HUD Approves Reallocation Funding to Bolster The Road Home
BATON ROUGE, La., November 13, 2007 - The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced its approval of four Action Plan Amendments, including Louisiana's reallocation of funds to The Road Home program.
Among the approved plans were those to expand the state's Small Firm Loan and Grant Program and funds for community planning capacity. Three were amendments to the first Action Plan for disaster recovery Community Development Block Grant funds - Amendments 13, 15, and 16 - and one was a change to the second Action Plan - Amendment 4. The plans, put forth by the Office of Community Development, the Louisiana Recovery Authority and Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, were approved by the Louisiana Legislature before going on to HUD. "These Action Plan Amendments demonstrate the State's willingness to respond to the needs of its citizens as the recovery progresses," said Michael Taylor, director of the Disaster Recovery Unit, Office of Community Development, which administers the funds. "HUD has recognized the State's desire to be willing to move funding where it will be most effective and for that we are appreciative."
Included in today's approvals was the state's reallocation of $68 million to expand the Small Firm Loan and Grant Program to $180 million. This will allow more businesses to access vital low-cost financing in the form of grants and zero-interest loans. To address potential shortfalls in The Road Home Homeowner Assistance Program, HUD has approved more than $625 million in reallocations from other CDBG disaster recovery programs to The Road Home.
"We have gone to great lengths to ensure that homeowners who are eligible for Road Home grants have the dollars they need to rebuild. This reallocation was part of that effort," said LRA Housing Task Force Chairman Walter Leger.
In order to fund additional planning efforts the State has reallocated $3 million from the Technical Assistance Program to Planning activities to address ongoing planning needs resulting from the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita at the local government level.
All of the funding is part of $10.4 billion in CDBG funds that have been allocated to Louisiana to implement housing, economic development, and infrastructure recovery projects.
Lafayette Chamber
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The Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce and the Lafayette Workforce Investment Board in partnership with the Lafayette Economic Development Authority invites you to attend the November meeting of the Lafayette Regional Business Advisory Committee. It's Free.
Lafayette Regional Business Advisory Committee
November 15, 2007
8:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
At Lafayette Economic Development Authority (LEDA)
The Louisiana Rural Health Information Exchange, in conjunction with the Louisiana Rural Hospital Coalition, Inc. (LRHC) and LouisianaStateUniversityHealthSciencesCenter in Shreveport (LSUHSC-S), today announced the selection of an integrated platform provided by the collaboration of four leaders in open systems and interoperability standards to realize their vision of a federated, patient-centric regional eHealth initiative. Carefx, CA, IBM and Initiate Systems will deploy and maintain a secure and reliable infrastructure for the timely and accurate electronic sharing of clinical information between community providers in North Louisiana and the LSUHSC-S.
The integrated platform employs a federated approach to providing clinicians with secure, anywhere, anytime access to a portal-based view of patient-centric data housed in disparate applications across multiple hospitals. IBM Websphere and Fusion from Carefx will provide the portal framework for the aggregate view of real-time patient data. User authentication and single sign-on, policy-based authorization, identity federation, and auditing of access is being provided by CA’s Identity & Access Management suite of products. The architecture and data flow among the four technology partners ensures accurate patient identification based on an enterprise master person index (EMPI) provided by Initiate Systems. Implementation will begin immediately with a projected live date of March 2008 for physician access.
Seven of the 24 LRHC hospitals will participate year one: Richland Parish Hospital in Delhi, Homer Memorial Hospital in Homer, Union General Hospital in Farmerville, LaSalle General Hospital in Jena, Hardtner Medical Center in Olla, DeSoto Regional Health System in Mansfield, and Bunkie General Hospital in Bunkie.
“This partnership builds on the strengths of all four companies to share secure clinical data to provide safe, timely, efficient, and equitable patient care,” said Oscar Diaz, executive vice president of Carefx Corporation. “Our experience bolstered through our deep relationships with CA, IBM and Initiate Systems brings tremendous value to rural Louisiana by laying the groundwork for a successful interoperability platform promoting instant data sharing and collaboration across healthcare organizations. We’re honored to help meet the need for IT resources in rural hospitals for residents who deserve the improved care benefits that technology offers.”
“IBM is committed to helping hospitals and governments around the world continue to improve their public health initiatives,” said Tony Bosselait, business executive and CTO for IBM Healthcare Software. “We are proud to work with our business partners on this project and provide a solution that improves the wellness of the citizens of Louisiana.”
“Because alternative sources of care in the rural community are scarce, each care provider plays a critical role in supporting the local healthcare system,” said Jamie Welch, chief information officer, LRHC. “The advanced technologies we’ve selected for this program are designed to improve access to real-time patient data, expand local access to needed specialty services, and increased collaboration on a patient’s condition by referring doctors or nurse practitioners.”
This initiative was made possible by funds appropriated in the 2007 Louisiana Legislative session, spearheaded by Senate President Don Hines and Representative Francis Thompson. “This extremely important initiative empowers our state’s valuable caregivers with the means to interact and share critical data more efficiently and effectively, resulting in better service to our state’s rural and underserved communities,” said Sen. Hines.
Discuss Alternative Funding Opportunities with
The Receivables Exchange
"The Birth and Launch of the Receivables Exchange" Presented by
Nicolas Perkin, Co-founder & President, and BrianCenter, COO
The Receivables Exchange ("TRE") introduces an evolution in business-to-business financing, very different from traditional funding sources. TRE connects businesses to a nationwide network of lenders who compete in real-time to fund your receivables. They tout their goal as simple: to improve your cash flow at the most competitive rate possible.
Join us to discover this new venture and learn how Receivables Exchange can help businesses with their cash flow.
When: Thursday, November 15th
5:30 to 7:30pm
Where:220 Camp Street
2nd Floor Ballroom
New Orleans, LA
All are invited to attend this FREE event, network, enjoy wine and cheese, and learn of this exciting new program born in New Orleans.
