News from Policy If you have questions about CHCANYS' policy and advocacy work, please contact Beverly Grossman, bgrossman@chcanys.org.
CHCANYS Testifies at Joint Legislative Hearing on NYS Budget Beverly Grossman, CHCANYS' Director of Policy, testified at a joint Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means Legislative Hearing on the health and Medicaid sections of the 2012-13 New York State Executive Budget on Wednesday, February 8th.
In her testimony, Grossman lauded Governor Cuomo’s proposal to strengthen the state's health care delivery system through investments in primary health care. Grossman also delivered CHCANYS' message that community health centers strive to advance the “triple aim” of better care, improved health and reduced cost. With this in mind, New York’s FQHCs and CHCANYS proudly supported the following policy proposals:
The Executive Budget’s proposed $54.4 million for the Diagnostic and Treatment Center (D&TC) Indigent Care Pool;
The Executive Budget’s proposed $1 million for the Primary Care Service Corps, which would offer loan repayment for primary care practitioners who agree to practice in an underserved area for at least a year;
The Executive Budget’s proposed $430,000 for continued funding for community health centers serving migrant and seasonal farm workers and their families;
The continued implementation of the approved recommendations of the Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT), including passage of a bill to enact authorizing legislation establishing a New York Health Benefits Exchange; and
The Executive Budget’s proposal to direct HEAL funds for primary care capital expansion.
For a copy of the complete testimony, click here. Advocacy Day is Less Than One Week Away!
Community Health Center Grassroots Advocacy Day is approaching quickly! We are looking forward to seeing you at the Empire State Plaza in Albany on Monday, March 5th. This is our opportunity to ensure that policymakers and their staff are familiar with community, homeless and migrant health centers and understand the high quality and cost-effective primary health care services we provide to New Yorkers.
If you are planning to attend but have not yet registered, please take a moment to do so now. To access the registration form, additional details about the event, and a copy of CHCANYS’ Budget Priorities/Talking Points for Advocacy Day 2012, please click here.
News from Health Center Support If you have questions about CHCANYS health center support, please contact Rebecca Gaige, rgaige@chcanys.org
HRSA Releases Program Assistance Letter (PAL) 2012-02 - Calendar Year 2013 Requirements for Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) Medical Malpractice Coverage for Health Centers The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) has released Program Assistance Letter (PAL) 2012-02, "Calendar Year (CY) 2013 Requirements for Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) Medical Malpractice Coverage for Health Centers." . Health Centers will submit their FTCA applications electronically through the FTCA deeming module within the HRSA Electronic Handbook (EHB) starting February 23, 2012 and ending April 5, 2012. The 2013 application process and guidance for submitting deeming applications for Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) medical malpractice coverage is detailed within the Program Assistance Letter 2012-02. HRSA will soon be offering a series of brief, informative technical assistance videos.
To access Program Assistance Letter 2012-02 click here. To access the videos click here.
PCDC Publishes Free Guide for Leading Clinical Quality Improvement Initiatives On February 21st, the Primary Care Development Corporation released “Translating Evidence into Practice: A How To Manual for Implementing Clinical Decision Support.” Available free online, the manual provides step-by-step guidance for medical directors and senior leaders at primary care organizations to implement quality improvement initiatives, with a special focus on using electronic health records to advance chronic disease management.
The manual was developed following a two year project with Open Door Family Medical Centers in Westchester, New York. The Open Door experience, described throughout the manual, demonstrates that hypertensive patients treated using a clinical decision support intervention were 1.5 times more likely to have controlled blood pressure than pre-intervention. Using this success as an on-the-ground model, the manual provides a systematic approach for designing, planning, implementing and evaluating a quality improvement initiative with a clinical focus. Specific goals of the manual include defining the project, setting quality improvement goals, assessing and understanding current data and technology capabilities, implementing change, and using data to evaluate and sustain improvements.
To download “Translating Evidence Practice: A How To Manual for Implementing Clinical Decision Support”, click here.
Children Affected by AIDS Foundation Offers Range of Grants The Children Affected by AIDS Foundation (CAAF) awards grants to 501(c)(3) organizations that provide direct care, support, and assistance to children, age birth to 13 years, who are HIV+ or otherwise affected by HIV/AIDS. This includes children who are HIV-infected, those who are or may become orphaned as a result of losing one or both parents to HIV, and those who have siblings, parents or caregivers who are infected with HIV. Youth 14 -18 years of age may be included in the total number of children to be served by the proposed program, but the total should not exceed 25%.
Organizations may submit only one proposal and request funds from only one category. Proposed programs that mix categories will not be considered eligible for funding. The categories are:
Basic Needs Category (up to $7,500): includes items such as food, clothing, formula, diapers, school supplies, burial services, transportation (to/from medical visits, outpatient visits and other social services appointments), and emergency childcare which allows respite for caregivers, among other basic needs for children.
