What's New
Community Health Quality Recognition Dashboard Our new Community Health Quality Recognition (CHQR) dashboard summarizes and visualizes 2021 badge recipients. Users can view CHQR badges earned by a specific health center, compare CHQR performance with other health centers and states, generate a list of health centers that received a specific CHQR badge, and view state- and national-level summaries.
HHS Support and Protection for LGBTQI+ Children and Youth Last week, on the heels of a gubernatorial order in Texas, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra released a statement reaffirming HHS’s commitment to supporting and protecting transgender youth and their parents, caretakers, and families. He also announced several HHS actions, including the publication of this HHS Notice and Guidance on Gender Affirming Care, Civil Rights, and Patient Privacy by the HHS Office for Civil Rights.
National Strategy to Address Mental Health Crisis The Biden Administration has announced a national mental health strategy to strengthen system capacity, connect more people to care, and create a continuum of support – transforming the nation’s health and social services infrastructure to address mental health holistically and equitably. At HRSA, our work to implement this strategy means taking action.
COVID-19
Recording Available: HRSA Test to Treat for COVID-19 Panel Discussion If you missed it, watch the recording of last Friday’s panel discussion on the test to treat approach for COVID-19, hosted by the staff from our COVID-19 Response Programs.
Participants in our COVID-19 Response Programs (i.e., vaccines, testing supplies, therapeutics, and N95 masks) should regularly check-in to the Health Center COVID-19 Online Community for upcoming webinars and events, program announcements, and training/technical assistance materials.
|
Know Your COVID-19 Community Level COVID-19 Community Levels are a new tool to help communities decide what prevention steps to take based on the latest data. Levels can be low, medium, or high and are determined by looking at hospital beds being used, hospital admissions, and the total number of new COVID-19 cases in an area. CDC’s webpage explains what precautions are associated with each level.
Masks Available for Your Patients, Staff, and Community Through our HRSA Health Center COVID-19 N95 Mask Program, HRSA continues to offer high-quality N95 masks for distribution to your patients, staff, and community. Health centers can order masks through the Oracle Health Partner Order Portal (HPoP). Health centers may place an order for delivery to one site only and can order a minimum of 1,000 masks and a maximum of 20,000 masks.
If your health center is interested in receiving masks, we encourage you to order them today. The deadline for the next biweekly ordering cycle is 11:59 p.m. your local time on Monday, March 21. If you do not have access to the HPoP Diagnostics Module to place an order for masks, please follow instructions in this Quick Reference Guide to enroll into the HRSA Health Center COVID-19 N95 Mask and Testing Supply Programs (both programs have the same registration process). If you need additional assistance related to COVID-19 Response Programs, please submit a ticket to Health Center Program Support and someone from our team will assist you.
Provider Relief Fund Deadline Approaching The Provider Relief Fund (PRF) Reporting Portal will close for Reporting Period 2 on Thursday, March 31. Providers who received one or more PRF payments exceeding $10,000, in the aggregate, during the second Payment Received Period must report on their use of funds no later than that date. To get started they must register in the Portal (if not yet completed). More information and resources can be found on the PRF Reporting webpage.
COVID-19 Booster Shots Vaccination against COVID-19 remains important. Research continues to show that vaccination reduces severe disease, hospitalizations, and death. Patients ages 12 and older are eligible for a booster. CDC provides guidance on timing of booster shots, including for patients who are immunocompromised. And HHS’ We Can Do This site offers materials that you can use to encourage your community to get boosted.
COVID-19 Children’s Vaccination Song and Video Farmworker Justice created a song and video to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations among farmworker children and families. The song is in Spanish, with Spanish or English captions. Farmworker Justice is a HRSA-funded National Training and Technical Assistance Partner (NTTAP).
Behavioral Health
National Strategy to Address Mental Health Crisis See the announcement above.
New Report on Children’s Mental Health Features Key Data from National Survey of Children’s Health A new report featuring data from HRSA’s 2016-2019 National Survey of Children’s Health shows that children’s mental health was a substantial public health concern even before the COVID-19 pandemic started.
Addressing Polysubstance Misuse in the Primary Care Setting Speakers will provide an overview of strategies for providers in primary care settings to address polysubstance misuse in their patient population.
Thursday, March 17 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET Register here **1.0 CE available**
Harm Reduction, Treatment, and Recovery Support Funding from SAMHSA SAMHSA’s new grant opportunity may be of interest to health centers. Funding will support targeted strategies for the provision of substance use disorder or co-occurring disorder harm reduction, treatment, and/or recovery support services to support an under-resourced population or unmet need identified by the community.
HIV
PACHA to the People The upcoming Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) meeting will include a virtual community engagement session:
Monday, March 14 12:30-2:45 p.m. ET Join the day of the session
We encourage health centers and Health Center Program stakeholders to consider joining this session, or attend the full meeting:
Monday, March 14, and Tuesday, March 15 10:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. ET Join the day of the session
Workforce
Developing Workforce Retention and Resiliency within an Integrated Care Setting The impact of COVID-19 on health care worker retention and burnout has been staggering. According to the American Medical Association, nearly half of health care workers reported experiencing burnout. This webinar will cover strategies to bolster health care workforce retention and prevent workforce burnout.
