American Rescue Plan Funding
Funding for Native Hawaiian Health Care HRSA announced the availability of $20 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding to current Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act award recipients to aid their response to COVID-19. This funding will provide Papa Ola Lokahi and the five Native Hawaiian Health Care Systems resources to respond to and mitigate the spread of COVID-19, strengthen vaccination efforts, and enhance health care services and infrastructure in their communities.
Applications are due in Grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, July 1. Visit the ARP Funding for Native Hawaiian Health Care TA webpage for application instructions, deadlines, and other resources.
Funding Opportunity for Health Center Construction and Capital Improvements Health centers have until Thursday, June 24, to submit their ARP – Health Center Construction and Capital Improvements (C8E) application in EHBs. Visit the C8E TA webpage for award submission guidance, recordings of the question and answer sessions, and other resources. See the C8E FAQs webpage, which we recently updated.
Capital Link, a HRSA-funded National Training and TA Partner (NTTAP), recently hosted webinars to support health centers with their applications.
What's New
Next Week: Today with Macrae Join Jim to hear about BPHC REACH, Operational Site Visits, COVID-19 progress reporting, and more.
Thursday, June 17 **NEW TIME!** 3:00-4:00 p.m. ET Join the day of the session If you prefer to join by phone: 833-568-8864 When prompted, enter meeting/webinar ID: 160 817 0845
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Service Area Status Webinar Recording Available The Service Area Status (SAS) webinar recording and presentation slides are now available on our website. The SAS describes the health, social, and economic status of a health center's service area. Share your feedback on SAS through the BPHC Contact Form by choosing “Health Center,” then the “Strategic Initiatives” category, and then the “Service Area Status” sub-category.
2019 Public Charge Final Rule No Longer in Effect The 2019 Public Charge Final Rule is no longer in effect. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) at the Department of Homeland Security stopped applying it to all pending applications and petitions on Tuesday, March 9.
The 2019 rule applied to legal immigrants seeking legal permanent residence. It added enrollment in Medicaid, public housing, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as grounds that could lead to public charge inadmissibility.
A Kaiser Family Foundation survey noted changes in coverage and service use among immigrant health center patients because of the rule.
Considerations for Planning School-Located Vaccination Clinics CDC published guidance to provide information for planning and implementing vaccination clinics at schools for any routinely recommended vaccines, as well as the COVID-19 vaccine. The considerations include information on planning, clinic days, legal issues related to minors, and modifiable communications templates.
Turn to Telehealth.HHS.gov to Stay Informed on Telehealth Best Practices and Important Updates Trying to stay on top of telehealth policy or billing changes during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic? Telehealth.HHS.gov has the latest updates on changes that may affect your practice. The one-stop resource also provides helpful guidance on telehealth legal issues, materials to help you prepare patients for successful virtual visits, and more.
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Rural Health Clinic Vaccine Confidence Program Will Fund All That Are Eligible HRSA recently announced a new funding opportunity. All eligible Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) that submit a complete application will receive funding to increase confidence in vaccines for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. Apply by Wednesday, June 23, and send questions to RHCVaxConfidence@hrsa.gov. This is one of three new programs to expand RHCs’ COVID-19 response.
COVID-19
Motivational Interviewing for COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy This SAMHSA-funded webinar will teach you to use skills from an evidence-based approach called motivational interviewing to have more successful conversations about COVID-19 vaccines.
Wednesday, June 9 Noon-1:00 p.m. ET Register here
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These COVID-19 related items ran in previous issues of the Digest.
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Vaccine Administration in Dental Clinics Job Instruction Sheet The National Network for Oral Health Access (NNOHA) has worked with health center dental leaders engaged in delivering COVID-19 vaccines to develop this job instruction resource to train dental providers on the new processes for vaccine administration. NNOHA is a HRSA-funded NTTAP.
