We hope you find this an efficient, useful tool and we welcome your feedback and comments. --Elizabeth Swain, CEO
If your health center has a training or technical assistance that you'd like to share with others around the state, or would like to subscribe others at your health center to Your CHCANYS please email the pertinent information to Libby Post at lpost@commservices.net. Thank you.
CHCANYS UPDATES 400+ Attend CHCANYS 2010 Advocacy Day Over 400 community, migrant and homeless health center advocates gathered in Albany on Monday, February 1st, to let their state legislators know just how important their work and their health centers are to New York's primary care safety net. Please check the CHCANYS website in the next few days for a slide show of the activities. Speakers included New York State Health Commissioner Richard Daines, Senate Health Committee Chair Tom Duane, Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfriend and Donna Frescatore, the State’s interim Medicaid Director and Deputy Commissioner of the Department’s Office of Health Insurance Program. Click here to read the press release about the event. Primary Care awarded seat at NYC Office of Emergency Management CHCANYS is proud to announce that our many years of advocacy have paid off in the creation of a primary care seat at the Office of Emergency Management Emergency Operations Center (EOC). For several years, CHCANYS EP Program has worked in partnership with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH) and Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC) to increase emergency preparedness capacity, provide preparedness training, and allow for coordination between our supported organizations toward the goal of preparing community health centers to meet their community's healthcare needs during emergencies. Over the past year and a half, CHCANYS and PCDC have collaborated in creating the Primary Care Emergency Preparedness Network (PCEPN) to provide primary care representation at the EOC. The EOC is activated during emergencies and is a central location for senior officials from City, State, and Federal agencies as well as other entities to coordinate response efforts, centralize decision making, disseminate information, and allocate resources. From their new seat at the EOC, representatives from PCEPN will have the ability provide real-time two-way communication and coordination between the NYC primary care community and NYC decision makers following a disaster or public health emergency. Inclusion of PCEPN at the EOC closely links our community health centers to the City in a way that previously hadn't been possible.
CHCANYS EP Program Manager to present at Public Health Preparedness Summit in Atlanta CHCANYS' EP Program Manager, Matthew Ziemer, will co-present with colleagues from the newly created Primary Care Emergency Preparedness Network (PCEPN) at the 2010 Public Health Preparedness Summit in Atlanta GA this February. Along with Dr. Bindy Crouch from NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and Jean Paul Roggiero and Brian Silva from Primary Care Development Corporation, Mr. Ziemer will present on an Urban Preparedness Model to Incorporate the Primary Care Community into Citywide Emergency Planning and Response Efforts in an interactive session.
CHCANYS EP Program Fully Staffed CHCANYS is happy to announce that with the addition of Mary Lou Caprara in Albany as Upstate Emergency Preparedness Coordinator and Mario Gonzalez as NYC Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, the CHCANYS EP Program is now fully staffed. Having worked with CHCANYS for nearly a year already, Mary Lou is excited about moving into her new role as coordinator of EP initiatives for upstate health centers. Mario comes to us after years of experience in hospital emergency preparedness and brings a wealth of knowledge to the team. Mario will take over facilitation of the NYC Influenza Working Group and other projects for NYC initiatives.
Public Health Emergency Response Phase IV Funding In the past two weeks, CHCANYS assisted NYS Department of Health to gather data on what projects upstate health centers would like to fund when Public Health Emergency Response (PHER) Phase IV funding becomes available. PHER Phase IV funding is specifically intended to continue the H1N1 vaccination efforts. The deadline for NYS DOH to apply to the federal government for PHER funding is in the second week in February and CHCANYS will make sure to provide updates as they become available. Health centers in New York City are also expected to have the opportunity to benefit from these funds as NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will apply to the federal government as well. More information will become available in the coming weeks.
Health Centers Asked to Increase Vaccine Reporting Due to regulations requiring the reporting of patient vaccination for H1N1 influenza, both the New York State Department of Health (NYS DOH) and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH) have asked CHCANYS to assist with increasing the rate of vaccination reporting. Upstate and NYC health centers are asked to report H1N1 vaccinations administered through the New York State Immunization Information System (NYSIIS for upstate sites) and Citywide Immunization Registry (CIR for NYC sites). Questions and concerns about these systems can go to:
Input requested on Community Health Workers (CHWs) Sourcebook In August 2008m, DHDSP released the English version of the CHWs Sourcebook, A Training Manual for Preventing Heart Disease and Stroke. The National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion would like feedback about who is using the Sourcebook and how it is being used. To answer a brief survey, please click here.
Region II Conference New Jersey Primary Care Association (NJPCA) hosts this year's Region II primary care conference for health centers in New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The conference will take place June 1-3, 2010 at the Tropicana Casino & Resort in Atlantic City, NJ. The theme is Community Health Centers...A Pathway to Health Care Reform. NJPCA is immediately accepting workshop proposals. New York health centers are cordially invited to submit proposals. New York centers are also invited to join a special panel: "Best Practices in Corporate Compliance" to take place on June 3rd. Interest in the panel is due by February 5th. To learn more, click here or contact Dr. Selina Haq at 609 689-9930, Shaq@njpaca.org or ACS (program consultants) at 914-378-1899.
