What's New
FY 2019 Legislative Mandates Grants Policy Bulletin
The Office of Federal Assistance Management Division of Grants Policy has posted the FY 2019 Legislative Mandates Grants Policy Bulletin. The bulletin provides information on statutory provisions that limit the use of funds on HRSA grants and cooperative agreements for FY 2019.
Uniform Data System Preliminary Reporting Environment Now Available
As part of efforts to modernize our Uniform Data System (UDS), HRSA is pleased to announce the availability of new functionality in EHBs allowing health centers earlier access to the UDS reporting environment. The aim is to reduce reporting burden and improve data quality and usage. Health centers can access the Preliminary Reporting Environment (PRE) via the reporting portal to enter and validate any available/partial data for the 2018 UDS reporting period before the “official” reporting window opens on January 1, 2019. There are two new options for entering 2018 UDS data outside of EHBs: an offline Excel tool and an offline HTML tool.
Learn more about these tools by watching this video or attending the UDS modernization technical assistance webinar:
Friday, November 9
1:00-3:00 p.m. ET
Join the webinar the day of the session
Call-in: 800-369-1855
Passcode: 9626002
The PRE and new UDS reporting tools are optional. Health centers may still choose to begin entering their 2018 UDS data on January 1, 2019, during the traditional UDS reporting period via EHBs.
If you have questions, check out the freshly updated UDS Modernization Initiative landing page, which serves as a centralized source of information for health centers and stakeholders to learn about the efforts that are underway to modernize the UDS reporting system, including updates to the reporting process and new information technology functionalities. There is an option on the landing page to submit feedback to HRSA on changes to the UDS via Health Center Program Support.
 National Rural Health Day
On Thursday, November 15, HRSA’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy will join the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health to celebrate National Rural Health Day.
Events throughout the week, open to the public and viewable online, will showcase collaboration for rural health across HRSA’s bureaus and offices as well as other departments within HHS. View the National Rural Health Day agenda.
HRSA is hosting a Rural Health Day Twitter chat on the role of telehealth. Follow us on Twitter and join the conversation on Thursday, November 15, from 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET. Throughout the chat, we will discuss how the use of telehealth can improve health care and accessibility in rural areas across the nation. Join us by using the hashtag #TalkTelehealth.
|
HRSA Releases Dear Colleague Letter on the Importance of Viral Suppression Messaging
Providers funded through HRSA’s Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) discuss important information with their patients, including details about viral suppression. To support these discussions, HRSA recently released a Dear Colleague Letter outlining recommendations for RWHAP recipients and subrecipients as they incorporate messages about the impact of viral suppression.
Several large studies have demonstrated that people living with HIV who have consistent viral suppression do not sexually transmit HIV. HRSA strongly encourages RWHAP providers and stakeholders to leverage their expertise and program infrastructure to incorporate viral suppression messaging in service delivery settings where people living with HIV are engaged.
National Advisory Council on Migrant Health Biannual Meeting
The National Advisory Council on Migrant Health’s (NACMH) biannual meeting will take place November 14-15 in Bethesda, MD. The NACMH consults with and makes recommendations to the HHS Secretary concerning the organization, operation, selection and funding of migrant health centers under section 330 of the Public Health Service Act. The meeting is open to the public. The agenda for the NACMH meeting is available from Esther Paul, Designated Federal Officer, NACMH. Additional information on the meeting is available in this Federal Register Notice.
HRSA Health Center Facility Loan Guarantee Program
The HRSA Health Center Facility Loan Guarantee Program (LGP) supports loans to eligible, active Health Center Program awardees for the construction/expansion, alteration/renovation, and modernization of health center medical facilities.
The LGP’s purposes is to facilitate access to capital funding and reduce financing costs for health centers by guaranteeing up to 80 percent of financing needed to support capital infrastructure projects. While there is no limit on loan size, the program typically guarantees loans for projects of $5-7 million or more. After approving a loan guarantee, HRSA monitors the loan repayment status and assesses the operational/financial viability of the health center during the life of the loan.
We accept applications year-round. Interested health centers should visit the Health Center Facility Loan Guarantee Program website for additional information.
