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Dear Health Center Leader:
HRSA, in partnership with HHS partners, launched the HRSA Health Center COVID-19 Therapeutics Program to directly allocate a limited supply of several oral antiviral pills for the outpatient treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 to select HRSA-supported health centers. Now, HRSA is expanding the program to invite all HRSA-supported health centers with pharmacy capacity to participate.
To confirm your participation:
Log into the Therapeutics section of our Health Center COVID-19 Online Community and complete the “Site Selection” information by 11:59 p.m. your local time this Thursday, March 31. Note: The site you select must have pharmacy capacity.
The HRSA Health Center COVID-19 Therapeutics Online Community Guide document explains how to access and navigate the Therapeutics section of the Health Center COVID-19 Online Community, and provides additional information on pharmacy capacity.
We have sent this message to your health center's CEO and Project Director, but we only need one response from your organization.
This program is separate from, and meant to supplement, any state/jurisdictional allocation of COVID-19 oral antivirals. Receiving state/jurisdictional oral antiviral allocations does not prevent your health center from participating in this program.
Background
The HRSA Health Center COVID-19 Therapeutics Program began incrementally at select health centers that had pharmacy capacity and specialized in caring for particularly underserved and disproportionately affected populations (e.g., serve a significant number of people experiencing homelessness, migratory/seasonal agricultural workers, residents of public housing, people 65 or older, and those with limited English proficiency), or which reported significant COVID-19 testing activity in the biweekly Health Center COVID-19 Survey.
On Monday, March 28, HRSA expanded access to all health centers with pharmacy capacity. This supports the Biden-Harris Administration’s Test to Treat Initiative.
In order to participate in this program, health centers must store, dispense, and report on the limited supply of COVID-19 therapeutics consistent with guidance from HHS (FDA and NIH) and all applicable state/local laws.
HRSA Health Center COVID-19 Therapeutics Program Requirements
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Agree to HHS Requirements (noted below) in the Health Partner Order Portal (HPoP) system.
--Dispense or administer COVID-19 therapeutics consistent with FDA authorization AND in accordance with guidance from HHS.
--Report data on how many courses of COVID-19 therapeutics have been dispensed or administered, and on-hand inventory information. All required data will be reported through HHS designated systems in defined reporting cadence (daily, weekly etc.).
--Not charge patients for drug costs. HHS is making COVID-19 therapeutics available at no cost to authorized providers.
--Dispense COVID-19 therapeutics regardless of the therapeutic recipient’s coverage status or ability to pay for COVID-19 therapeutics dispensing fees. Providers may seek appropriate reimbursement from a program or plan that covers COVID-19 therapeutics dispensing fees for the therapeutics recipient. Costs should not be a barrier to patient access for these medications.*
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Agree to complete the biweekly Health Center COVID-19 Survey. Questions 17-17b relate to how you distributed the therapeutics received through this program: the total number of antiviral courses dispensed and the number of antiviral courses dispensed by race/ethnicity and special population status.
*Health centers participating in the HRSA Health Center COVID-19 Testing Supply, Mask, and Therapeutics Programs attest to not charging patients for the costs of tests, masks, or therapeutics. The supplies and therapeutics provided through HRSA’s COVID-19 Response Programs are made available at no cost to authorized providers and should be provided to patients regardless of the recipient’s coverage status or ability to pay.
In general and in accordance with current Health Center Program billing and collections requirements, health centers must make every reasonable effort to collect appropriate reimbursement for their costs, including billing Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and other public and private insurance or assistance programs, as applicable, for COVID-19 testing administration and/or therapeutics dispensing fees.
Health centers should ascertain whether there is available reimbursement, funding (including H8E, H8F, and H80 grants), or compensation sources and any related cost sharing restrictions for COVID-19 testing, vaccinations, and treatment prior to billing patients. If there are any patient out-of-pocket costs—for example, in the case of no or only partial coverage by private insurance—health centers should apply their sliding fee discounts, consistent with their established policies and procedures. If there are any applicable prohibitions on patient cost sharing, after submitting their claims for reimbursement to the applicable payor source(s), health centers should not charge patients for such costs, but may use H8E, H8F, or H80 funds to absorb any costs not covered by the payor source—for example if private insurance does not cover screening testing.
Next Steps to Participate
- Log-in to the Therapeutics section of the Health Center COVID-19 Online Community and complete the Site Selection information (note: the site must have pharmacy capacity) by 11:59 p.m. your local time on Thursday, March 31.
- Once we receive and verify your Site Selection, HRSA will send a welcome email to your Project Director, CEO, and the HPoP contacts affiliated with the site you selected. This notification email will alert you that your therapeutics ordering module is active, and also provide you with important program updates and resources on ordering and reporting. At this point, your health center will be able to place therapeutics orders.
- If you complete the Site Selection information by the deadline above, you’ll have access to ordering in HPoP by Monday, April 4.
- You may then place your first therapeutics order by Tuesday, April 5, no later than 11:59 p.m. your local time.
If you do not complete the Site Selection information by 11:59 p.m. your local time on Thursday, March 31, then you would need to complete site selection by Thursday, April 7, to be on-boarded before the Tuesday, April 12, therapeutics ordering deadline.
Going forward, health centers will be on-boarded on a rolling basis. Health centers who complete their Site Selection before each Thursday by 11:59 p.m. your local time will be able to order by the following Tuesday ordering deadline. Please note that ordering occurs on a weekly basis.
Resources
For additional information and support, please review the following training and technical assistance resources:
If you still have questions, please submit them to Health Center Program Support. Under the ‘COVID-19’ category, select “View More” and select HRSA Health Center COVID-19 Therapeutics Program. Thank you for all that you continue to do to serve your patients and communities.
HRSA Health Center COVID-19 Therapeutics Team
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