More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) — A University of Iowa study finds rural hospitals that use tele-medicine in their emergency rooms save money and find it easier to recruit new physicians. The study’s author is Marcia Ward, a professor of health management and policy in the U-I College of Public Health. Ward says tele-medicine technology is advancing quickly through the use of high-definition cameras and the latest critical communications gear. “There’s a red button on the wall and even if the nurses know an ambulance is arriving, they’ll hit that red button,” Ward says, “and within a matter of a minute or two, they’re connected to a specialist, an emergency department specialist.”

U-I researchers analyzed data from 19 rural hospitals in the Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based Avera Health hub-and-spoke network. The “spoke” hospitals were located in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. The experts at the “hub” who are tapped to help in emergency room settings weren’t in some other region of the country, they’re part of the local network and they’ve visited the hospitals in person. “They know the staff by name, they have ongoing communication and education with them and they know what’s in the storage cabinets,” Ward says. “So, they’ll say, ‘Okay, please, start a drip and that’s in Drawer #3, pull out the whatever,’ and they’ll guide them through it.”

Ward says many rural hospitals can’t staff their E-Rs with doctors who are trained in emergency medicine, so the use of tele-medicine can be an enormous plus and a literal lifesaver. “Imagine a scenario where there’s a car accident and there’s several people injured in the middle of the night,” Ward says. “In a small hospital, it’s going to be a family physician who may rarely see really severe injuries.” The U-I report found hospitals that switched to tele-E-R services found it easier to recruit new physicians because they could offer a better work-life balance, since the doctor wouldn’t have to cover an E-R shift. Ward says the model gives doctors more downtime, reducing burnout and increasing retention. Some rural residents — the patients — are hesitant to adapt to tele-medicine, she says, at least until they need it. “People love the convenience. Once they try it out, it feels comfortable to them,” Ward says. “Overwhelmingly, 90-plus percent of patients say once they get used to it, yes, they like it. There’s a lot of research that shows for certain uses, they like it more than in person.”

The report finds rural hospitals which switched to tele-medicine to back-up their E-Rs saved an average of $117,000 a year in health care provider costs. Also, rural hospitals that continued to staff their E-Rs with on-site or on-call physicians saw an average increase of $138,000 in annual provider compensation costs. The study was published in the December issue of the journal Health Affairs.

Two men were arrested on separate charges in Creston, Wednesday. Creston Police say 54-year old Robbie Dohrn, of Creston, was arrested at around 9:30-p.m. on a Clarke County warrant for Failure to Comply with a Court Order. Dohrn was released to the custody of Clarke County Deputies. And, at around 4:35-p.m., 29-year old Eric Shinn, of Creston, was arrested on two Union County warrants for Failure to Appear on a Reckless Driving charge, and Failure to appear on a Harassment in the 3rd Degree charge, along with Disorderly conduct. Shinn was being held in the Union County Jail on a $900 bond.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Officials with the Iowa DOT report Audubon, Bedford and Treynor are three of 10 Iowa communities that have been selected to participate in the Iowa’s Living Roadways Community Visioning program in 2018. The award-winning program integrates technical landscape planning and design techniques with sustainable community action to assist community leaders and volunteers in making sound and meaningful decisions about the local landscape. The other 2019 visioning communities includeCoggon, Durant, Hinton, Royal, Sumner, Van Meter and Walcott.

Since 1996, 255 Iowa communities have benefited from the Community Visioning program. To qualify for the program, a community must have a population of fewer than 10,000 residents, existing transportation-related issues and a committee of volunteers willing to dedicate their time and talents to the visioning process.

The Community Visioning program is sponsored by the Iowa Department of Transportation in partnership with Iowa State University Landscape Architecture Extension and Trees Forever, an Iowa-based nonprofit focused on planting trees and native plants. In addition, professional landscape architects offer expertise in creating conceptual design plans for the communities.

(Radio Iowa) — Reports that the compromise Farm Bill loosens restrictions on farm program payment eligibility are raising the ire of Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley. Grassley says Farm Bill negotiators have apparently adopted House provisions making it easier for nieces, nephews and cousins of farmers to become eligible for farm payments.  “I believe that they have worsened existing law,” Grassley said. “Where does this end? Are you going to have your third-cousin collect farm payments because he happens to be a Wall Street banker?”