The First Three Months: COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment This publication by the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) evaluates health centers' challenges with administering the vaccine in the first three months of vaccine deployment. NACHC is a HRSA-funded NTTAP.
Health Center COVID-19 Weekly Survey The current survey is due TODAY at 11:59 p.m. your local time.
As part of our continuous improvement efforts, we recently reviewed the survey to reduce the number of questions. Beginning with the survey sent on Friday, June 4, we removed four questions and simplified the answers for the question on the time it takes to receive test results. We did not make any updates to the addendum.
Health Center COVID-19 FAQs We continue to update our COVID-19 FAQs webpage. Other resources:
Share Your Story Send stories of how your health center helping your community address COVID-19 to our Health Center Stories inbox. We are especially interested in hearing about efforts to promote equity in vaccine distribution and boost vaccine confidence. We may share your story in future issues of the Digest, on Today with Macrae webcasts, or via HRSA social media. If sharing a photo, please include a high-resolution image along with the names of everyone in the picture, and make sure each person has signed a HRSA Photo Release Form.
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Behavioral Health
New Loan Repayment Program Expands Eligible Substance Use Disorder Disciplines, Facility Types HRSA’s new Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Loan Repayment Program expands access to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment by adding several new disciplines. These include bachelor’s-level SUD counselors, behavioral health paraprofessionals, and clinical support staff. The program also broadens the clinical best practice of a warm handoff while recognizing the effectiveness of integrated SUD treatment teams. Eligible health professionals can receive up to $250,000 in exchange for a six-year, full-time service commitment at a variety of added SUD facility types. Apply by 7:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, July 22. Eligible sites may also apply to become approved for the program.
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Mapping Patient Journeys in Drug Addiction Treatment Challenge NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) invites health centers (organizations, teams, or individuals) to participate in a new challenge that has cash prizes totaling $100,000. The goal is to create actionable patient journey maps that might further the understanding of the obstacles that patients face in getting treatment for drug addiction.
Quick Guide for Supporting the Behavioral Health of Sexual Minority Men Although many sexual minority men maintain healthy behaviors, research has shown that as a population, they are at greater risk for SUD and mental health problems. The National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center’s quick guide overviews the risks, the contextual factors driving those risks, and potential interventions to mitigate the root causes. The center is a HRSA-funded NTTAP.
Workforce
New Loan Repayment Program Expands Eligible Substance Use Disorder Disciplines, Facility Types See the announcement above.
Newly Updated: NNOHA Workforce Manual This updated chapter of the NNOHA Operations Manual provides helpful tools and resources for tackling issues related to workforce in health center dental programs, including recruitment and retention strategies, academic partnerships, and staffing ratios.
Faculty Loan Repayment Program Supports Diverse Health Professional Educators If you’re a faculty member at an approved health professions school, have a health professions degree or certificate, and come from a disadvantaged background, you may be eligible for HRSA’s Faculty Loan Repayment Program. The program awards participants up to $40,000 to pay off their qualifying educational loans in exchange for two years of teaching service. Participants also receive a tax liability benefit equal to 39% of the loan repayment amount. Check your eligibility today and apply by Thursday, July 1.
Additional Resources
Webinar Series: Introduction to Self-Measured Blood Pressure Monitoring HRSA will host a two-part webinar series on self-measured blood pressure monitoring (SMBP). In Part 1, speakers from HRSA, CDC’s Million Hearts® initiative, and NACHC will highlight key resources for health centers to use and reference as they prepare to implement SMBP. In Part 2, HRSA-funded health centers will share their experiences planning for and implementing SMBP, including challenges and best practices learned along the way.
SMBP 101: Best Practices for Implementing SMBP Friday, June 11 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET Register here
SMBP 102: Challenges and Lessons Learned Implementing SMBP (Stories from the Field) Thursday, June 24 12:30-2:00 p.m. ET Register here
If you’ve missed other recent webinars on SMBP, check out the recordings:
In case you missed it: Visit the Primary Health Care Digest archive.
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