NAO members

Two reasons to go to the NAO website this week:

1 – a draft of the conference schedule has been posted on the conference pages of the NAO website. The breakout sessions are not yet confirmed, but this schedule will provide some information to help with planning.

2 – the AHEC Scholars site has undergone some revisions. You should be able to reach the site from the NAO website (under initiatives) or at ahecscholars.nationalahec.org. The resources page is being revamped for better display of resources. We hope this will make uploading and finding resources simpler. A site certificate has been purchased and installed which should help some of you being blocked by that issue.

Some instruction in navigating the site that I learned this week:

• There is a search option, but there is also an advanced search function that should help you search within conversations. You can find this under "Discover", then by clicking "Advanced Search".
• Starting a “discussion” – there is a “tag” section at the beginning of that. Perhaps you won’t have this problem, but I didn’t scroll down to find where to reply. Use the side scroll bar. AEG is hoping to reduce the size of the “tag” section.

Center Directors – please join the CDCG Open Call is Wednesday, March 14 – see the information later in this update for details.

A joint meeting of the Program Directors Constituency Group and the Center Directors Constituency Group is planned for March 21 at 2 pm EST. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend. More information will be coming, but you can register now at:
http://nao-ntc.adobeconnect.com/jointpdcd/event/registration.html The primary topic will be AHEC Scholars.

Thursday is the deadline for nominations for Awards at the July conference. Time to start writing!

Working together

Paula Overfelt
President, NAO Board of Directors

Budget and Appropriations Update

Legislators are still working on finishing up Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 appropriations bills ahead of March 23rd. More details on this omnibus spending bill should become available next week.

Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and a champion for public health, health professions training, and medical research, announced that he will resign from Congress at the end of March. His hope is that he can finish up the FY 2018 process, and then turn the gavel over to one of his colleagues—most likely Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama.

HEALTH INSURANCE MARKET STABILIZATION

House and Senate leaders continue their discussions on the development of a health insurance market stabilization package that could possibly include a mixture of Cost Sharing Reduction payments and reinsurance. The targeted vehicle for this legislative package is the expected omnibus appropriations bill that needs to be passed by March 23rd to avoid either a government shutdown or another continuing resolution (CR). Committee staff expect a plan to come together the week of the 19th—the same week the existing CR expires.

HHS BLOCKS IDAHO’S PLAN TO CIRCUMVENT HEALTH LAW

On Thursday, the Trump administration rejected Idaho’s plan to allow the sale of stripped-down, low-cost health insurance that violates the Affordable Care Act. The 2010 statute “remains the law, and we have a duty to enforce and uphold the law,” Seema Verma, the administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in a letter to the governor of Idaho, C. L. Otter. While rejecting Idaho’s plan in its current form, Ms. Verma encouraged the state to keep trying, and she suggested that, “with certain modifications,” its proposal might be acceptable. For more follow Robert Pear at the NY Times here.

We will continue to keep you updated on new developments.

New resources part of dissemination efforts
Our State Entities are in the process of disseminating new HPV resources in a variety of ways (social media, email, newsletter and more!) to a variety of audiences (health professionals, students, medical office staff!). Listed below are the three resources they will be disseminating this quarter. Feel free to provide these to professionals or students you work with. If you do use these materials, we’d love to hear from you about how you used them and who you sent them to!

• CDC HPV Iceberg Infographic
• CACS “Take a Shot at Cancer” Infographic
• C#HowIRecommend document

Writing our non-competing continuation document
It’s that time of year again! We are in the process of writing our non-competing continuation application for the final year of the HPV project – Year 5! Wow, where has the time gone?! We will be sending out a survey to all of our current State Entity participants about what they would like us to include in our plans in the areas of provider education, partnerships, prioritization and dissemination activities. But we welcome all feedback! Let us know if you would like to submit your opinions and we’ll send you a link as well.

Promote our next live webinar!
We appreciate your support in promoting our next live webinar which is great for healthcare professionals and health professions students alike! It fits right into the core topics that AHECs can educate on as well as the community-based training components of our AHEC activities.

Presented by: Jonas Johnson, MD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC; Marci Nilsen, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing; and Lynne Williams, MD, PhD, Executive Director of Southwest Pennsylvania AHEC and Physician at Hilltop Community Health Center

Join us for an important look into HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer, survivor outcomes and the importance of the HPV vaccine.

• Epidemiology, prevalence and treatment of oropharyngeal cancer
• Patient-reported outcomes reflecting treatment related toxicities
• Safety, efficacy, and importance of the HPV vaccine in cancer prevention.

2018 Conference News

Conference Registration

Registration for the conference is now open! Please visit http://nationalahec.org/conference/45. The draft schedule has been added to the conference menu in the link titled "Agenda".

Awards Information - Deadline is March 15

As we are preparing for our 2018 NAO Conference that will be held July 8-11, 2018 in the Washington DC area, we invite you to nominate centers and programs for the Awards that will be presented at the 2018 Conference.

Categories for this year's awards include 3 Legacy Awards and 3 Center of Excellence Awards. The Center of Excellence (COE) Awards (Information and Nomination Form) have been redesigned to align with HRSA's three overarching priorities and are: Distribution, Diversity and Practice Transformation. The legacy awards remain the same and are the Eugene S. Mayer Program of Excellence Award, the Andy Nichols Award for Social Justice and the Red Koelling Distinguished Service Award. The linked documents describe the criteria for nominating and the review criteria that will be used for each award.

So, if you know of a program or center, including your center or program that is deserving of the award, we encourage you to please complete and email the nomination form and supporting materials to: awards_submission@nationalahec.org. Please note that the deadline has been extended to March 15.

Sponsor and Exhibitor Opportunities

Sponsor a Breakfast
Put your logo in front of every attendee by sponsoring the official conference tote bags! Help attendees start the day right by sponsoring breakfast! Your name and logo will be prominently displayed on signage at the entrance to the breakfast area. For more information, please view the 2018 Exhibitor and Sponsor Prospectus or contact Becky Schlevensky at b.schlevensky@nationalahec.org.

Exhibitor Opportunities
The 2018 NAO Conference Exhibition offers 20 hours of designated exhibit time within the exhibit hall over two and a half days. Booth and table options vary and start at $495. For more information, please view the 2018 Exhibitor and Sponsor Prospectus or contact Becky Schlevensky at b.schlevensky@nationalahec.org.

Other News

Job Opportunities

Please remember to check out the Employment section of the NAO website for current job listings.

Current Openings are for:

• Executive Director - West Central Alabama Area Health Education Center, Demopolis, Alabama