What's New
Fiscal Year 2020 Health Center Program Funding: Status of the Health Center Program Continuation Awards The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 provides full discretionary funding (approximately $1.6 billion); however, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 only provides a portion of the anticipated mandatory funding (approximately $2.6 billion of the anticipated $4 billion) through Friday, May 22.
At this time, HRSA anticipates providing health centers with nine months of continuation award funding. HRSA issued application guidance for FY 2020 Health Center Program continuation awards and is in the process of reviewing the applications.
The Global Health Care Crunch French health officials visited HRSA last month for a briefing on the Health Center Program. Tonya Bowers, Deputy Associate Administrator of the Bureau of Primary Health Care, noted that the U.S. health center population has more than doubled to 28.4 million people since the administration of President George W. Bush, and the number of health center locations has more than tripled to some 12,000. Read more.
Webinar Series on Understanding Your Costs in an Evolving Payment Environment The Delta Center for a Thriving Safety Net is sponsoring a four-webinar series to assist health center finance and accounting staff to adapt their business models to succeed in value-based payment environments. Capital Link, a HRSA-funded National Cooperative Agreement (NCA), will facilitate the webinars.
- Cost Allocation: Getting the Basics Right
Tuesday, January 28 3:00-4:00 p.m. ET Register here
Registration for the other webinars isn’t yet available, but please save the time (3:00-4:00 p.m. ET) on these days:
- Preparing Internal Systems for Gathering Cost Data
Tuesday, February 18
- Cost Allocation Methodology for Value-Based Payment Systems
Tuesday, March 31
- Utilizing Cost Data to Drive Programmatic Change
Tuesday, April 21
It’s Not Too Late for Flu Shots Recent pediatric flu cases are a reminder of the critical role health centers play in protecting the most vulnerable patients from vaccine-preventable diseases. It is not too late for your patients to be vaccinated for the 2019-2020 influenza season.
What can health centers do?
By increasing vaccination rates, health centers can have a great impact on protecting our communities.
Featured resources
|
Comments Requested on Federal Health Information Technology Strategic Plan HHS seeks public comment on its draft 2020-2025 Federal Health IT Strategic Plan by Wednesday, March 18. The plan focuses on health IT as a catalyst to empower patients, lower costs, deliver high-quality care, and improve health for individuals, families, and communities. The HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology led the development of the plan, which was coordinated with 25 federal organizations.
|
Substance Use Disorder & Mental Health
Screening for Alcohol Use with SBIRT: Facilitators and Barriers to Implementation The HRSA Center of Excellence for Behavioral Health Technical Assistance (TA) provides support for behavioral health professionals developing an integrated team for primary care and behavioral health services. The Center presents an opportunity for you to learn about Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for people with alcohol use disorder or at risk for developing alcohol use disorder. Presenters will share solutions for common barriers to SBIRT implementation and discuss their experience using SBIRT in a clinical setting.
Thursday, January 30 1:00-2:30 p.m. ET Register here
Addressing the Opioid Crisis: Federal Funding and Opportunities for Health and Housing Collaboration The Corporation for Supportive Housing, a HRSA-funded NCA, published a brief describing the role of single state authorities who manage the publicly funded substance abuse prevention, treatment, and recovery system. It also covers new federal funding targeting the opioid crisis and opportunities for collaboration in your community.
Funding Opportunities for Implementation Research at Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Sites NIH invites applications to enhance screening and treatment for mental and substance use disorders in HRSA Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program-funded sites in order to advance the goals of the Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative.
-
RFA-MH-20-521 will support pilot or feasibility implementation studies to enhance screening and treatment of substance use or mental health disorders.
-
RFA-MH-20-520 will support definitive studies on implementation approaches to enhance screening and treatment of substance use or mental health disorders.
Applications are due by 5:00 p.m. local time on Friday, January 31.
HIV
Ready, Set, PrEP Webinar HHS is hosting a webinar on Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America – Ready, Set, PrEP. Join to hear answers to these questions: What is the new Ready, Set, PrEP program and how does it work? How does it fit into the federal plan to end the HIV epidemic in the United States? And how can you help implement it in your community?