Grassley is also upset that his provision to tighten payment limits was left out of the bill. “This is how far out of control the waste of taxpayers’ money has gone and the injustice it does to the family farmers – that have dirt under their fingernails and are entitled to some protection from the federal government,” Grassley said. “Giving all this money to people who aren’t farmers is going to just jeopardize popular support for helping the family farmer.”

Grassley voted against the 2014 Farm Bill because those payment limitations were dropped from the final version. He told ag reporters in a conference call this week that he hasn’t made up his mind whether to oppose this Farm Bill.

(Radio Iowa) — The Internal Revenue Service is highlighting the importance of keeping your tax information safe this week. I-R-S spokesman, Christopher Miller says “National Tax Security Awareness Week” is especially important based on the trend this year. “We’re seeing a large increase in bogus e-mail and phishing (fishing) scams that seek to steal people’s tax data,” Miller explained.  Phishing is when someone uses an email address that looks legitimate, but is not and they are trying to get your personal information. He says the reports of the problem are up dramatically this year. “We saw a 60 percent increase in bogus emails and phishing scams — and what’s perhaps most disturbing about that — before that in the three previous years we saw a decline. So we know that the crooks are back at the phishing game,” Miller says.

Miller says the scams can be very sophisticated. “So if they get an email in their inbox that looks like a trusted source has sent it to them — like a bank or credit card company or even the I-R-S — be very cautious. Don’t open any of the links, because that’s where people get into trouble,” Miller says.  He says once you open the links they ask you for personal information that can use to file a tax return in your name. He says they will try all avenues to get to you and it may be someone close to you. “Thieves may have even compromised your friend’s email address so it might look like your friend is sending you a message, but they are spoofing that address with a slight change in text. Maybe a letter or two is change. So, be sure that look at your friends who are sending you messages that seem a bit suspicious,” Miller says.

If the email is asking you for things like your Social Security number or bank information — that’s a big clue that it is a phishing attempt. “Remember the I-R-S doesn’t initiate contact with taxpayers by email to ask for personal information,” Miller says, “in fact, no reputable agency or business will ask for personal information over the email.” Miller says you can help them try to stop these attacks. “If you get one of these phishing email scams in your inbox, we want to you take the entire thing and copy it and put it into another message and send it to the I-R-S,” Miller says. “You can send suspicious emails to phishing at I-RS-Dot-gov (phishing@irs.gov), and we’ll try to track it or potentially shut it down.”

One recent campaign used emails with subjects like “I-R-S Important Notice,” “I-R-S Taxpayer Notice” and other variations to demand a payment or they threaten to seize the recipient’s tax refund.

Authorities say a semitrailer heading the wrong way on an interstate in central Illinois collided head-on with a school bus carrying members of a girls high school basketball team, killing the driver of the truck and an adult on the bus. The truck driver was identified by police as a 34-year-old man from Iowa. His name was not immediately released. Illinois State Police say eight girls on the bus were injured in the head-on crash Wednesday night on Interstate 74 near Downs, about 115 miles southwest of Chicago. Police say the bus driver and a coach also were injured.

Police say preliminary reports indicate the truck was traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes. The bus was heading westbound. Normal West High School athletic director Stan Lewis told The (Bloomington) Pantagraph the junior varsity girls’ team was returning from a game. Lewis said later, that some junior varsity players also made the trip. Police say 72-year-old Charles Crabtree of Normal, Illinois, was the bus passenger who died. He was a volunteer with Normal West.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Des Moines authorities say a second teenager has died after the stolen car he was driving crashed into a delivery van. Police identified him Wednesday night as 17-year-old Des Moines resident Jair Sanchez-Banos. His passenger, 16-year-old Des Moines resident Emilio Esteban Garcia, died earlier. The car was reported stolen a little after 8:10 p.m. Monday after it was left running unattended. A vehicle matching its description was seen about 30 minutes later where gunshots rang out several blocks northwest.

Police say an officer soon spotted the suspect vehicle and tried to pull it over. It raced away but crashed into a U.S. Postal Service van and then into trees and fencing. A gun was recovered from the car. Police say the van driver was not injured.

Police in Red Oak report 45-year old Tiffany Lea Palmer, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 4:45-p.m. Wednesday. Palmer was taken into custody for Failure to File SR-22 Insurance. She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.