Monday, November 17, 2014

New CCSR project supports public health agencies statewide


The Center for Community Support and Research (CCSR) has recently been awarded a two-year contract from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) to build the organizational capacity of health departments. Through this nearly $400,000 contract, CCSR will assist health departments in the implementation of electronic health records and provide training which will increase the number of immunizations health departments provide. If current estimates are correct, there could be a twenty-five percent increase in billing revenue for health departments through the appropriate provision of immunizations.

Financial Planning and Management Skills are among the eight core public health competencies. Nationwide and statewide, local public health officials consistently self-assess their competence with Financial Planning and Management Skills lowest among those eight core skills. Billing is a key component of the financial management process. 

“This effort offers training and tools to sustain local health departments by maximizing access to resources already available in the system, which in turn assures more residents are protected from vaccine-preventable diseases,” says Sonja Armbruster, CCSR director of public health initiatives. 

This project is an implementation phase of a previous planning grant and builds on needs previously identified by local health departments. The CCSR will provide statewide training and create a billing and coding manual for Kansas health departments. In addition, the CCSR will provide more focused assistance to 10 health departments to implement the use of Practice Management Software and/or electronic health records. The CCSR will partner with the Kansas Association of Local Health Departments (KALHD), to select the departments to participate in the project.

The contract originates from a grant the Centers for Disease and Control awarded to the KDHE in September. For more information contact Sonja Armbruster at sonja.armbruster@wichita.edu or 316-978-3988.

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