January 16 - HRSA, working in collaboration with the Delta Regional Authority (DRA), has selected six rural hospitals across four states in the Delta region to share $2 million for intensive technical assistance in the areas of finance, operations, technology and quality-improvement.

We are looking forward to working with DRA on this important program, said HRSA Administrator George Sigounas, MS, Ph.D. This support will help these hospitals strengthen their health care systems and improve health outcomes in the Delta region.

Read the press release.

During 2017, the number of deceased organ donors in the United States topped 10,000 for the first time, according to preliminary data from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). For the year, organs were recovered from 10,281 donors, representing a 3.1 percent increase over 2016 and an increase of 27 percent since 2007.

We are grateful that more lives are being saved, year after year, thanks to the boundless generosity of organ donors, said Yolanda Becker, M.D., president of the OPTN/UNOS Board of Directors. We remain committed to increasing the number of transplants still further to help the many thousands of people in need of a transplant to sustain them and vastly improve their quality of life.

Learn more about the increase in organ donors.

Each year about 12,000 women in the United States are diagnosed with cervical cancer.

Two screening tests (Pap test and HPV test) can help prevent cervical cancer or find it early. In 2016,more than 3.6 million HRSA-funded health centers female patients received cervical cancer screening.

Learn more about best practices for screening and preventing cervical cancer with these resources:

• View a recent HRSA webinar about Cancer Screening Promising Practices in Primary Care Associations
• Access the HHS Office on Womens Health (OWH) Cervical Cancer Fact Sheet
• Read about CDCs National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program

HRSA's HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) will host the 2018 National Ryan White Conference on HIV Care and Treatment from
December 11-14, 2018, at the Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center located at the National Harbor in Oxon Hill, MD.

The 2018 conference theme isCatalyzing Success: Advancing Innovation. Leveraging Data. Ending the HIV Epidemic. The Clinical Conference at the 2018 National Ryan White Conference on HIV Care & Treatment will be held December 9-11, 2018.

HRSA/HAB hosts the conference every two years to deliver program and policy updates, share innovative models of care, and provide training and technical assistance to Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program recipients; federal, national, state, and local stakeholders; health care and service delivery providers; and people living with HIV.

The conference provides a forum to share best practice models and strategies that will help attendees facilitate a coordinated national response designed to reduce new HIV infections and HIV-related health disparities.

Learn more about the National Ryan White Conference.

The HRSA HIV/AIDS Bureaus 2015 Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program State Profiles are now available.

The State Profiles provide a national and state-by-state look at 2015 Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Services Report (RSR) client-level data utilizing an interactive web platform that allows users to compare states, compare states to the U.S. overall, or compare data by year.

HRSA/HAB utilizes these client-level data to monitor and support the progress of improving care and treatment for Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program clients.

Check out the 2015 State Profiles.

An important new online resource is now available to help people recognize and find high quality treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD), which affects more than 15 million adults in the United States.

The NIAAA Alcohol Treatment Navigator helps individuals and their loved ones negotiate the often-complicated process of choosing treatment for alcohol misuse by telling them what they need to know, and what they need to do, to recognize and choose quality care.

The Navigator includes tips on how to recognize five signs of quality care, recommends 10 questions to ask potential providers when looking for high-quality treatment, and includes online directories of treatment providers.

Check out the NIAAA Alcohol Treatment Locator.

The opioid epidemic is an ongoing problem in rural areas. Rural youth, young adults, women experiencing domestic violence, and people living in states with large rural populations suffer from higher rates of opioid use than their urban counterparts. Opioid overdose deaths are growing faster in rural counties than urban counties.

This presentation by John Gale, MS, of the University of Southern Maine, focuses on a wide range of strategies that communities can use to combat the opioid problem. In particular, it will discuss cost-effective, evidence-based prevention, treatment, and recovery programs that have been successfully implemented in rural communities. It will conclude by describing community organizing strategies to engage a wide range of local stakeholders to reduce the burden of opioid use.

Learn more about the webinar.

Connection Information:

• Link to join the webinar
• Dial-in Number: 888.603.9072
• Participant Passcode: 2245841