Your CHCANYS

John Flanagan Replaces Skelos as State Senate Leader
John Flanagan will replace Dean Skelos as leader of the New York State Senate, Republican senators said Monday after a closed-door meeting that lasted more than two hours. Flanagan, who turned 54 last week, will keep a Long Islander in one of the top seats of power in state government. The chamber's 33 Republicans chose Flanagan over Senator John DeFrancisco of Syracuse. He was then installed in a formal floor vote of the 63-member Senate by a bare, 32-vote majority. read more >> 

What Are Your Plans for National Health Center Week 2015?
National Health Center Week (NHCW) 2015, scheduled for August 9-15, is a prime opportunity not only to celebrate our work, but also to educate others about the many services offered by FQHCs and the vital role they play in transforming the health of New York’s most vulnerable populations. Please consider hosting a NHCW event this year and inviting your elected officials, business partners, patients, and members of your community to participate. Organize a health fair with free screenings, an open house to show off a new project, or a summer BBQ. Sponsor a contest or a voter registration drive. The possibilities are endless - get creative and have fun, all the while helping to enhance the visibility of your health center and the valuable services it provides. read more >>

New Payment Reform Scorecards Released with Support from NYS Health Foundation
Health care payments are moving away from a fee-for-service paradigm to alternative payments that emphasize value. New York State has set ambitious goals to have large majorities of patients in both Medicaid and the commercial market receiving care under some form of value-based payment in the coming years. But what do health care payments look like in New York State today? What baseline are we starting from and how can we evaluate progress toward these goals? Do commercial and Medicaid payments look similar or different? With support from the NYS Health Foundation, Catalyst for Payment Reform has released two new scorecards that provide a detailed look into how health care is being paid for in New York State and the types of value-oriented arrangements that are being used. The scorecards are the first in the nation to use comprehensive and fully representative data for the commercial market and the first ever to evaluate payment arrangements in the Medicaid market. read more >> 

Medicaid to 26: Health Coverage for Youth Who Were in Foster Care
Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), young adults are allowed to stay on their parents’ health insurance until they turn 26. Because lawmakers recognized that young people who have aged-out of foster care also need access to health insurance, they included a section in the ACA that allows youth who were in foster care be covered by Medicaid until they are 26. New York is one of a few states that provide coverage to all former foster care youth, even if they were in foster care in another state. The Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy has compiled a wealth of helpful resources about the Medicaid to 26 benefit, including eligibility requirements and a step-by-step enrollment guide. To access them, click here.  

Webinar: Supporting Women at a Critical Time - Managing Early Pregnancy Loss in your Community Health Center
Date: Thursday, May 28, 2015; Time: 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. Each year in the United States, approximately 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage. Though common, miscarriage can be a difficult time for women. Community health centers are well-suited to provide emotional support, continuity of care, and office-based, patient-centered clinical management to women experiencing early pregnancy loss. This webinar is designed for health center clinicians and administrative staff. The workshop will introduce the three treatment options available to managing early pregnancy loss. By working through interactive cases, participants at many learning levels will become more comfortable thinking about complications of early pregnancy. The cases will cover the work up and diagnosis of miscarriage, using algorithms and evidence-based recommendations for work-up. Terminology surrounding miscarriage, as well as current diagnostic criteria will be reviewed. read more >>

Practice Transformation Through Team-Based Care: Full-Day, In-Person Training Sessions in Syracuse and NYC
In Syracuse: June 22 from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.; Doubletree Syracuse. In NYC: June 23 from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.; NYC Seminar and Conference Ctr. Intended for those interested in integrating team-based care into their health center’s practices, this free training will cover best practices, workflows, and the different roles played by health center staff. Through interactive group exercises, attendees will practice working in care teams and participate in in-depth discussions around how roles change as practices transform. We will also discuss payment models for team-based care and evidence for integrating these models into real practice change. read more >>

New York State’s Community Health Centers Receive Critical Federal Support to Increase Access to Primary Care in “Primary Care Deserts”
On Tuesday, May 5, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell announced that HHS has awarded approximately $101 million in Affordable Care Act funding to 164 new health center sites in 33 states and two U.S. Territories for the delivery of comprehensive primary health care services in communities that need them most.  New York is set to receive $4.28 million of this funding in order to establish new health service delivery access points, expanding capacity for another 50,233 patients. Awardees include The Chautauqua Center (Dunkirk) – $702,667; The Community Health Center of Richmond (Staten Island) – $566,667; The Greater Hudson Valley Family Health Center (Cornwall) – $691,667; The Rochester Primary Care Network (Rochester) – $983,333; Union Community Health Center (Bronx) – $704,167; and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Health Center (Albany) – $600,000. read more >>

Preparing for a HRSA Operational Site Visit: Lessons from the Field and Considerations for Special Populations
Date: Wednesday, May 20, 2015; Time: 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. Presented by: Matthew Bernardo, Executive Director, Housing Works Inc.; Debbian Fletcher-Blake, Assistant Executive Director, Care for the Homeless; Lori Gravelle, VP Risk Management & Compliance, Hudson Headwaters Network.  This webinar will provide a general review of the Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA) 19 program requirements in the context of the Operational Site Visit (OSV) and strategies to prepare for the visit.  Presenters will focus on the HRSA requirements and the particular challenges faced by special population providers. You will also hear from a New York FQHC that serves homeless individuals and families about lessons learned from their successful OSV. There will be an opportunity for Q&A at the end of the presentation. read more >> 

FTCA Application Deadline Approaching Quickly
Health center applications for Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) medical malpractice coverage are due by Tuesday, May 26, 2015 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Program Assistance Letter (PAL) 2015-03 describes the process for Health Center Program grantees to submit initial and redeeming FTCA deeming applications for Calendar Year (CY) 2016. The PAL and related technical assistance resources may be viewed here.

2015 Practical Art of Health Center Finance (HCF)
Date: June 2-4, 2015; Location: Hilton Garden Inn Austin Downtown & Convention Center, Austin, TX. Formerly referred to as the Finance and Operations Management, Level I (FOM I) training, this program has been designed to provide new CFOs, COOs, billing managers and board members with an orientation to financial management, accounting principles and terminology unique to health centers. Learning objectives include: understand the key elements of an efficiently operating health center; understand cost-based reimbursement; improve operations to maximize revenue; utilize technology to manage information. read more >>

Save on Group Purchases with CPG
CHCANYS has partnered with the CommonWealth Purchasing Group (CPG), the leading group purchasing organization in the country specializing in the health industry, to promote its services to FQHCs in New York State.  CPG will review your existing orders and show you how to save even more. For additional information, click here.  

April 2015 Medicaid Update
The Office of Health Insurance Programs of the New York State Department of Health has approved the release of the March 2015 Medicaid Update. To access it, click here.

Can Electronic Health Records Systems Support New Payment Methods for Health Centers?
A new report from the Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative suggests that EHRs need to be tailored to better capture the unique range of health center services, and that workflow changes may also be needed to ensure that essential information is recorded. The study was co-authored by Dr. Peter Shin and colleagues from CHCANYS and the Foundation. The report assesses the feasibility and usefulness of combining electronic health record (EHR) data with federal cost report data as the basis for quantifying enabling services and developing or evaluating reimbursement rates for community health centers. Based on a pilot study in two community health centers, the study indicates that such data fall short of providing the information needed to reasonably develop new value-based rate setting approaches or evaluate existing cost-based rates. To read the full report, click here.