What's New
Emergencies Happen: What Health Centers Need to Know
Recent severe weather across the U.S. is a reminder that emergencies can impact health centers at any time. Health centers and Primary Care Associations (PCAs) play a critical role in providing services and resources before, during, and after emergency events. During emergencies, PCAs gather critical health center information and report the status of service delivery sites to HRSA. For health centers in impacted areas, we ask that you report site-level status to your PCA as soon as you are able. Project Officers are available if health center staff have questions about program requirements or scope of project.
Please also visit the HRSA Health Center Program Emergency Preparedness and Recovery Resources website for information about change in scope for temporary sites, 340B program enrollment under emergency declarations, and FTCA coverage during emergencies.
Quarterly 340B Program Registration
Quarterly 340B Program site registration is open from April 1 to 15. Health centers are still able to register a site that has been verified as implemented and with a site status reflected as “active” in EHBs Form 5B through Friday, May 24, after which the system will close to prepare for the July 1 start. Email the 340B call center or call 888-340-2787 (Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. ET) to register a new site or ask questions.
You will need to provide the following information when calling:
- Health center name,
- Site/clinic name,
- Site IDs for all sites,
- HRSA/BPHC grant number,
- Contact name and email address, and
- Authorizing official name and email address.
The authorizing official will receive an email message that the account is unlocked and a registration may be submitted.
There is Still Time – Become a 2019 Million Hearts® Hypertension Control Champion
Did you know that there are 16 states* that have not yet had a Million Hearts® Hypertension Control Champion? Your health center could put your state on the map! We encourage all health centers to complete the 2019 Hypertension Control Champion Challenge application by Monday, April 1. (*Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, and Vermont.)
The Million Hearts® Hypertension Control Challenge is a competition to identify clinicians, practices, and health systems that have demonstrated exceptional achievements in working with their patients to control hypertension. Champions will have achieved at least 80% blood pressure control (blood pressure reading <140 mmHg/<90 mmHg) among their hypertensive population aged 18 to 85.
Last month HRSA hosted a webinar featuring three 2018 Million Hearts® Hypertension Control Champions sharing their best practices. Watch it now to learn how they did it.
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It’s National Poison Prevention Week
Drug-related poisonings cause nearly 700,000 visits to hospital emergency rooms each year. HRSA-funded poison centers assist during emergencies and provide information to help prevent poisonings. Visit HRSA's Poison Help website to learn more (also available in Spanish).
Health Centers Keep Patients Safe By…
March 10-16 was Patient Safety Week. As part of the observance, HRSA asked health center staff to think about how they keep patients safe and snap a photo of themselves holding a sign reflecting their thoughts. This collage is just a handful of the many photo submissions we received. You can view all the photos on Flickr (not supported in Internet Explorer). We expect to continue adding photos over the next two weeks. Thank you to all who participated!
Health Center Program Support Email Change
Health Center Program Support (formerly the BPHC Helpline) recently updated its email address from bphchelpline@hrsa.gov to HealthCenterSupport@hrsa.gov. By adding the new email address to a “safe senders” or contacts list, you may avoid messages going to your junk folder.
Updating Your Accreditation and Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition Information in EHBs
Need to update your health center’s accreditation or Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) recognition information? Submit updates from your EHBs Grant Folder by clicking the “HRSA Accreditation/PCMH Initiative” link and choosing either the “Request Accreditation Update” or “Request PCMH Recognition Update” button. We will send an email confirmation once we have reviewed your request. Contact HRSA’s Accreditation and PCMH Initiative with questions.
Fiscal Year 2018 SUD-MH Supplemental Funding Reminders
If you received fiscal year 2018 Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health (SUD-MH) Services supplemental funding, please note these important reminders:
- Staffing Requirement: You must add at least 1.0 FTE direct hire(s) and/or contracted personnel who will support SUD and/or mental health services within eight months of award—by Saturday, May 18. Failure to meet this requirement may impact Year 2 funding.
- Minor Alteration and Renovation (A/R) Projects: You may not begin any minor A/R activities supported with SUD-MH funding without receiving prior approval from HRSA. You must submit a “Capital Update” via EHBs, and meet all additional conditions when applicable.
You should develop appropriate contingencies to ensure that delays in receiving HRSA approval of your minor A/R activities do not impact your ability to meet the staffing requirement and patient projections on time. Find information about the documentation you are required to submit on the SUD-MH TA website.
SUD-MH Tri-Annual Progress Reporting TA Office Hours
HRSA will hold SUD-MH Progress Reporting TA office hours to provide updates and reminders for the next report submission and answer questions about reporting requirements. Visit the TA website for other resources.
Wednesday, April 10
2:00-3:30 p.m. ET
Join the webcast the day of the session
Call-in: 888-233-9404
Passcode: 3415759
Notice of Funding Opportunity for Rural Providers: Small Health Care Provider Quality Improvement Program
HRSA recently released a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) that will support up to 32 public or private nonprofit health care providers located in rural areas to improve patient care in their communities. HRSA expects to invest approximately $6.4 million for this program, which aims to improve the quality of rural health care through an evidence-based approach to primary care that has proven effective in rural areas. Applications are due by Monday, April 22.
