HRSA announces Honor Award winners

Congratulations to all BPHC employees nominated and awarded HRSA Honor Awards! BPHC received 15 out of 28 Honor Awards submitted, including five Commissioned Corps Awards. Check out the full list of this year’s winners (PDF)!

TODAY: Newsletter deadline change

Newsletter announcements must be approved in SharePoint by COB TODAY because of the Labor Day holiday (Monday, September 2). We’ll hold late submissions for subsequent issues. Questions? Email the Digest or Insider mailbox.

Learn about Community Health Quality Recognition badges

We awarded Community Health Quality Recognition (CHQR) badges earlier this week (see August 28 bulletin)! CHQR badges are an important way we recognize Health Center Program awardees (H80s) and look-alikes (LALs) that have made notable quality improvement achievements in key priority areas, such as access, quality, and equity.

Brush up on your knowledge of CHQR badges by visiting the UDS Data Resources SharePoint page and the 2024 CHQR Quick Reference Guide (PDF). The guide provides an overview of the CHQR badges awarded in 2024 based on 2023 UDS data, including the eligibility criteria, badge images, and the number of badges we awarded to H80s and LALs.

View the CHQR Dashboard to see which health centers received 2024 CHQR badges. Submit questions about CHQR badge data to the BPHC Contact Form (Uniform Data System > UDS Data Request > UDS Data Interpretation/Validation).

BPHC Technical Assistance Outcomes report now available

The 2024 BPHC Technical Assistance (TA) Outcomes Report (PDF) highlights the significant TA resources, impacts, and outcomes achieved by BPHC staff and funded TA partners between July 2023 and June 2024.

This internal report is organized into eight BPHC priority areas. It can help you learn about the depth and breadth of bureau-wide activities and identify opportunities for collaboration.

1. Eliminating health disparities and creating health equity
2. Emergency preparedness and response
3. Activating health center innovations and quality improvement
4. Improving chronic disease management and clinical outcomes
5. Data use and evidence-informed service delivery
6. Workforce development and resiliency
7. Effective communication and coordination of TA
8. Funding and compliance

Those who produce the report would appreciate your input to improve it. The BPHC TA Outcomes Report Feedback Form contains 10 questions and can be completed in less than five minutes. Thank you in advance for sharing your thoughts.

Happy Birthday, BPHC BOOK!

BPHC BOOK launched one year ago today! It remains THE source of information for reaching the right people for a business need. Here's what staff are saying about it!

• "Easy to navigate, clever way of showcasing the multitude of projects, tasks, innovations, etc. across the bureau."
• "I was a skeptic but now I'm a believer."
• "I love BPHC BOOK. It has significantly improved my ability to route inquiries to other teams."

Have you checked out BPHC BOOK?

UDS data refresh coming next week

The Program Oversight Module in the Electronic Handbooks (EHBs) will undergo its annual refresh to show the latest (2023) UDS data on Friday, September 6.

UPDATE: COVID-19 Survey sunset notice to health centers

The Health Center COVID-19 Survey will conclude with the September 6 survey for August data. In last week’s Insider, we said that we’d send a reminder bulletin to health centers this week. Since we’ve already made several priority announcements in bulletins, we’re holding the reminder for next week’s Digest instead.

Take the 2024 HRSA IT Survey

The Office of Information Technology (OIT) strives to improve your overall information technology (IT) experience and issues a HRSA IT Survey every two years to collect your feedback. Take the survey by Monday, September 9.

The survey asks you to rate the following:

• In-person and online IT support
• OIT Alerts
• Laptops
• Printing capabilities
• Network connectivity
• Desktop phones
• Collaboration tools
• IT training

You can provide additional information in the open-ended questions. The anonymous survey should take no more than 12 minutes to complete, and the results will be used to develop an IT plan for 2024-2025.

HRSA spotlights BPHC’s CDR Jayne Berube

Read this week’s HRSA Weekly profile on CDR Jayne Berube, a Registered Dietician and OQI Team Lead. Check out Jayne’s guest columns in the Take 5 to Thrive archive.

