News from Policy If you have questions about CHCANYS' policy and advocacy work, please contact Beverly Grossman, bgrossman@chcanys.org.
Regional Advisory Committees Announced The Cuomo administration has announced the establishment of five Regional Advisory Committees which will work to provide advice and recommendations regarding the development of New York’s Health Benefits Exchange, including recommendations about relevant regional factors. The committees are comprised of representatives of consumers, small business, health care providers, insurance agents and brokers, labor organizations and other stakeholders. CHCANYS extends its congratulations to the following health center appointees:
Central NY / Finger Lakes Committee
Dr. Ruben Cowart, Syracuse Community Health Center
Michael Leary, Regional Primary Care Network
Mary Zelazny, Finger Lakes Migrant and Community Health
Capital District / Mid-Hudson / Northern NY Committee
Dr. John Rugge, Hudson Headwaters Health Network
New York City / Metro Committee
Paloma Hernandez, Urban Health Plan
We also extend congratulations to our many partners who have been appointed to these critically important committees. All Committees are scheduled to meet for the first time during the month of September 2012. Meetings will be broadcasted via live webcast, and those wishing to attend in person must register in advance. Please click here to view the official announcement and to access additional information about meeting dates and times.
News from Health Center Support If you have questions about CHCANYS' health center support activities, please contact Rebecca Gaige, rgaige@chcanys.org.
CHCANYS' 2012 Statewide Conference & Clinical Forum - Register Today!
Saratoga Hilton Hotel and City Center Saratoga Springs, NY October 24-26, 2012
Among this year’s speakers/panelists are:
Daniel R. Hawkins, Jr. Senior Vice-President for Public Policy & Research National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC)
Jason Helgerson Medicaid Director and Deputy Commissioner Office of Health Insurance Programs (OHIP), NYSDOH
Fred Dedrick, Executive Director, National Fund for Workforce Solutions;
Karen Westervelt, Deputy Commissioner, Office of Primary Care and Interim Deputy Commissioner, OHIP, NYSDOH;
Donna Frescatore, Deputy Director for Healthcare Redesign, NYS Executive Chamber;
Dennis P. Whalen, Executive Vice President, Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS).
Workshop speakers will include: John W. Gahan, Jr. Director, Bureau of Primary and Acute Care Reimbursement, NYSDOH; Greg Allen, Director, Division of Financial Planning & Policy, OHIP; Jacki Leifer, Senior Partner, Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP; Peter Epp, CPA, Managing Director, J.H. Cohn LLP, as well as CHCANYS and health center experts.
Click here for the schedule and registration details.
Are you a vendor interested in the community health center market?
Sponsor CHCANYS’ conference today – Only a few sponsor/exhibit slots left – Don’t wait!
HRSA Seeking Feedback on Sliding Fee Discount Program The Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) has issued its long-awaited draft Policy Information Notice (PIN) on sliding fee discount requirements. The comment deadline for this PIN is September 28, 2012. The process for providing comments is outlined on the HRSA website. Click here to access information for submitting comments and here to review the PIN.
HRSA Releases Program Assistance Letter (PAL) 2012-06 Program Assistance Letter (PAL) 2012-06 provides information on HRSA's alignment and consolidation of specific services listed on "Form 5A: Services Provided" for Health Center Program grantees and Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) Look-Alikes. These changes are being made to align the categorization of health services on Form 5A with existing expectations regarding required and additional services and to simplify the form's structure. These changes will become effective the week of August 27, 2012. While health centers do not need to take any action regarding this change, HRSA encourages all health centers to review the PAL. Click here to access it.
ICD-10 Delayed One Year by CMS The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has pushed back the timeline for healthcare organizations to convert to the ICD-10 coding system to October 1, 2014. The reason for the delay, in part, is to allow more time for preparation and testing of systems to ensure a smooth and coordinated transition by all covered entities.
August 2012 Medicaid Update Now Available Click here to access the August 2012 Medicaid Update.
FQHCs Required to Report HCPCS Codes in 2014 The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) sends a critical reminder that all Federally Qualified Health Centers need to report HCPCS codes when billing for Medicare patients. The Affordable Care Act includes a provision to create a new Medicare reimbursement structure which will be based on the data the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) receives from these codes. Although the new reimbursement structure won't take effect until 2014, the data is critically important to get right today to ensure a fair and accurate Medicare payment in the future. Click to access CMS and NACHC resources.
News from the Quality Improvement Program If you have questions about CHCANYS’ Quality Improvement Program, please contact Kathy Alexis, kalexis@chcanys.org.
Upcoming Events
2012 World AIDS Day Health Living Expo Date: December 4-5, 2012 Location: Empire State Plaza Convention Center, Albany, NY Free and open to the public.