Substance Use Disorder & Behavioral Health
Opioid Use Disorder: The Role of Adverse Childhood Events and Motivational Interviewing
The detrimental effects of opioid use disorder (OUD) have been well described over the past 10 years, and primary care providers have an important role to play in addressing and treating OUD. HRSA will host a webinar to provide actionable information for all members of the primary care clinic team on adverse childhood events (ACEs), the impact on and association with OUD, and how identifying ACEs provides a foundation for trauma-informed care. Additionally, we will address techniques for motivational interviewing with evidence-based literature supporting approaches for OUD. Finally, we will review case studies derived from practice for discussion of practical interventions.
Thursday, April 4
3:00-4:00 p.m. ET
Register here
Opioid Overdose Prevention Toolkit
This SAMHSA guide is for health care professionals, communities, patients, and families to prevent and manage opioid overdoses.
Fiscal Year 2018 SUD-MH Supplemental Funding Reminders and Office Hours
See important reminders above.
Opioid Workforce Expansion Program
HRSA recently released two NOFOs for this program. Read the announcement.
HIV
Promising Practices to Advance HIV Testing, Linkage to Care, and PrEP Implementation Among Health Centers in the Southeastern United States
During this HRSA webinar, experts from the Southeast AIDS Education Training Center will share promising practices from the Southeast Practice Transformation Expansion Project (SEPTEP) to enhance the capacity of health professionals on HIV opt-out testing, cultural humility, stigma, and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) implementation.
Thursday, March 21
3:00-4:00 p.m. ET
Join the webinar the day of the session
Call-in: 888-233-9404
Passcode: 3111042
Save the Dates: Oral Health and Primary Care Integration for People Living with HIV
HRSA will host a two-part webinar series on oral health and primary care integration to support people living with HIV. The strategies we will cover are designed for all HRSA recipients serving people living with HIV regardless of whether the organizations deliver oral health care directly, refer out for all services, or are somewhere in between. We’ll share registration information when it becomes available.
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Assessing Risk and Providing Basic Services at Primary Care Settings
This webinar will focus on assessing risk and providing basic oral health services for people living with HIV. We’ll also discuss a new HIV Oral Health and Primary Care Toolkit.
Thursday, May 23
2:00-3:00 p.m. ET
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Connecting Clients to Oral Health Services
We will walk through the components of oral health and primary care integration and will highlight best practices and challenges for developing and maintaining a dental referral network, making referrals, dental patient navigation, and communicating data effectively between primary care and oral health settings.
Thursday, June 6
2:00-3:00 p.m. ET
Diabetes
Diabetes in Special & Vulnerable Populations: A National Learning Series
Fourteen HRSA-funded National Cooperative Agreements (NCAs) have partnered to create a four-part national learning webinar series for health centers, PCAs, and Health Center Controlled Networks (HCCNs). The series’ goal is to increase foundational knowledge of effective strategies to prevent, treat, and manage diabetes among special and vulnerable Health Center Program populations. It focuses on co-morbidities associated with diabetes (e.g., oral health, behavioral health, SUD, obesity, and social risk factors).
The series kicked off last week and this is the next session:
Diabetes Continuum of Care: Using Behavioral Health and Substance Use Disorder Integration to Address Older Adults with Cognitive Impairments and Diabetes
Tuesday, April 9
2:00-3:30 p.m. ET
Learn more and register for individual webinars.
Workforce
Opioid Workforce Expansion Program
HRSA recently released two NOFOs for this program. Read the announcement.
Oral Health
Save the Dates: Oral Health and Primary Care Integration for People Living with HIV
See information above about this upcoming HRSA webinar series.
Additional Resources
Health Center Profiles: Sharing Stories to Make Communities Stronger
HRSA released new Health Center Profiles to highlight work that has led to significant improvements in increasing access to care, high quality health care delivery, health outcomes, cost effectiveness, and reducing health disparities.
Do you have a story to share? Submit a short summary and we will consider featuring it in an upcoming Health Center Profile. Learn more.
Apply Now to the SDOH Academy Learning Collaborative: Leveraging Medicaid to Address SDOH
The SDOH Academy is conducting a series of learning collaboratives for small cohorts of health centers, HCCNs, and PCAs. Leveraging Medicaid Policies to Address SDOH is an opportunity to explore how your organization can use emerging Medicaid payment innovations to develop, launch, and sustain activities that address patients’ SDOHs. Apply by 5:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 28. As there is limited space, applications will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Participants will learn from and share with their peers to increase collective knowledge (discussing what is working and lessons learned) and explore new approaches to sustainably fund social risk factor work. Learning collaborative faculty, along with visiting expert faculty, will facilitate resource sharing, peer engagement, and dialogue during weekly webinars and throughout the learning collaborative via the Slack platform.
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