Getting to know Ketki Shah

Editor’s note: Interested in participating in a “Getting to know” column for the first or second time? Take a look at the questions to see what’s involved and check out our Getting to Know BPHC Staff page.

Meet Ketki Shah, Pathways Student Trainee, Training, DWM:

When did you join the Bureau of Primary Health Care? How does your current role contribute to the Health Center Program?
I joined BPHC recently, in July 2024! My role is in DWM’s Training Team. I help ensure staff are compliant with training requirements and I support career development by creating, marketing, and managing training courses.

What is your favorite book, movie, or TV show?
My favorite movie is “Everything Everywhere All at Once”! It's incredibly creative and has powerful messages.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be:
A lawyer or a writer. I love writing poetry in my free time.

Where did you grow up and what do you like best about your hometown?
I grew up in Maryland, and I love the diversity of people the most. Being surrounded by people from all over gave me a lot of different perspectives and an overall open mind.

Learn more about Ketki. Email BPHC Insider to submit your name for a future Getting to Know.

Donate food and enter Feds Feed Families Cutest Pet Contest

Got a cute pet and a big heart? Enter your pet in the Feds Feed Families Cutest Pet Contest and help feed families in need.

Post a photo of your pet on your social media account (LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram) that includes the following:

• Your pet’s name
• Your name
• Your agency
• Confirmation of your food donation
• Tags for @FedsFeedFamilies and #FFFCutestPet

The event runs through Friday, September 6. There are three categories: Cutest Dog, Cutest Cat, and Cutest Unique Pet. The pet with the most likes will be the winner in that category. If your pet lives in the Washington metro area and wins, your dog (sorry, no cats, birds, reptiles, etc.) could be the Grand Marshal of the September 25 Feds WISH Walk.

The food drive runs through Monday, September 30. To date, more than 6 million pounds of food has been donated. Check out the HHS 2024 Feds Feed Families Summer Food Donation Drive intranet site for updates.

A round-up of previously announced items

• Read about the upcoming Customer Experience (CX) Summit in last week’s Insider.
• Review the bureau's new Salesforce Operating Standards for Managing BPHC Customer Inquiries (PDF).
• Check out the QIF Optimizing Virtual Care (OVC) Toolkit: Insights & Tools from 29 Health Centers (PDF), which compiles OVC awardees’ lessons learned and promising practices.
• Access the updated internal multi-pagers on the BPHC Information and Resources (BIR) SharePoint site. You can also download the complete set in a ZIP file.
• Visit the new Health Center Program history webpage and view a related promotional video.
• When booking your hoteling workspace, keep in mind the BPHC workspace boundaries on the 16 North map (PDF) and 17 North map (PDF).
• Sign up for CDC’s inaugural Disability Summit on Thursday, September 26, from 9:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. ET.
• Don’t forget to purchase tickets for HHS’s annual Night at the Ballpark at Nationals Park on Friday, September 27. Watch the Nationals take on the Phillies with a postgame concert by Lady A!

NEXT THURSDAY: EHBs/BHCMIS Functional Overview — Project Work Plan Mod and more

Join OSBO IT Systems for the fifth session in a nine-part series exploring the purpose and functionality of HRSA’s Electronic Handbooks (EHBs) and the BPHC Health Care Management Information System (BHCMIS).

During Session 5, we will examine Project Work Plan Mod, Health Center Controlled Networks, and the Scope module.

Session 5: EHBs/BHCMIS Functional Overview — Knowledge Transfer
Thursday, September 5
11:00 a.m.-noon ET
Join the day of the session

The series aims to review BHCMIS’ key functions and features, provide insights into business needs, and foster collaboration. Each session includes an in-depth functional overview, an interactive Q&A session, and practical examples and use cases. We encourage BPHC staff to attend the sessions and actively engage the presenters by asking questions and providing feedback.

View the schedule for future sessions and past recordings.