NACHC Heroes
A group of staff at the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), a HRSA-funded National Cooperative Agreement (NCA), dressed as HRSA Heroes for Halloween. We applaud the work of these, and ALL health center heroes across the United States.
Attention Project Directors
Grantees, look-alikes, and cooperative agreement partners should have received an email invitation for the 2018 HRSA BPHC Stakeholder Satisfaction Survey. The email comes from “CFI Group on Behalf of HRSA BPHC.” Please take just 15 minutes before next week’s deadline to tell us how we can better serve your organization. Thank you to everyone who has already completed the survey.
Survey links were sent to the Project Directors based on data from EHBs. If the email address in EHBs is no longer valid (or if you should have, but did not, receive a link), please email BPHCreviews@hrsa.gov. Be sure to check your spam folder!
Auto-HPSA Update Previews Released
HRSA sent the first round of automatically designated Health Professional Shortage Area Designation (Auto-HPSA) Update Preview reports by email to points of contact (POCs) for health centers and look-alikes identified in EHBs. If your EHBs POCs have not received your organizational report, please have them contact sdmp@hrsa.gov. EHBs POCs should forward the report to all staff who have an interest in Auto-HPSA Designation scores.
HRSA is hosting two technical assistance webinars to further explain the report. Both sessions will contain the same content and will be recorded.
Tuesday, November 6
3:00-4:30 p.m. ET
Join the webinar the day of the session
Call-in: 888-381-5776
Passcode: 9501667
Thursday, November 15
4:00-5:30 p.m. ET
Join the webinar the day of the session
Call-in: 888-982-4613
Passcode: 8684082
Visit the Shortage Designation Modernization Project website for more information.
HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau launches Remote Pregnancy Monitoring Challenge
HRSA launched a Remote Pregnancy Monitoring Challenge, with submissions for Phase 1 accepted through Tuesday, November 27.
Many women who are low-income in both rural and urban communities face personal barriers (e.g., work, childcare, transportation, education, culture, and language), health system barriers (e.g., hours of operation and lack of services), and environmental barriers (e.g., location and connectivity or cell phone coverage) in accessing prenatal care. This challenge will award up to $375,000 over three phases for innovative solutions that increase remote and virtual access to quality care for low-income pregnant women. Such innovations may include alleviating barriers to quality.
Resources
Promoting Professionalism: Addressing Behaviors that Undermine Accountability, Reliability, and a Culture of Safety
Join HRSA’s next Patient Safety Leadership Speaker Series webinar featuring Gerald Hickson, M.D., one of the world's leading experts on how disruptive practitioner behavior impacts patient safety and litigation risk. Dr. Hickson will discuss strategies to identify high-risk practitioners, address negative behaviors, and promote organizational support for accountability, reliability and a culture of safety. Hosted by ECRI Institute on behalf of HRSA.
Tuesday, November 6
Noon-1:00 p.m. ET
Register here
Diabetes Prevention Program: Demonstration Projects Webinar Series
CDC grantees will share their experiences developing and implementing protocols for screening, testing, and referring patients with pre-diabetes to a CDC-recognized national diabetes prevention program. View the full agenda for all sessions.
Federally Qualified Health Centers
Featuring Christopher Rural Health Corporation and Northeast Missouri Health Council
Thursday, November 8
Noon-1:30 p.m. ET
Register here
Advancing Oral and Primary Health Care Integration to Support Diabetes Prevention and Management Webinar
HRSA will host a webinar that focuses on the relationship and importance between oral health care and diabetes prevention and management in health center settings. Presenters will highlight HRSA and CDC initiatives, health center models, partnerships, and resources that support integrated oral health and diabetes care.
Thursday, November 29
1:00-2:00 p.m. ET
Register here
Free MAT Training and Mentoring to Become a DATA-waived Practitioner Webinar Recording Available
In a recent HRSA webinar, experts from SAMHSA’s Providers Clinical Support System (PCSS) – Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) Program gave an overview of no-cost training and mentoring programs available to health center prescribers (physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants) and their primary care teams. These programs support evidence-based treatment of opioid use disorder. Watch the webinar recording.
In case you missed it:
Visit the Primary Health Care Digest archive.
Do you forward the Digest to others?
Encourage them to subscribe.
|
Connect with HRSA
