Rural Arkansas

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Senate Public Health Chair wants more focus on physician shortage

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by Roby Brock (roby@talkbusiness.net)

State Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, wants a stronger state focus on a physician shortage issue that she says threatens the health of rural Arkansans.

Irvin, who chairs the Senate Public Health Committee, appeared on this week’s Capitol View program and stressed that the medical worker shortage is a major workforce issue.

“I’m calling on the Secretary of Commerce to really put this at the top priority of his list. This is a workforce development issue and we’ve got to have more residencies in the state of Arkansas,” she said.

A report from the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement released this week shows that Arkansas does not have enough medical residencies for graduates to move into, which creates a net exodus of potential doctors from the state.

Senate Public Health Chair wants more focus on physician shortage

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UAMS Receives 5-Year, Multimillion-Dollar Grant Renewal to Support Programs for Regional Campuses

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By Chris Carmody

LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has received a five-year renewal of funding under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ AHEC Point of Service Maintenance and Enhancement (POSME) grant, which will benefit programs administered by UAMS Regional Campuses.

The Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, provides the POSME grant with the goal of preparing a diverse, culturally competent primary care workforce prepared to deliver high-quality care to various populations in rural and underserved areas.

UAMS will receive about $1.15 million during the grant year that ends Aug. 31, with $1.15 million provided in equal share by UAMS. The university is projected to receive $11.5 million, with 50% provided by nongovernment funds, during the grant’s five-year term.

https://news.uams.edu/2023/06/20/uams-receives-5-year-multimillion-dollar-grant-renewal-to-support-programs-for-regional-campuses/

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Sen. Ingram says Medicaid expansion staved off hospital crisis, new factors causing concern

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by Roby Brock (roby@talkbusiness.net)

Sen. Keith Ingram, D-West Memphis, noted that a near decade of help from the state’s Medicaid expansion program has stabilized Arkansas’ health care system, but now a new set of circumstances is challenging hospitals’ financial health.

In an interview on Talk Business & Politics, the chair of the Senate’s Hospital and Medicaid subcommittee, said the private option, also known as Arkansas Works and ARHome, has been an effective “backstop” to guard against hospital closures, especially in rural parts of the state.

“The Medicaid expansion – Arkansas Works, ARHome – is going to be 10 years old in 2023. Without that backstop, we would’ve lost so many rural hospitals in Arkansas, like the states that surround us. They’ve had a tremendous amount of hospital enclosures. So what has happened is that staved off the financial crisis that other states have gone through until this point,” he said.

https://talkbusiness.net/2022/08/sen-ingram-says-medicaid-expansion-staved-off-hospital-crisis-new-factors-causing-concern/