Social & Recreational Category (up to $5,000): This category is intended to benefit programs that involve children in social activities such as arts and crafts, sports, holiday parties, field expeditions, and other forms of recreation, including summer camps from those organizations that are part of the CAAF Camp Network.
Deadlines are temporarily suspended while the Foundation restructures its grant-making process. Look for updates on the website later this year. For more information click here then click on About CAAF, then Domestic Grant Making.
The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) New 2-Day Seminar: Developing Strategic and Business Plans That Result in Action Having a clear roadmap is essential for any organization’s sustainability. During these challenging economic times, it is important for a health center to set concrete financial and operational goals. This seminar targets the critical and optional tasks needed to develop a strategic plan that directs your health center's future. The presenters will review each component of the strategic planning development process, including a case study that will give attendees practical experience.
The Regular and on site Registration Rate is $350.
To access the details for this seminar please click here.
Sponsor/Exhibitor Opportunities Now Open for CHCANYS' 2012 Annual Statewide Conference & Clinical Forum--October 24-26, 2012 Once again, CHCANYS' conference will be held at The Saratoga Hilton Hotel & Saratoga Springs City Center. Please hold the dates October 24-26, 2012.
This is an opportunity to learn and network with 400 health center participants and partners serving 1.4 million patients annually. To learn more about sponsor/exhibit opportunities, click here. News from Clinical Quality Improvement
If you have questions about CHCANYS’ Clinical Quality Improvement initiatives, please contact Kathy Alexis, kalexis@chcanys.org.
Focus on Eye Health: A National Summit - SAVE THE DATE! Date: June 20, 2012 Time: 9:00am – 12:30pm Location: Washington Marriott at Metro Center, 775 12th Street NW Washington, DC 20005 Prevent Blindness America is hosting "Focus on Eye Health: A National Summit" on June 20, 2012, at the Washington Marriott at Metro Center. This event will launch the update of two very significant public health reports – Vision Problems in the U.S. and Economic Impact of Vision Problems. In addition, a variety of public health presentations will address vision and eye health in the United States.
Attendees will include patient advocates, community-based organizations, national vision and eye health organizations, government agencies, and policymakers. Sign up here for summit news and registration alerts.
Hepatitis A B C Newsletter The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Office of Viral Hepatitis Coordination, presents their monthly newsletter. Click here to view the February 2012 issue.
January 2012 New York State Medicaid Update The Office of Health Insurance Programs of the New York State Department of Health has approved the release of the January 2012 Medicaid Update. Click here to download the current edition.
The NYS Diabetes Campaign The National Committee for Quality Assurance and Bridges to Excellence (BTE) Diabetes Recognition Program (DRP) are voluntary programs for practices to receive recognition for delivering quality diabetes care. Recognized health centers enjoy benefits such as being acknowledged as leaders in the community of practice and leveraging NCQA DRP data abstraction efforts for incentives such as that received through the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Recognition. CHCANYS’ staff is available to render technical assistance in submitting for these recognition programs and to explore opportunities to improve clinical care outcomes.
For more information regarding the Campaign and for tools and resources available, visit the Half the Care website. To begin your application for Diabetes Recognition, contact Kathy Alexis at kalexis@chcanys.org.
Proposed Demonstration Project – Improving Chlamydia Screening in NYC CHCs Chlamydia (Ct) is one of the most frequently occurring sexually transmitted diseases in the United States, resulting in over 2.8 million new cases each year. In 2010, there were over 63,000 new cases of chlamydia reported in New York City, with young women under 25 years of age constituting about 70% of all cases. Untreated Ct is an important cause of infertility. Because Ct is often asymptomatic, screening is critical to infertility prevention. Infection with Ct also makes it easier to transmit and acquire HIV. For CHCs participating in the CMS Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs, Chlamydia screening for women is one of the optional clinical quality measures (CQM) for payment year 2012.
The Bureau of Sexually Transmitted Disease Control (BSTDC) of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene proposes to work on a demonstration project with up to five Community Health Centers that are members of the Community Health Care Association of New York State (CHCANYS) and are located in high Chlamydia morbidity zip codes to maximize chlamydia screening among sexually active women 15-24 years of age. BSTDC proposes to work directly with the health centers to demonstrate best practices related to sexual history taking, screening young women for Ct, providing appropriate treatment and rescreening three months after treatment.
Based on 2009 and 2010 surveillance data, the following neighborhoods have the highest rates of Ct in New York City. BSTDC would prefer to work with Community Health Centers/FQHCs that are located within or serve populations predominantly from these neighborhoods for the purposes of this demonstration project.
