January 11, 2011
Dear Colleagues,
We hope that thiscommunication finds you well-rested from the holidays and already making 2011 a productive and successful year. We wanted to inform you of our progress since our last update. We have beenactively workingon both administrative and programmatic aspects of our mission.
PROGRAM COORDINATOR POSITION APPROVED
We are very pleased to announce that the Position Vacancy Listinghas been posted for a program coordinator. It can be found at: . Please share this PVL with anyone who you feel has the skills, background, and motivation to make a contribution to enhancing rural health in Wisconsin in this way.Applications must be received byJanuary 21, 2011.
ANNUAL REPORTS
As required by Act 190,an annual report of the Wisconsin Rural Physician Residency Assistance Program wasrequired on December 1, 2010.Companionreports were submittedto the Joint Committee on Finance of theWisconsin State Legislature and to the Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative, Wisconsin Hospital Association, and Wisconsin Medical Society. In these reports, we addressed the legislative expectationsoutlined by Act 190,progress made in the first five months of the program, and future plans. The reports are available at:
APPLICATIONS FOR FUNDING
With guidance of our program advisory committee and with approval of our program's financialstructure by the University of Wisconsin,the application processfor obtaining WRPRAP funding has been finalized. Three separate tracks have been created:Rural Rotation funding, Rural Training Track funding, and Residency Education Development Grant funding. On-line applicationswill soon beavailable with guidelines for each track.Requests for fundingfrom any interested party are welcome. Applicationswill beposted at: early next week.
PRECEPTOR PAYMENT GUIDELINES
A major point of discussion over the past six months has been about whether program funds should be used to pay community preceptors. With considerable input from our advisory committee, a guideline statement has been adopted that serves as an addendum to the eligibility criteria for funding applications.It will also beposted on our website at: by early next week.
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
WRPRAP is very fortunate to have an extremely knowledgeable and supportive advisory committee that meets every 1-2 months. Minutes of these meetings are available ( We greatly appreciate their many contributions to the program.
WEBSITE
Our website, undergo a substantial update in organization and content over the next week. This will enhance navigation. Also, thanks to great work by Clare Loxterkamp, additional resources and links will be available. Please check back to see our progress and feel free to contact us with any suggestionsaboutour site design or other materials we should post. We would also welcome your thoughts about ways we cansupport rural health in Wisconsin.
We look forward to hearing from you. Please direct your comments to Bill Schwab ( ) or Clare Loxterkamp ( ).
Clare Loxterkamp
Adminstrative Assistant, Wisconsin Rural Physician Residency Assistance Program
UW Department of Family Medicine
1100 Delaplaine Ct
Madison, WI 53715
608/263-6719