News from Policy If you have questions about CHCANYS' policy and advocacy work, please contact Beverly Grossman, bgrossman@chcanys.org.
Advocacy Day 2012 a Huge Success! More than 450 community health center advocates from across the state joined CHCANYS on March 5th to push Albany policymakers for continued focus on strengthening primary care and discuss issues that are critically important for community, homeless and migrant health care providers across the Empire State (click here to view 2012-13 NYS Budget Priorities). The annual Advocacy Day is organized by CHCANYS and draws patients, health care providers and leaders from federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) in every corner of the state.
A big thank you to all of the advocates who traveled to Albany on March 5th to meet with elected officials. Click hereto watch a video of Linda Muller, Chairwoman of CHCANYS’ Board of Directors and CEO of The Greater Hudson Valley Family Health Center, welcoming the crowd.
Urgent! 2013 Appropriations Call to Action! The appropriations process for health center funding for fiscal year 2013 (FY13) has begun. We have some very short deadlines that need your immediate response. Please call your Representatives today (click here for a list of Congressional Health Contacts) and ask them to do the following:
1. Sign on to the Pallone and Bilirakis Letter House Members must sign onto the Health Centers Dear Colleague Letter BEFORE the March 16th deadline!
Congressman Pallone (D-NJ) and Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) are circulating a bipartisan sign-on letter indicating support to the House Labor-HHS Subcommittee on Appropriations for the Health Centers program. The letter does not include a specific funding level, but instead includes a general sentiment of support for the Health Centers program and enables House members to publicly show their support. To sign on, Republican Representatives can contact Richard Hoar in Rep. Bilirakis' office at 202-225-5755 and Democrat Representatives can contact Rachelle Pierre-Mathieu in Rep. Pallone's office at 202-225-4671.
For a list of legislators who have signed on to the Pallone and Bilirakis letter so far, as well as copies of the FY13 Dear Colleague Letters for both the House and the Senate, please click here.
2. Submit a Programmatic Request for the Health Centers Program House Members must submit their programmatic requests to the House Appropriations committee through the House Appropriations online system before the March 20th deadline!
We are asking Members of Congress to support a total program funding level of $3.1 billion for the Health Centers Program. Your Representatives can show their support for this increase by submitting programmatic requests to the House Appropriations committee. The $3.1 billion total includes $2.8 billion in base discretionary funding, which is the FY12 Health Centers program operations level – i.e. - what is needed to maintain existing operations. This is the same total funding level requested in the President’s budget and represents a $300 million increase.
This $300 million increase of mandatory funds would both expand services at existing health centers and open new health centers.
We thank you for your prompt response to this important action alert. Please make sure to keep us updated on your conversations with and responses from your Congressional Representatives. As always, please feel free to contact Beverly Grossman with questions or comments at 518-434-0767 ext. 11 or bgrossman@chcanys.org.
News from Health Center Support If you have questions about CHCANYS' health center support, please contact Rebecca Gaige, rgaige@chcanys.org
Planning Grant Reports Due by 11:59 p.m. ET on April 1, 2012 Planning Grant awardees must submit their first semi-annual report by April 1, 2012 through the Electronic Handbook (EHB). HRSA recommends that grantees use the standard form provided. Slides from the presentation, the standard reporting form, and instructions can be found on the HRSA website.
The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) offers New Governance Resources for Health Center Board Members and Staff NACHC has released a guidance series entitled Governing Board Responsibilities and How to DoThem. Each of the nine documents in the series describes a Health Center Program governance requirement, information for the board to receive, questions for the board to review, and expected answers. To view this series, click here.
