The
higher death rates among African Americans may be related to their higher
numbers of cases and the fact that their cancers are more likely to be
diagnosed late.
Screening
involves a physical examination and a simple blood test called a PSA that
measures the level of protein called prostate-specific antigen in the blood.
Elevated readings can be a sign of prostate cancer.
These
tests take approximately 10 minutes to perform. Advances in medical technology
help men diagnosed with prostate cancer to go on living an active and
productive life after treatment.
The free
screenings, sponsored by Urology Centers of
Oct.
25—Hale County Health Department,
Nov.
1—Marengo County Health Department,
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UAB
On Sunday September 21st, 2008, the
UAB Health Center Montgomery and the UAB Montgomery Family Clinic sponsored a
Hispanic Health Fair which was held at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in
The UAB Family Clinic is a collaborative effort
of the UAB Health Center Montgomery and the Division of Pediatric Infectious
Diseases at the
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ARHA NOTES
The Alabama Rural Health Association wants to
greatly expand its visibility in promoting rural healthcare. Please
encourage others sharing your interest in rural healthcare to become a member.
If you are not currently a member of the Alabama Rural Health Association,
you're invited to become a part of this growing organization with a very
important mission - - - "To preserve and enhance the health for rural
citizens of
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The ARHA List-Serve is an informational service
provided for members of the Alabama Rural Health Association. To have
information included in the ARHA List-Serve or to contact ARHA concerning other
needs, please contact the ARHA Executive Director, Dale Quinney.
Dale E. Quinney, Executive Director
Telephone: (334) 281-3866
Facsimile: (334) 206-5434
E-mail: arhaadmin@bellsouth.net