CHCANYS Clinical Forum & Statewide Conference Hold the dates October 3-5, 2010 for the CHCANYS annual conference at The Desmond Hotel in Albany, NY. Health centers are invited to contribute curriculum ideas and join the planning team which is beginning to form. The conference will focus on timely policy, clinical, reimbursement, health information technology, operational issues and more. To learn more about becoming a part of the planning team, please contact Roxanne Wynn-Trotman at rwynn@chcanys.org or (212) 710-3806. More information to come.
Workforce Opportunity: SEARCH The SEARCH (Student/Resident Experiences and Rotations in Community Health) Program, coordinated by the New York State Area Health Education Center (AHEC) System, provides an opportunity for health centers to expose medical and other health profession students to the critical work of health centers. The program is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration. Through SEARCH, centers will receive practice site support for each student placement during the four to six week rotation period. The program provides an opportunity for health centers to reach qualified students and to expose them to a career path of commitment to underserved populations. Through SEARCH, students may receive assistance with travel and housing reimbursement and centers receive guidance and resources through the professional AHEC network. For more information or an application, contact: Megan Vaughan, Project Manager NYS AHEC System at mv48@buffalo.edu, www.ahec.buffalo.edu 716-898-4699.
CHCANYS UDS Database Update--It's Time to File, 2/15 In addition to filing your 2009 UDS report with the Bureau of Primary Health Care, please submit to CHCANYS. Please follow the instructions below to submit your report to us:
Open your center's EHB site page where you can print out your UDS report.
On that page, there is an option that allows you to download the submitted UDS data as an XML data file. Choose this option and save the file locally on your computer. (Please use your UDS number and health center to name the file. For example, the file name for 2008 UDS data for a health center called "Community Development Health Center," with a UDS number 9121 would have a file name: H9121_Community Devel.xml).
If you have technical questions, feel free to contact John Blackman at jblackman@chcanys.org or (212) 710-3813. For helpful answers to some questions raised during the UDS trainings hosted in New York State, please click here.
New Resource Available for Health Advocates The Empire Justice Center, The Legal Aid Society and Selfhelp Community Services have launched a new website for NYS health advocates, caregivers and consumers called New York Health Access. This website provides articles, guides and training materials on access to health care services and health insurance programs for low-income New Yorkers. The website can be found at nyhealthaccess.org.
GRANT OPPORTUNITIES Best Practices in Women's Health Application Due Date: Feb. 26, 2010 To identify best practices in community settings and to use collaborative improvement processes to test ways to improve delivery of care in key community settings. To develop and pilot clinical and community practice models for improving the health of reproductive aged women through a comprehensive set of preventive services, screening and counseling, pre- and interconception care and family planning. To collaborate with public policy institutions specializing in women's health, particularly those affiliated with educational institutions, and state MCH agencies on improving women's health in a transformed health care environment that emphasizes clinical and community integration, innovation in health care quality, efficiency and transparency. For complete grant information, please click here.
NYSDOH UPDATE Changes regarding presumptive eligibility for pregnant women. There is new legislation concerning presumptive eligibility for pregnant women as a result of the passage of Chapter 484 of the Laws of 2009. For details on this legislation as well as about mandated training for presumptive eligibility providers, please click here.
NACHC NEWS NACHC 2010 Policy and Issues Forum information NACHC's Policy and Issues Forum will run from Tuesday, February 23 through Sunday, February 28. The New York State Delegation Meeting will take place on Wednesday, February 24 from 6:15 - 7:15 pm in the Marriott Wardman Park, Room Washington 6. . As always, we encourage every New York State health center to attend the delegation meeting and believe it is critical to any health center that is doing Hill visits. CHCANYS staff will be available to brief you about the policy agenda and will distribute packets and awards for the visits.
Congressional visits with Senators Schumer and Gillibrand will take place on Thursday, February 25.
To register for the Forum, view the meeting schedule and obtain hotel information, please click here.
The NYS Congressional Award winners are: House Champion Award Charles B. Rangel Senate Awards Kristen Gillibrand - Defender Charles Schumer - Defender House Awards Michael Arcuri – Superhero Yvette Clark – Defender Joseph Crowley – Superhero Eliot Engel – Superhero Brian Higgins – Superhero Maurice Hinchey – Superhero Dan Maffei – Superhero Carolyn Maloney – Defender Jerrold Nadler – Defender Jose Serrano – Superhero Louise McIntosh Slaughter – Superhero Edolphus Towns – Superhero Nydia Velazquez – Defender Anthony Weiner – Superhero
HRSA NEWS HRSA's National Health Services Corps (NHSC) announces expanded availability of repayment awards. Clinicians working in NHSC approved sites with HPSA scores as low as zero have access to greater funding opportunities. For more information, please click here.
