What's New
FY 2020 Health Center Program Look-Alikes: Expanding Capacity for Coronavirus Testing Question and Answer Session
HRSA’s Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) and Office of Federal Assistance Management (OFAM) will host a question and answer session for recipients of Look-Alikes: Expanding Capacity for Coronavirus Testing (LAL ECT) funding. This session will provide an opportunity for LALs to receive clarification on key fiscal and grants management requirements, with strategies to ensure compliance and properly manage the LAL ECT award.
Wednesday, August 12
2:00-3:00 p.m. ET
Join the webcast the day of the session
Call-in: 888-972-9343
Passcode: 2324051
If you have questions to submit ahead of time, send them to OFAMFTA@hrsa.gov. We also encourage you to watch the BPHC/OFAM Fiscal and Grants Management Orientation webinar held last month.
Diabetes Performance Improvement Virtual Technical Assistance
HRSA is offering virtual technical assistance (TA) site visits to assist health centers in developing and/or maximizing diabetes resources, systems, and capacity in order to improve diabetes prevention, monitoring, and treatment. The one-day virtual TA visit must occur in August or September. If you are interested, please contact Debra Bergen.
Final Week! Uniform Data System Reporting Improvement Survey
For the 2019 Uniform Data System (UDS) reporting period, we enhanced functionalities within both HRSA’s Electronic Handbooks (EHBs) and the offline reporting features. HRSA invites health centers to provide feedback on these enhancements through a short survey. The deadline for completing the survey is THIS Friday, August 7. Your responses will help us assess whether the changes helped to reduce reporting burden. The survey will also allow you to suggest additional improvements. Learn more about UDS Modernization.
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Deadline Reminder: Service Area Competition Applications for January 1 and February 1 Starts
Service Area Competition (SAC) HRSA-21-002 applications are due in:
- Grants.gov: Monday, August 17, by 11:59 p.m. ET.
- EHBs: Monday, September 14, by 5:00 p.m. ET.
SAC HRSA-21-003 applications are due in:
- Grants.gov: Monday, August 17, by 11:59 p.m. ET.
- EHBs: Wednesday, September 16, by 5:00 p.m. ET.
TA materials are available on the SAC TA webpage.
Today with Macrae Recording Available
Missed our most recent Today with Macrae webcast? Watch the recording. We also post the recordings, slides, and transcripts on our COVID-19 Information for Health Centers and Partners webpage as soon as we’re able.
Here are some of the resources mentioned and information discussed in last week’s session:
- With flu season coming, it’s important for parents to keep up with well-child visits and immunizations. HRSA launched a new social media campaign with the hashtag #WellChildWednesdays. Each Wednesday, messages will address well-child visits, immunizations, and other topics to be discussed with pediatric providers.
- HRSA has postponed most scheduled Operational Site Visits (OSVs) through at least Wednesday, September 30. If you have an OSV planned for this calendar year, please check out the COVID-19 FAQs for the latest information or reach out to your Project Officer with questions.
- Thank you for submitting your progress reports! 99.6% of health centers submitted their COVID-related funding progress reports on-time—that’s a total of nearly 4,500 reports.
Save the date for these upcoming Today with Macrae sessions (all at 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET):
Thursday, August 20
Tuesday, September 29
Thursday, October 29
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2019 UDS Data Trends
In celebration of the release of 2019 UDS data during National Health Center Week, join HRSA for a webinar dedicated to the data. From health center growth to clinical quality performance, and including the impact of telemedicine, this session will share important data trends and interpretations.
Tuesday, August 11
1:00-2:00 p.m. ET
Register here
FY 2020 Primary Care HIV Prevention Tri Annual Progress Reporting: Crosswalk to UDS
To support Primary Care HIV Prevention (PCHP)-funded health centers, the Health Information Technology, Evaluation, and Quality (HITEQ) Center, a HRSA-funded National Training and Technical Assistance Partner (NTTAP), prepared a crosswalk mapping PCHP tri-annual reporting metrics to UDS measures and/or fields. This tool will assist health centers in leveraging UDS reporting functionality in their electronic health records to inform completion of the tri-annual progress reports to HRSA. The PCHP metrics listed in the first column crosswalk to specific data definitions in the calendar year 2020 UDS, which are specified in the second column, and then further detail is provided in the third column.
New Registration and Recertification Requirements and Enhancements to the 340B Office of Pharmacy Affairs Information System
HRSA has updated new covered entity registration and recertification requirements and enhancements to the 340B Office of Pharmacy Affairs Information System (340B OPAIS). These new requirements and enhancements will become effective in the registration component of 340B OPAIS began Saturday, August 1. Some of the requirements/enhancements will only impact certain entity types. Learn more.