Brooklyn
East New York (11207)
BedStuy-Crown Heights (11216)
Bronx
Crotona-Tremont (10453)
Highbridge-Morrisania (10456, 10457)
Manhattan
Central Harlem (10039, 10026)
East Harlem (10035, 10029)
BSTDC will offer $6000 to participating sites ($3000 upon receipt of base-line data and $3000 for the follow-up data). For more information, click here or contact Kate Washburn, MPH at (347) 396-7297 or kwashbur@health.nyc.gov.
AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation's Connections for Cardiovascular Health Accepting Grant Applications Posted: January 16, 2012 Deadline: March 15, 2012
The AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation is accepting applications for the 2012 Connections for Cardiovascular Health program. Launched in 2010 with a $25 million charitable contribution from biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, the program seeks to improve cardiovascular health within the United States and its territories. In 2011, the program awarded more than $3.6 million in grants to over twenty organizations working to improve cardiovascular health in their communities.
To qualify for a grant, applicants must be a U.S.-based nonprofit 501(c)(3) or similar organization and be engaged in charitable work in the United States or its territories that addresses the program's mission of improving cardiovascular health. Programs selected for funding will be working to address an unmet need related to cardiovascular health in a community, respond to the urgency around addressing cardiovascular health issues (including cardiovascular disease or conditions contributing to cardiovascular disease), and improve patients' lives through the services provided.
Grants of $150,000 and up will be provided annually to innovative initiatives that are focused on clearly defined and measurable results and processes. The recipient organization must be able to demonstrate ongoing activity to improve cardiovascular health and the ability to sustain the initiative after the grant funds are spent.
Visit the AstraZeneca website for complete program guidelines and the online application form.
New York Promoting and Advancing Teen Health New York Promoting and Advancing Teen Health (NYPATH) is an exciting new initiative for healthcare providers who serve adolescents in primary and specialty care settings throughout New York State. The project represents a unique partnership between the Columbia University Heilbrunn Department of Population & Family Health, Physicians for Reproductive Choice & Health, the New York State Department of Health, the ACT for Youth Center of Excellence, and other adolescent medicine experts. The purpose of the project is to increase clinician capacity to provide high quality sexual and reproductive healthcare, and other preventive healthcare services to adolescents.
NYPATH is planning kick-off training events in several regions throughout New York State. These events are designed to inform providers about resources available through NYPATH, and to provide clinical training focused on recent innovations in providing adolescent-friendly, patient-centered reproductive health services.
The NYPATH team is in the process of identifying medical providers and other collaborators who might be interested in co-hosting these events. They are interested in finding sites that are centrally located to allow providers from several surrounding counties to attend. For further information, click here or contact Judy Lipshutz, MSW, RN at jl545@columbia.edu or 212-304-5237.
News from HIT If you have questions about CHCANYS' HIT work, please contact Lisa Perry, lperry@chcanys.org.
Stage 2 Meaningful Use Rule Released On Thursday, February 23rd, federal officials released the proposed rule for Stage 2 Meaningful Use of electronic health records. CMS’ proposed rule may be viewed here.
The public has 60 days to comment. CHCANYS will be submitting comments, so please let us know your thoughts and concerns.
In this proposed rule, CMS proposes to maintain the same Stage 1 core and menu structure for the program for Stage 2. For Stage 2, it is proposed that Eligible Professionals (EPs) must meet 17 core objectives and 3 of 5 menu objectives. If circumstances exists that make it impossible for an EP to meet a measure, an exclusion was defined in the final rule. If an exclusion applies, then the EP would not have to meet that objective/measure in order to be deemed a meaningful user.
Nearly all of the Stage 1 core and menu objectives have been retained for Stage 2. The “exchange of key clinical information” core objective from Stage 1 was eliminated in favor of a more robust “transitions of care” core objective in Stage 2, and the “provide patients with an electronic copy of their health information” objective was eliminated because it has been replaced by an “electronic/online access” core objective. There are also multiple Stage 1 objectives that have been combined into more unified Stage 2 objectives, with a subsequent rise in the measure threshold that providers must achieve for each objective that has been retained from Stage 1.
A complete summary is available on the CMS website here.
The proposed rule would require EPs to report 12 Clinical Quality Measures (CQMs) and outlines a process by which EPs beyond their first year of Stage 1 participation would submit CQM data electronically.
Extension of Stage 1:Finally, CMS is proposing an extension of Stage 1, so that providers have an additional year for implementation of Stage 2 criteria. the July 28, 2010, rule, CMS established that any provider who first attested to Stage 1 criteria in 2011 would have to begin using Stage 2 criteria in 2013. This proposed rule delays the onset of those Stage 2 criteria for those providers until 2014, which CMS believes would allow the needed time for vendors to develop Certified EHR Technology that can meet the Stage 2 requirements proposed.
If your health center has a training or technical assistance program that you'd like to share with others around the state, or if you would like to subscribe others at your health center to Your CHCANYS, please email the pertinent information to Rebecca Gaige-Troxell at rgaige@chcanys.org. We welcome your feedback and comments.