National Assembly on School-Based Health Care Oral Health Initiative Deadline: Letter of Intent due March 16, 2012; Application due March 28, 2012 (revised date) The National Assembly on School-Based Health Care (NASBHC) has announced a second call for proposals under its oral health initiative with Kaiser Permanente. Through its first call for proposals, NASBHC awarded 20 grants to school based health centers to provide oral health services to students. To view the new call for proposals, click here. Letters of intent, applications, and supporting documents must be sent to programs@nasbhc.org
Developing Integrated Maternal and Child Health Information Systems: Promoting the Use of Health Information Technology Deadline: April 2, 2012 Award Ceiling: One award $300,000 and another $150,000 One of the primary goals of the Office of Epidemiology, Policy, and Evaluation (OEPE) is to provide leadership in building and enhancing maternal and child health (MCH) data capacity at the local, state, and national levels. OEPE is placing emphasis on the area of electronic health information exchange thereby supporting one of the President's major healthcare objectives: to increase the use of electronic health information technology and exchange as a means of controlling costs and reducing dangerous medical errors. In addition, this project will support the five broad goals of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB): 1) provide national leadership for MCH; 2) promote an environment that supports MCH; 3) eliminate health barriers and disparities; 4) improve the health infrastructure and systems of care; and 5) assure quality of care. The OEPE has developed two separate but related projects that are intended to further the goal of electronic health information exchange while supporting the maternal and child health promotion goals of MCHB. For the full announcement, click here.
Grants to States to Support Oral Health Workforce Activities Deadline: April 4, 2012 Award: Up to $500,000 The purpose of the program is to help states develop and implement innovative programs to address the dental workforce needs of designated dental health professional shortage areas in a manner that is appropriate to the states' individual needs. For the full announcement, click here.
Telehealth Network Grant Program (Rural) Deadline: April 13, 2012 Award: Variable The primary objective of the Telehealth Network Grant Program (TNGP) is to demonstrate how telehealth programs and networks can improve access to quality health care services in rural and underserved communities. Grants made under this authority will demonstrate how telehealth networks improve healthcare services for medically underserved populations in urban, rural, and frontier communities. TNGP networks are used to: (a) expand access to, coordinate, and improve the quality of health care services; (b) improve and expand the training of health care providers; and/or (c) expand and improve the quality of health information available to health care providers, and patients and their families, for decision-making. However, as noted below, because of legislative restrictions, grants will be limited to programs that serve rural communities, although grantees may be located in urban or rural areas. For the full announcement, click here.
Enhancing Engagement and Retention in Quality HIV Care for Transgender Women of Color-Demonstration Sites Deadline: April 16, 2012 Award: Variable This initiative is expected to provide funding during federal fiscal years 2012 - 2016 to support organizations that will design, implement and evaluate innovative interventions to improve timely entry, engagement and retention in quality HIV care for transgender women of color living with HIV infection. The primary focus of this initiative is to identify and successfully engage and retain in care transgender women of color who are at high risk of HIV infection or are infected with HIV but are unaware of their HIV status; are aware of their HIV infection but have never been engaged in care; are aware but have refused referral to care; or have dropped out of care. For the full announcement, click here.
Harnessing Advanced Health Technologies to Drive Mental Health Improvement (R01) Deadline: June 22, 2012 Award: Variable The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement is to test the innovative use of existing technologies to significantly improve access to and quality of mental health care, and to propose the collection and use of actionable mental health information to improve outcomes of people with mental disorders. For the full announcement, click here.
Sponsor/Exhibit & Associate Member Opportunities are Now Open for CHCANYS' 2012 Statewide Conference & Clinical Forum October 24-26, 2012 CHCANYS' 2012 Conference will once again be held at The Saratoga Hilton Hotel & Saratoga Springs City Center. Please hold the dates October 24-26, 2012. This conference provides an opportunity to learn and network with 400 health center participants and partners serving 1.4 million patients annually. Sponsors/exhibitors who become Associate Members receive additional benefits. To learn more about sponsor/exhibit opportunities and the new Associate Membership discount for first-time members, click here.
Region II Conference Cancelled The Region II Conference, hosted by The Virgin Islands Primary Care Office (PCO) and previously scheduled for June 11-14, 2012, has been cancelled.
News from Workforce Development If you have questions about CHCANYS’ Workforce Development Program, please email us at workforce@chcanys.org.
Doctors Across New York (DANY) Program Applications Due on March 30, 2012 The Doctors Across New York Program awards funding to support recruitment and retention of physicians in underserved areas through salary enhancements, sign-on bonuses, loan repayment and other direct payments to physicians. Physicians participating in Doctors Across New York make a multi-year service commitment to practice in an underserved area in the State.
The Program is expected to award approximately $12 million more in 2012 to health care providers and physicians for Physician Practice Support and Physician Loan Repayment funding. The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) is strongly encouraging the submission of applications as these funds are still available.
Information on these two Requests for Applications can be found on the NYSDOH's website.
Click here to view the Physician Practice Support RFA.
