What's New
Primary Health Care Prize Challenge Submissions Due Tuesday, August 2
HRSA’s Building Bridges to Better Health: A Primary Health Care Challenge, a national competition with a total of $1 million in cash prizes, aims to encourage innovation through technical assistance (TA) to health centers. Participants will accelerate the development of low-cost, scalable solutions to help health centers improve patient access to primary care and strengthen the link between health care and social services.
The competition is open to broad public participation, including individuals, groups, health care organizations, and other entities. Phase 1 submissions are due Tuesday, August 2.
Visit Challenge.gov for more information, including submission requirements, eligibility, deadlines, prize amounts, and a recording of the participant webinar.
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Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposes Changes to Shared Savings Program to Advance Health Equity
CMS released the Calendar Year 2023 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule for public comment last week. CMS encourages all interested members of the public, including accountable care organizations, providers, suppliers, and Medicare beneficiaries, to submit comments so that CMS can consider them as they develop the final rule. Submit a comment on the Regulations.gov website.
The rule proposes a number of changes to the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) to increase participation in accountable care models in underserved communities, such as providing an option for advance investment payments and smoothing the transition to performance-based risk, among other changes. CMS published materials to help you understand these changes:
Your Voice is Valuable
Recent opportunities for you to share your input:
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HHS Action Plan to Strengthen Primary Health Care: Request for Information
HHS’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) seeks input about what the federal government could do to strengthen primary health care in the U.S. In particular, they’re interested in innovations, models, solutions to barriers, and possible HHS actions that may promote health equity, reduce health disparities, and improve health care access and health outcomes. See the Federal Register Notice to learn more and share your input by the end of this month.
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Participate in the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey
CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics invited select health centers to participate in the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS). If your health center received an invitation, we encourage you to participate! See last week’s Digest for more information.
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HUD Funding to Address Unsheltered Homelessness and Homeless Encampments
HUD recently announced a first-of-its-kind package of resources to address unsheltered homelessness and homeless encampments, including funds set aside specifically to address homelessness in rural communities. Access the notice of funding opportunity and TA materials.
COVID-19
CDC Finds Low Rate of COVID-19 Vaccination for Children
A recent CDC report found that vaccination rates for children ages 5-11 are low, especially in counties without a pediatric vaccine provider. We appreciate all that health centers are doing to get kids vaccinated. These CDC resources may be helpful as you continue this effort:
Special and Vulnerable Populations COVID-19 Forum
HRSA-funded NTTAPs host this ongoing series. Join to hear discussion of how COVID-19 has impacted health centers and the special populations they serve. Suma Nair, PhD, Director of BPHC's Office of Quality Improvement, will provide up-to-date information about assistance for health centers.
Friday, July 22
2:00-3:00 p.m. ET
Register here (visit to see all dates and times)
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Health Center COVID-19 Vaccine Program Participants
HRSA is conducting a review of the Health Center COVID-19 Vaccine Program to support preparedness for future public health emergency response and programmatic planning. We would like to hear from program participants and supporting organizations throughout the health center network. See our bulletin from last week for more information.
Behavioral Health
Intersection of Substance Use Disorder, Mental Health, and Social Determinants of Health: Webinar Series for Behavioral Health Providers
HRSA has engaged experts from the UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs and the Pacific Southwest Addiction Technology Transfer Center to provide an informative and exciting presentation on emerging and important issues pertaining to adolescent mental health and substance use disorder treatment.
Pediatric and Adolescent Mental Health and Substance Use, Part 1
Wednesday, July 13
2:00-3:30 p.m. ET
Register here
Pediatric and Adolescent Mental Health and Substance Use, Part 2
Wednesday, August 10
2:00-3:30 p.m. ET
Register here
Social Determinants of Health and Cultural Humility
Wednesday, September 28
2:00-3:30 p.m. ET
Register here
Call for Applications: Integration of Behavioral Health and Oral Health Learning Collaborative
The National Network for Oral Health Access (NNOHA) is seeking interested health centers to participate in a virtual learning collaborative on Integrating Behavioral Health and Oral Health. Using NNOHA’s “User’s Guide for Implementation of Interprofessional Oral Health Core Clinical Competencies” as a framework, participants will work to implement behavioral health screenings (i.e., PHQ-2, PHQ-9) into the dental clinic. Learn more and apply by 8:00 p.m. ET on Friday, August 5. NNOHA is a HRSA-funded NTTAP.
Workforce
HRSA Awards Over $155 Million to Expand Training for Primary Care Residents in Underserved and Rural Communities
HRSA recently announced over $155 million in awards for 72 teaching health centers that operate primary care medical and dental residency programs that include high need specialties such as psychiatry, as part of President Biden’s Unity Agenda to address the nation’s mental health crisis. Read the press release.
New Diversity Access Data Tool Released
HRSA released the Area Health Resources Files Diversity dashboard, adding to its growing list of data tools. The new dashboard allows users to access detailed demographic information at the national and state levels for nearly 40 health care occupations. Its visualizations will also give users new insights on the diversity of the U.S. health workforce.
Call for Applications: Integration of Behavioral Health and Oral Health Learning Collaborative
See the announcement above.
Developing Clinical Leaders at Every Level of Your Health Center
It is crucial for health centers to develop leaders at all levels, and the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved’s (ACU) STAR2 Center will provide practical strategies to help health centers build leadership skills for all types of clinical providers in a training that is part of ACU’s 2022 Conference, “Resilience & Transformation in Care.” Join the training in-person in Washington, D.C., or online. You’ll explore how to develop career paths and opportunities for advancement for rising clinical leaders. This free training is from 2:00-3:15 p.m. ET on Tuesday, August 2. Contact Narine Hovnanian to register.
Oral Health
Call for Applications: Integration of Behavioral Health and Oral Health Learning Collaborative
See the announcement above.
Telehealth
Successful Telehealth for Chronic Conditions
Telehealth is a great fit for providers who want to help their patients manage their chronic conditions with more flexibility of time and resources. This best practice guide from HRSA can give you the tools and confidence to help your patients manage chronic conditions using telehealth care services.
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Additional Resources
Acting on SDOH Screening Data to Address Barriers to Health
Explore strategies to screen special and vulnerable populations for social determinants of health (SDOH) and build effective practices to begin addressing SDOH through outreach and enabling services. The ability to track and evaluate these services is an important tool for health centers to demonstrate their value in addressing patients’ SDOH; of equal importance is the ability to make this data actionable in order to address patients’ barriers to access.
Thursday, July 28
3:00-4:30 p.m. ET
Register here
This session is hosted by several HRSA-funded NTTAPs: the Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations, Health Outreach Partners, MHP Salud, and the National Health Care for the Homeless Council.
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