2007 - Alabama Department of Public Health

ureau of professional and support services
would be required to eliminate the physician shortage
for underserved residents. All 67 Alabama counties
are designated as dental health shortage areas for the
low-income population, with some 287 additional dentists
being needed to overcome this dental care shortage. Sixtyfive
counties are considered deficient in mental health
care providers, with these counties being grouped among
22 mental health catchment areas. A total of 32 additional
mental health providers, strategically placed, would
be required to alleviate these mental health shortage
designations. Data were collected and reviewed this
year for all counties that are not currently designated as
health professional shortage areas. A total of 19 primary
care shortage designations were updated.
Applications for assistance from the National
Health Service Corps to recruit health professionals
into Alabama communities resulted in 130 vacancy
opportunities as of September 4, 2007. Efforts to recruit
and fill these 130 approved slots were undertaken through
joint activities between the Primary Care Section and
recruiting communities. Historically, not all slots can be
filled, primarily because of limited financial assistance
available from the corps and inability to find providers to
fill the vacancies. The current field strength of previously
placed corps providers is 25 physicians, 20 mid-level
providers, 10 dentists, 10 mental health workers, and
one doctor of chiropractic medicine. The corps’ loan
repayment program continues to be an attractive
recruiting tool for rural and medically underserved areas
by providing payoff of $50,000 in loans for a two-year
service commitment and an additional $70,000 for two
additional years of service.
In addition to other health professional recruitment
activities, all the primary care physician residency
programs in the state were visited or contacted to
solicit residents’ participation in the annual physician’s
Alabama opportunity fair held in Orange Beach,
Alabama. A new recruitment medical provider placement
software package called Practice Sights is currently being
installed in the office. This program will allow medical
providers to self-register at any time to be considered
for hundreds of Alabama vacancy opportunities. Four
staff members have been trained on this North Carolina
piloted program and have been making progress toward
completing installation in the Primary Care Office, with
assistance from the department’s Computer Systems
Center.
Rural Health Section
The J-1 Physician Waiver Program continued to be
the principal source of primary care and mental health
physicians and specialists. This office processed waivers
for 16 physicians, including eight sub-specialists, bringing
the total number of J-1 physicians in the state to 74.
These physicians provided accessible health care to over
170,000 rural and medically underserved Alabamians and
contributed major economic benefits to their respective
communities through the generation of millions of
dollars in health-related revenue and expenditures and
the employment of numerous supporting personnel.
Two new activities were initiated to bring high-level
tertiary and specialty care to rural communities through
the use of state-of-the-art health and telecommunication
technologies. First, providers were encouraged to
participate in the Federal Communications Commission’s
Rural Health Care Pilot Program which will fund
innovative approaches to telemedicine using the Universal
Services Fund for the broadband component with as little
as 15 percent match. With the assistance of the Alabama
Departments of Economic and Community Affairs
and Mental Health/Mental Retardation, six Alabama
proposals were submitted out of dozens from all over the
country, with announcement of winning applications still
pending. In addition, the office participated in an open
forum on Children’s Mental Health sponsored by the
Alabama Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
to demonstrate the advantages of performing mental
health consultations at remote sites via telemedicine.
All of these initiatives resulted from concerted efforts to
stay on the cutting edge of new telehealth technology
through participation in trade shows and professional
organizations and through constant networking with
organizations and individuals through one-on-one
personal contacts and Internet listserv contacts.
Three federal grant applications were submitted and
approved during the year to strengthen small, rural
hospitals and improve health care in their communities. A
continuation application was submitted for the Medicare
Rural Hospital Flexibility Program in collaboration with
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