Click here to view the Physician Loan Repayment RFA.
The State DOH posted a new document at each of these sites above, one entitled “Submitting a Successful Doctors Across New York Physician Practice Support Application,” and the other entitled “Submitting a Successful Doctors Across New York Loan Repayment Application.” Each offers a “Useful tips” section, a checklist of items required with the submission, and a list of ineligible applicants who should not apply. Please check the DANY website for access to these items and other useful background documents.
New York State Council on Graduate Medical Education (GME) Seeking Community Health Center Representation
The New York State Council on Graduate Medical Education was created by Executive Order in 1987 to provide advice to the Governor and Commissioner of Health on the formulation and implementation of State policies relating to medical education and training. Members are appointed by the Governor, upon recommendation of the Commissioner of Health. The Council has a rolling approach to the appointment of members, and they are currently accepting applications for membership. The Council has a need for members representing a community health center perspective. There is also an overall need for members representing Upstate areas. Generally, members are MDs. Appointments to the Council are made to individuals, not institutions. Members must be residents of NY State.
The full Council meets three times a year. It also works through its three standing committees: Nomination; Minority Participation in Medical Education; and Steering. In addition, the Council convenes ad-hoc committees, workshops and workgroups as necessary. Through its workgroups and committees, the Council has addressed such issues as clinical research, the quality of obstetrical training, the diversity of the physician workforce, transparency in GME funding, training in ambulatory care settings and clinical clerkship education. New York’s physician supply is interwoven in all of these issues and has emerged as a recurrent theme throughout the Council’s discussions. The Council’s role in the creation of the Doctors Across New York program is one example of a health care policy contribution it has recently provided to improve the NY State health care system.
The Council has participated with other organizations in sponsoring several conferences and events to increase educational opportunities in medicine for minorities and economically disadvantaged students along the academic pipeline and to promote training in primary care and ambulatory care settings. The Council was also instrumental in developing guidelines for the use of residents in Medicaid Managed Care Plans for both primary care and specialty residents in order to ensure that a single standard of care is provided to all patients regardless of payor.
The Council is charged to consider:
Graduate medical education programs including the composition, supply and distribution of residency programs, subspecialty programs and fellowship training;
Efforts to increase the number of minority physicians in training in New York and to increase and improve the training of physicians who will serve as medical residents, and subsequently as practitioners, in underserved areas of the State and serve populations with special health needs;
The number and specialties of physicians needed in New York State;
Policies and programs to increase the training of primary care physicians and the training of physicians in non-hospital settings; and
Promotion of high quality residency and training programs.
Click here for more detailed information about the New York State Council on Graduate Medical Education.
This is a great opportunity to promote greater understanding of community health centers and opportunities for medical education and practice at our centers. Please contact Dr. Bill Stackhouse, Ph.D. at bstackhouse@chcanys.org with questions.
News from HIT If you have questions about CHCANYS' HIT work, please contact Lisa Perry, lperry@chcanys.org.
CMS Discretionary Enforcement Period for 5010 Compliance Ends March 31, 2012 Medicaid providers who still submit electronic transactions in the HIPAA Version 4010 format are urged to complete their system transition to Version 5010 as soon as possible. The CMS discretionary enforcement period for Version 5010 compliance ends on March 31, 2012. New York State Medicaid will continue to operate a dual system for inbound transactions through the March 31 deadline. However, in keeping with the federal Version 5010 compliance guidelines, effective April 1, 2012, New York State Medicaid will begin to accept and process only Version 5010 inbound transactions.
If you are experiencing difficulty with the transition, educational and technical resources are available to assist you. Extensive information on all Medicaid changes for Version 5010 is included at www.emedny.org under "eMedNYHIPAASupport" and in the February 2011 5010 Special Edition Medicaid Update. Additionally, the CSC Call Center and EDI technical support staff are available to assist you with your 5010 transition questions and issues and can be reached at (800) 343-9000.
We encourage providers to conduct proper testing in order to minimize any problems during the production phase. The eMedNY Provider Testing Environment (PTE) is available for providers to test their 5010 transactions. The PTE is designed to enable NYS Medicaid trading partners to test batch and real-time Electronic Data Interchange transactions using the same validation, adjudication logic, and methods as the eMedNY production environment. For information on how to start testing, please click here to access the Technical Companion Guide.
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.