HRSA Healthy Grants Web Series
HRSA’s Office of Federal Assistance Management (OFAM) Healthy Grants Web Series will provide presentations on the most requested grants management topics.
Understanding and Submitting Prior Approvals/Grant Budgeting
TODAY
1:00-3:00 p.m. ET
Join the session*
Call-in: 888-324-7101
Passcode: 8459711
*NOTE: Adobe Connect can accommodate 1,500 participants. If you can't log in for the visual portion, you can still listen in.
You can see the full schedule of webinars, webinar recordings, and more details on the Health Grants Web Series webpage.
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COVID-19
Rural Health Care Surge Readiness Clearinghouse
Rural health care facilities face unique challenges in the fight against COVID-19. Developed by the Rural Surge Readiness Team, COVID-19 Healthcare Resilience Working Group, the Rural Health Surge Readiness web portal provides essential resources, tools, and trainings for rural health care systems preparing for and responding to a COVID-19 surge. The material is appropriate for executives, managers, and providers at a wide range of health care settings, and it covers topics including behavioral health, operations, and telehealth.
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Reimagining Care: FY 2020 CARES Supplemental Funding Guidance
The “Reimagining Care” series from the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), a HRSA-funded NTTAP, focuses on how health centers will continue to lead the primary health care industry through flexibility and innovation in a post-COVID-19 world. BPHC Associate Administrator Jim Macrae is expected to present at this week’s session:
Thursday, August 6
1:00-2:00 p.m. ET
Visit NACHC's website to register or view past recordings
Health Workforce Connector
The COVID-19 pandemic has left many clinicians and clinical staff out of work, while at the same time their services might be desperately needed elsewhere. Through the Health Workforce Connector, organizations can search for staff available for COVID-19 response activities. You can search for and contact “emergency volunteers,” and can also post free listings for available positions. Visit the National Health Service Corps and Nurse Corps: COVID-19 FAQs webpage to learn more.
Encourage Recovered Patients to Donate COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma
An exciting treatment development is the use of COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma (CCP)—blood donated by recovered COVID-19 patients that contains antibodies for the virus. Prior experience with respiratory viruses and data from around the world suggest that CCP treatment has the potential to lessen the severity of COVID-19 or shorten the length of illness. More than 25,000 patients have received this treatment, and recent data show it is safe for a large, diverse population. Health centers should encourage anyone who has tested positive and recovered from COVID-19 to visit the federal coronavirus website to find out where to donate plasma.
Testing and Telehealth Information in the Find a Health Center Tool
HRSA recently updated the Find a Health Center tool to allow users to filter for health center sites that currently offer COVID-19 testing and/or telehealth services. We are communicating to prospective patients that this data is updated based on the weekly Health Center COVID-19 Survey, and encouraging them to contact the health center directly to verify whether services are offered at a specific site.
FAQs
We continually update our COVID-19 FAQs webpage, and recently added:
- How does HRSA provide public information about health center locations where COVID-19 testing and services via telehealth are available?
Other resources:
COVID-19 Survey Deadline is 11:59 p.m. ET TODAY
The survey you received on Friday, July 31, is due by 11:59 p.m. ET today. Questions on how to complete the survey? Check out our User Guide.
As always, we’re grateful to all of the health centers and look-alikes that complete these weekly surveys! The input is invaluable—it allows us to better understand training and TA, funding, and other health center resource needs. Using it, we can track COVID-19’s impact on health center operations, staff, and patients.
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COVID-19 & Telehealth Implementation: Stories from the Field
During this CDC webinar, presenters will discuss telehealth benefits and challenges during and after the pandemic. Presenters will share their experiences implementing telehealth across diverse health care settings and address considerations for its future use.
TODAY
2:00-3:30 p.m. ET
Get access information
Building Trauma-Sensitive Environments
This year has added significant trauma and stress for many. For those who interact with students or supervise staff who do, an understanding of trauma-informed practices will be critical to working with returning students this year. The School-Based Health Alliance, a HRSA-funded NTTAP, presents a webinar on best practices for establishing positive relationships with schools, focusing on trauma-sensitive strategies. Participants will gain a foundational understanding of trauma, practice using strengths-based language to facilitate difficult conversations, and will examine opportunities for collaboration between schools and school-based health centers.
Wednesday, August 5
Noon-1:00 p.m. ET
Register here
Addressing Challenges for Youth Experiencing Homelessness During COVID
The School-Based Health Alliance also presents a webinar about current challenges facing youth experiencing homelessness. The disconnect from health care, social, and educational environments—reduced access to support systems on which they depend—can negatively impact the youths’ development. Speakers will address those challenges and discuss connectivity to health care and school re-entry and access.