CancerCare’s free Connect® Workshop provides information on cancer-related issues for people living with cancer, their families, friends and health care professionals. The workshops are led by experts in oncology and may be accessed via telephone or online webcast. Professional continuing education credits are available for social workers and dietitians. Upcoming workshop topics include:
What's New in the Management of Blood Clots for Cancer Patients Friday, October 19, 2012 1:30 - 2:30 p.m. EST
Update on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Tuesday, October 23, 2012 1:30 - 2:30 p.m. EST
Progress in the Treatment of Multiple Myeloma Thursday, November 29, 2012 1:30-2:30pm EST
To register for the workshops, click here or call 1-800-813-4673. After you have registered, you will receive additional information. To listen to previous workshops on the CancerCare web site, click here.
NYPATH Announces Western Region Kick-Off Training Program NYPATH (New York Promoting and Advancing Teen Health) will kick off two programs in September:
Western Region Training Program Corning, New York September 28, 2012
Presented collaboratively by the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia University, the University of Rochester and the Steuben Rural Health Network.
These trainings are designed for medical providers including physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants who provide health care services to adolescents. The trainings are completely free and participants are eligible for 1 AAFP prescribed CME credit (equivalent to AMA PRA Category 1). Please click on the above links for registration information.
News from Emergency Management If you have questions about CHCANYS' Emergency Management work, please contact Matthew Ziemer, mziemer@chcanys.org.
Virus Update Please click here for a detailed update on Influenza, the West Nile Virus, and Hantavirus.
Hurricane Season The hurricane season, which typically extends from July to October, has not been as active as initially predicted. However, there have recently been a number of named storms that have caused damage in the continental United States. Hurricane Isaac, a category 1 storm that made landfall in the Louisiana/Mississippi area, caused plenty of damage and severe flooding in the south and continued soaking the country as it made its way out to sea through New England.
Health centers are reminded to examine their severe weather plans and mitigate all potential problems before storms reach our shores. The CHCANYS Emergency Management team will provide alerts to all health centers regarding storm activity that may affect our state. Should you have any questions regarding storm preparedness, please contact Mario Gonzalez at mgonzalez@chcanys.org or call 212-710-3810.
Interoperability Communications Exercise The New York State Department of Health will once again conduct the Interoperability Communications Exercise (IOC) and has asked the CHCANYS Emergency Management team for assistance in recruiting upstate New York health centers for participation in the Fall 2012 exercise. The CHCANYS Emergency Management team will be reaching out to upstate health centers this fall. Members are reminded to update their Health Commerce System (HCS) accounts, as this is the primary method used for the communications exercise. For information on how to participate in this important statewide exercise, please contact Mario Gonzalez at mgonzalez@chcanys.org or call 212-710-3810.
News from HIT If you have questions about CHCANYS' HIT work, please contact Lisa Perry, lperry@chcanys.org.
NY State's Health Information Exchange - The SHINY: Current Status and Future Development A great deal of progress has been made by the New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC) and the New York State Department of Health (DOH) towards the development of the Statewide Health Information Network - NY (SHINY) and bringing down the costs of connecting to and receiving services from this statewide health information exchange.
CHCANYS’ Health IT Program invites you to a webinar by NYeC Executive Director David Whitlinger and his team. They will discuss the current status of the SHINY as well as plans for its further development. A Q & A session will follow the presentation. Instructions for connecting to the webinar are as follows:
If you encounter difficulty connecting to the webinar, click here for support.
News from Workforce Development If you have questions about CHCANYS’ Workforce Development Program, please e-mail us at workforce@chcanys.org.
New Certificate Program for Health Center Staff The New York Alliance for Careers in Health Care (NYACH) is launching a new training program to increase staff skills in medical coding and billing. NYACH is partnering with the Fund for Public Health and the Primary Care Information Project (PCIP) for this certification course, which is designed for health center staff who do not currently have certification in medical coding or billing but who perform these duties or would benefit from increasing these skills.
Attendance is free, and classes are held in the evenings from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. on either Mondays and Wednesdays or Wednesdays and Fridays. The program runs for 20 weeks, and enrollment is open only to those who are New York City residents on or before the training start date of Friday, October 26th 2012. Centers enrolling staff in the program must be willing to increase staff wages by 5% within 3 months of their employees having satisfactorily completed certification.
Classes will take place at the Brooklyn Educational Opportunity Center (BEOC). Click here to access the BEOC website, which includes a link to the online registration system.
This is an excellent opportunity for health centers to increase productivity and provide staff with valuable skills. For more information about the program, please contact Amanda Brown, Workforce Development Coordinator at CHCANYS, at 212-710-4183 or abrown@chcanys.org.
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.