Wednesday, April 20 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET Register here **1.0 CE available**
HRSA-funded NTTAPs present learning collaboratives:
-
Building Sustainable Partnerships with the Community Centered Health Homes Model
Health centers have long been on the forefront of addressing the social determinants of health (SDOH) despite often limited community resources. The National Health Care for the Homeless Council (NHCHC) invites you to join this learning collaborative to learn about the community centered health homes model and how to address the root cause of health concerns through creative partnerships. Apply today (the first session is Thursday, March 17).
-
Help! My Patient Says They Were Hurt by A Partner – What Do I and the Clinic Need to Do Now?
Health Partners on IPV + Exploitation invites health centers to learn how to build partnerships with community-based organizations (such as domestic violence programs) through bi-directional agreements and memoranda of understanding. Apply by 8:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, March 23.
-
Improving Rural Health Equity
Rural-dwelling older adults, including former agricultural workers and their families, often experience health disparities due to more limited access to preventative health care, proper nutrition, and transportation services. This National Center for Equitable Care for Elders (NCECE) and Migrant Clinicians Network joint opportunity will provide strategies to enable patients in rural areas to successfully age in community by identifying and addressing their SDOH needs. Apply by Friday, April 1.
-
Addressing SDOH for Older Adults Through Community-Based Palliative Care
Learn about care management for older adults with a serious illness and the importance of identifying gaps in non-clinical services and support for those patients and their caregivers. Participants will have access to a one-year membership to the Center to Advance Palliative Care’s full library of online training courses at no charge, including free continuing education credit. Presented by NCECE. Apply by Tuesday, April 5.
-
Lessons Learned: Implementing and Expanding Social Needs Screening Programs in Health Centers
Discuss promising practices and key considerations to support the collection, monitoring, and addressing of social needs data. See health center exemplars and explore the levels of maturity in the social needs screening implementation process. Learn concrete strategies and IT solutions that can improve internal systems (e.g., electronic health record use and care team workflows). Presented by the Health Information Technology, Evaluation, and Quality (HITEQ) Center. Apply by Friday, March 11.
Oral Health
Telehealth Office Hours: Follow-up Strategies for Implementing Teledentistry The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) and the National Network for Oral Health Access (NNOHA) will follow up on a 2021 office hour on patient-centered strategies for teledentistry. This session will provide useful tips and examples for developing teledentistry workflows and highlight case use examples for pediatric populations.
Thursday, March 10 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET Register here
NACHC and NNOHA are HRSA-funded NTTAPs.
Oral Health and Primary Care Integration: Optimizing Care Coordination to Improve Oral Health Access NNOHA and the National Nurse-Led Care Consortium (NNCC) invite you to learn promising practices for oral health integration to support health education and treatment. Speakers will focus on care coordination and the unique needs of special populations like residents of public housing. You’ll learn how two organizations implemented sustainable integration programs and engaged medical team members and health center leadership. NNCC is a HRSA-funded NTTAP.
Wednesday, March 16 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET Register here
Additional Resources
The Role of Family Caregivers in Older Adult Nutrition Many older adults rely on family or informal caregivers to help manage their health conditions and activities of daily living, including meal choices and preparation.
Speakers at this webinar will share approaches to working with caregivers to address barriers to healthy eating and provide nutrition education that meets the diverse needs of older adults. Presented by NCECE and the National Center for Health in Public Housing (NCHPH), both HRSA-funded NTTAPs.
Wednesday, March 30 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET Register here
2021 CDC STI Guidelines Bootcamp: Where to Look and What to Do? Join us to hear Dr. Laura Bachmann of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention speak on:
- Trends in sexually transmitted infection (STI), with an emphasis on syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia.
- How to implement the 2021 STI guidelines for treatment and care.
- The importance of screening and treatment for extragenital gonorrhea and chlamydia.
Wednesday, April 13 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET Register here
Focusing on Structural Racism to Address SDOH SDOH is rooted in an understanding that the conditions that people are born into (and live in) shape their health. Structural racism is a primary driver of inequities in the conditions in which people of color are born and live. Therefore, all work to improve health by addressing SDOH requires an explicit focus on addressing structural racism and mitigating its impact on patients.
This paper from the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) provides examples of how structural racism in housing has affected inequities in SDOH and health outcomes. CSH is a HRSA-funded NTTAP.
When Everyone Benefits: A Virtual Symposium on Health Care, Homelessness, and Public Safety NHCHC will host an exploration of the future of public safety and the intersecting issues of unsheltered homelessness, criminalization, crisis response, street outreach, and health care. We encourage health centers to join and to invite community stakeholders.
Wednesday, April 6 Noon-3:30 p.m. ET Register here
In case you missed it: Visit the Primary Health Care Digest archive.
Do you forward the Digest to others? Encourage them to subscribe.
|