Thursday, August 6
1:00-2:00 p.m. ET
Register here
Health Center School-Based Dental Programs and COVID-19: A Listening Session
As school districts develop plans for the upcoming school year, the ability of health center school-based dental programs to deliver care is unknown. The National Network for Oral Health Access (NNOHA), a HRSA-funded NTTAP, presents a listening session allowing health centers to listen and discuss strategies on resuming school-based dental services and share challenges and barriers.
Monday, August 10
1:30-2:30 p.m. ET
Register here
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Many federal organizations, HRSA-funded NTTAPs, and other partners are holding COVID-19-related webinars. Our TA Calendar lists more of them and includes descriptions and registration information.
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CARES Act Funding and Financial Statements: Considerations for Health Center Boards
This short article by NACHC addresses CARES Act funding and considerations for health center boards related to the impact on the center’s financial statements. For additional pandemic-related resources pertaining to health center board governance, visit the Health Center Resource Clearinghouse COVID-19 webpage and click on “Governance.”
HIV
New Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Chapter
CDC’s Prevention Research Synthesis (PRS) project identifies evidence-based interventions and best practices for HIV prevention. They recently added a new chapter on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for the PRS Compendium, which includes best practices for improving PrEP use and persistence. For additional information, contact PRS.
Diabetes
Diabetes Performance Improvement Virtual TA
See announcement above.
Workforce
Health Workforce Connector
See announcement above.
Oral Health
Dental Leadership Burnout After Five Months of COVID-19: A Safe Space to Share and Support
As health center dental programs re-open, dental leadership faces a new set of stressors, including increased financial pressure from administration, provider and staff concerns about safety, patient concerns about returning to dental care, as well as family and community expectations. This webinar by NNOHA, a HRSA-funded NTTAP, will be a combined listening session incorporating a behavioral health specialist to provide support to health center providers and leaders. 1.0 continuing dental education credit will be provided.
Monday, August 24
3:00-4:00 p.m. ET
Register here
Health Center School-Based Dental Programs and COVID-19: A Listening Session
See announcement above.
I-Smile Program
Through HRSA’s National Organizations of State and Local Officials cooperative agreement, the National Academy for State Health Policy recently posted a case study on Iowa’s I-Smile program. A unique partnership between Iowa Medicaid and public health agencies, the program addresses the disproportionate impact of dental disease on low-income individuals.
National Minority Donor Awareness Month
Racial and ethnic minorities make up 60% of all people on the national organ transplant waiting list. Organ transplants can be successful regardless of the race or ethnicity of the donor and recipient, but results are better if the donor and recipient are closely matched genetically.
Join HRSA in celebrating National Minority Donor Awareness Month by encouraging patients to register as organ donors! Patients can learn more about organ, eye, and tissue donation at organdonor.gov or donaciondeorganos.gov, or follow us on Facebook for regular updates.
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Additional Resources
Adopting a Population Health Strategy to Reduce Heart Disease Risk
Join HRSA for an interactive presentation and discussion with Sam Cykert, M.D., of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chief of the Program on Health and Clinical Informatics and Director of the AHRQ-funded Heart Health NOW initiative of North Carolina. Dr. Cykert will share how to reduce cardiovascular disease risk morbidity and mortality by:
- Stratifying patients by risk.
- Setting up rapid engagement and re-engagement systems to address treatment and lifestyle.
- Adopting a system of dissemination and implementation, where small practices can thrive in our value-based environment.
- Advancing the promise of primary care and quantitatively proving its value.
He will also share data and information about COVID-19 and cardiovascular disease.
Wednesday, August 12
2:00-3:30 p.m. ET
Register here
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Will You Become a Million Hearts® Hypertension Control Champion?
To become a Million Hearts® Hypertension Control Champion, clinicians, practices, and health systems must demonstrate excellence in hypertension control, reaching at least an 80% control rate among their adult hypertensive patients.
How much does your health center want to become a champion? HRSA and the CDC Million Hearts® initiative have resources to support your efforts. With guidance from the newly released Second Edition, Million Hearts® Hypertension Control Change Package, you can design a patient-centered strategy to set your health center on the path to success!
The Second Edition Change Package:
- Shares tools, resources, and techniques that have worked and are used by current Hypertension Control Champions.
- Places a special focus on self-measured blood pressure (SMBP).
- Shares tools that can be used to identify undiagnosed hypertension.
- Shares NEW strategies that focus on chronic kidney disease testing and identification.
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Vaccination Clinic Guidance
CDC recently released updated guidance for planning and implementing vaccination clinics at satellite, temporary, or off-site locations. The guidance focuses on clinical considerations, including vaccine storage and handling, administration, and documentation.
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