What's New
Service Area Competition Notice of Funding Opportunity Released for March 1 Starts
HRSA released the fiscal year 2020 Service Area Competition (SAC) Notice of Funding Opportunity, HRSA-20-017, for service areas with a March 1, 2020, project period start date (current project period end date is February 29, 2020). Current award recipients should refer to box 6 of the most recent Notice of Award to obtain their project period end date.
Applications are due in Grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday, August 26, and in HRSA’s EHBs by 5:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, September 25. Technical assistance (TA) materials are available on the SAC TA webpage.
Deadline Reminder: SAC Applications with January 1 Starts
SAC applications for service areas with a January 1, 2020, project period start date (HRSA-20-015) are due in Grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday, July 15, and HRSA’s EHBs by 5:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, August 14. TA materials are available on the SAC TA webpage.
Health Center Profile Updates
HRSA has updated the UDS health center profile pages with a 2018 Operational Site Visit Badge for those who achieved 100% compliance during calendar year 2018. (2019 badges will be updated in the fall.) You can also see your health center’s project period length, end date, and any program conditions. Visit the Health Center Program Awardee Data page to access your health center’s profile.
Health Center Performance Management Webinar Recording Now Available
Last month, HRSA hosted a webinar to provide an update on efforts to identify opportunities for improving health center performance management based on input from stakeholders and published evidence from literature. The webinar recording and slides are available on the new Strategic Initiatives page. Share your thoughts, provide input, and ask questions about the effort at hcperformance@hrsa.gov.
HUD Policy Brief on Rural Homelessness: Understanding the Impact and Potential for Health Centers
In August 2018, HUD launched “All Routes Home: Ending Homelessness in Rural America,” a strategy for building the capacity of rural communities to address the needs of persons experiencing homelessness. Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), a HRSA-funded NCA, offers a new resource that outlines specific steps health centers serving rural areas can take to better connect their consumers experiencing homelessness or housing instability to housing and services.
CMS RFI on Reducing Administrative Burden
CMS recently issued an RFI seeking innovative ideas and solutions to reduce burden in the following areas:
- Streamlining CMS reporting and documentation requirements;
- Aligning coding and documentation requirements for Medicare, Medicaid, and other payers;
- Enabling data sharing to support clinician-patient relationships;
- Improving accessibility of CMS requirements for quality reporting, coverage, or prior authorization;
- Addressing policies and requirements that are overly burdensome for those in a rural setting;
- Simplifying policies and requirements for dually enrolled (i.e., Medicare and Medicaid) beneficiaries;
- Simplifying beneficiary enrollment and eligibility determination; and
- Improving CMS processes for issuing regulations and policies.
The RFI on Reducing Administrative Burden to Put Patients over Paperwork is posted in the Federal Register. Submit your comments by Monday, August 12.
Substance Use Disorder & Behavioral Health
National Older Adult Mental Health Awareness Day 2019
Last month, SAMHSA hosted National Older Adult Mental Health Awareness Day 2019. Along with SAMHSA, the Administration for Community Living served as a federal co-sponsor, with the National Coalition on Mental Health and Aging as a non-federal co-sponsor. If you missed it, you can watch the webcast in two parts: Part 1 and Part 2.
Opioid Prescribing Mapping Tool Improved with Medicaid and Rural Data
Earlier this year, CMS expanded their Opioid Prescribing Mapping Tool, ensuring that users have the most complete and current data needed to effectively address the opioid epidemic across the country. This update further demonstrates HHS’ commitment to opioid data transparency and using data to better inform local prevention and treatment efforts, particularly in rural communities hard hit by the opioid crisis. Read more.
Medicare Fact Sheet: Safer Use of Opioid Pain Medication
This CMS fact sheet educates Medicare participants about pharmacy processes relating to opioid prescriptions and drug management programs. Other resources are available on their Reducing Opioid Misuse site.
Opioid Overdose Prevention Toolkit
This SAMHSA guide is for health care professionals, communities, patients, and families to prevent and manage opioid overdoses.
HIV
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HIV Testing Day Bulletin Features Promising Practices and Video Interviews
Patients and staff from Whitman-Walker Health in Washington, D.C., shared promising practices on what health centers can do to end the HIV epidemic.
View the June 27 HIV Testing Day bulletin to read Whitman-Walker Health’s promising practice, see photos, and watch video interviews from the visit. HIV resource links provide health centers with the tools to help end the HIV epidemic. View other HIV promising practices.
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Workforce
National Health Service Corps Rural Community Loan Repayment Program Application Webinar
The National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Rural Community Loan Repayment Program will make fiscal year 2019 loan repayment awards, in coordination with HRSA’s Rural Communities Opioid Response Program initiative to provide evidence-based substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, assist in recovery, and prevent overdose deaths across the nation. Health care clinicians qualified to provide SUD treatment may be eligible for loan repayment in return for service at an NHSC-approved SUD treatment facility. The application closes Thursday, July 18, at 7:30 p.m. ET.
HRSA will hold several online question and answer sessions. Join a session anytime between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. ET on these days:
Thursday, July 11
Tuesday, July 16
If you join after a session starts, you can scroll back to past questions.
Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Program
HRSA is accepting applications for the fiscal year 2020 Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) Program. Apply by Friday, August 30. The THCGME Program provides funding to support the training of residents in a new or expanded primary care residency training program in rural and underserved communities.
Join a TA webinar for application questions:
Wednesday, July 10
2:00-3:30 p.m. ET
Join the webcast the day of the session
Call-in: 888-795-2173
Passcode: 4462445
Oral Health
CDC's New FAQ on Measles for Dental Health Care Professionals
CDC has created a new measles FAQ for dental health care professionals. Outbreaks of measles have been increasing in the United States. Measles is a highly contagious virus that lives in the nose and throat mucus of an infected person and can spread to others through coughing and sneezing. Visit CDC’s Measles (Rubeola) for Healthcare Professionals website.
Telehealth
HRSA Telehealth Learning Series: Use of Telehealth to Improve Children’s Access to Health Care
This webinar features speakers from the University of Iowa Division of Child and Community Health and Child Health Specialty Clinics discussing current telehealth initiatives to improve access to pediatric specialty care in Iowa. Also, the Project Director from the Indiana Rural Health Association/Indiana Rural Schools Clinic Network will share best practices on how to establish school-based telehealth clinics.
Wednesday, July 10
3:00-4:00 p.m. ET
Register here
Additional Resources
PCMH Trainings for Health Centers
HRSA contracts with The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) to provide training and TA to health centers on the NCQA PCMH recognition process. HRSA is sponsoring regional trainings, organized by PCAs, on NCQA’s Introduction to PCMH and Advanced PCMH courses. Learn more about the trainings available in your region:
Addressing Health Equity through Health and Housing Partnerships
A new guide from CSH and the National Health Care for the Homeless Council (HRSA-funded NCAs):
- Provides background information on health disparities with a focus on people who are experiencing or have experienced homelessness;
- Explores how health centers and supportive housing providers are uniquely positioned to advance health equity; and
- Offers suggestions for how health centers and supportive housing providers can work together and on their own to identify and address disparities and advance health equity.
Resources to Help Patients Use Blood Thinners Safely
Help patients using blood thinners understand how to use their medication safely with free resources from AHRQ.
- Blood Thinner Pills: Your Guide to Using Them Safely (in English and Spanish) has easy-to-understand language about how blood thinners work and why it's important to take them correctly.
- A companion video, Staying Active and Healthy With Blood Thinners, is also available for health centers to download and share with patients.
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