Wednesday, January 29 2:00-3:30 p.m. ET Register here
Speakers will also share resources and describe different models and strategies for PrEP implementation.
|
Funding Opportunities for Implementation Research at Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Sites See announcement above.
Diabetes
Focusing on Patients Experiencing Homelessness Special and vulnerable populations, including those experiencing homelessness and housing instability, are disproportionately affected by diabetic complications.
The Corporation for Supportive Housing and the National Health Care for the Homeless Council (both HRSA-funded NCAs) present two learning collaboratives aimed at addressing these challenges. These opportunities are for both clinical representatives (i.e., health center staff and clinicians) and non-clinical representatives (i.e., housing service providers and case managers).
-
Improving Outreach and Engagement of Patients with Diabetes Experiencing Homelessness
Learn about effective population-specific approaches, document efforts and effectiveness of community partnerships, and establish new goals using the framework of a Change Map to guide your work. Get more information or apply by Friday, February 14.
-
Addressing Nutrition for Diabetes Management in Homeless and Vulnerable Populations
Boost your knowledge of nutrition, cultural competence within diabetes treatment, tracking client and program data regarding dietary practices, and the use of a Change Map to guide program work. Get more information or apply by Friday, February 14.
American Diabetes Association Releases the 2020 Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes Updated annually to provide evidence-based guidelines for the prevention and management of diabetes, the 2020 Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes is the go-to resource for diabetes screening, prevention, and management. A version of the standards, Abridged for Primary Care Providers, offers criteria for diabetes screening and guidelines for treatment of special populations that include older adults, pediatric patients, and pregnant and post-partum women. The standards are now also available in an app in the Google Play and Apple iOS stores.
Workforce
Workforce Professional Development Series The Association of Clinicians for the Underserved’s STAR2 Center team invites workforce staff from Primary Care Associations and Health Center Controlled Networks to join a professional development series. Faculty and guest speakers will share their experience building a staff retention plan and insights from the national, regional, and state levels. Visit the STAR2 Center website to view the complete list of dates and topics. Sessions begin on Thursday, January 30. The Association of Clinicians for the Underserved is a HRSA-funded NCA.
Blog Post: States Continue to Enact Legislation to Address Health Care Workforce Shortages In an effort to address health care workforce shortages, 54 bills from 30 states were enacted into law in 2019 related to behavioral health providers, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and oral health providers. The National Conference of State Legislatures discussed the legislation in a recent blog post outlining scope of practice legislation. Their work is supported through HRSA’s National Organizations of State and Local Officials cooperative agreement.
Read the blog post and view the full interactive map of U.S. health workforce policies.
Cervical Health Awareness Month
|
|
Join us for the next session in HRSA’s Data for Decision-Making Speaker Series focused on cervical health. Speakers from CDC, the American Cancer Society, and a health center will share cervical health surveillance data, as well as promising practices and experiences promoting cervical health.
Supporting Cervical Health Through Data and Practice Thursday, January 30 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET Register here
|
Additional Resources
What Do the Data Tell Us? The National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable presents a webinar examining key colorectal cancer screening national data sets:
- Uniform Data System
- CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
- National Health Interview Survey
- National Committee for Quality Assurance’s (NCQA) Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set
Experts from HRSA, CDC, American Cancer Society, and NCQA will give an update on progress made and needed areas of focus to help inform work ahead.
Thursday, January 30 Noon-1:00 p.m. ET Register here
Learning Collaborative: Improving Access to Care for Justice-Involved Patients and their Families Several HRSA-funded NCAs are convening a learning collaborative to explore the intersection of health and justice involvement, including incarceration. Sessions begin on Wednesday, February 5. The four-module learning collaborative provides an overview of the criminal justice system, strategies to reduce barriers to care (including stigma), links between housing and criminal justice involvement, and opportunities to pursue community partnerships. Participants will join faculty members for facilitated peer-learning. Get more information (including dates) or register now. Up to 4 CME/CNE credits are available for participation in this learning collaborative.
In case you missed it: Visit the Primary Health Care Digest archive.
Do you forward the Digest to others? Encourage them to subscribe.
|