Register Today! – CHCANYS Annual Statewide Conference and Clinical Forum October 16-18, 2011 CHCANYS’ Statewide Annual Conference and Clinical Forum will be held at The Saratoga Hilton and City Center in Saratoga Springs, New York. This is an exciting and critical year as CHCANYS celebrates its 40th Anniversary. Invited speakers include: Gina Capra, Director, Northeast Division, BPHC, HRSA; Dr. Nirav R. Shah, Commissioner, New York State Department of Health; and Tom Van Coverden, President & CEO, NACHC. The target audience for the conference includes: health center CEOs and Senior Staff, including HR and Development Directors, CFOs and finance staff, Board Members, and Clinicians including Medical Directors, all clinical disciplines including mid-level practitioners, and behavioral and oral health. All interested in the critical health policy issues of the day including the latest information related to the Medicaid Redesign Team are invited. The conference will address timely topics related to health policy and cover best practices in Health Information Technology, finance, clinical quality areas of focus including behavioral and oral health, and more. And on Monday night, we will be celebrating with a 40th Anniversary Gala Dinner!
To Register for the conference, click here. To review the Preliminary schedule click here. Honor those who support the health center movement – Nominations Due Aug. 1 The 40th Anniversary Awards Dinner is a special celebration and great opportunity to honor our best and brightest, including health center board members, employees, and supporters. CHCANYS members are invited to submit nominations for awards to be presented during the 40th Anniversary Dinner. For the nomination form, which also includes information on the award requirements, please click here.
Are you a vendor interested in the community health center market? Sponsor CHCANYS’ conference today – opportunities are going fast! To register, click here.
News from Policy If you have any questions about any of the policy items below, or about any aspect of CHCANYS’ policy and advocacy work, please contact Ed Graham, egraham@chcanys.org, or Beverly Grossman, bgrossman@chcanys.org.
National Health Center Week is August 7-13, 2011: Plan an Event and Invite Your Member of Congress! National Health Center Week is among the very best tools to educate about the vital role health centers play in their communities and the essential services they provide to their patients. With Health Center Week 2011 rapidly approaching, we want to remind you to plan an event and invite your Member of Congress to visit your health center!
The theme of Health Center Week 2011, “Celebrating America's Health Centers: Serving Locally, Leading Nationally," highlights the more than 45-year record of health centers in providing affordable, high quality, cost-effective health care to all people, regardless of ability to pay. It is a prime opportunity for us to demonstrate the value of the FQHC model and ensure that our voices are heard as Congress considers key issues such as Medicaid cuts, FY2012 appropriations, deficit reduction, and debt ceiling extensions. Remember:
Post your events to the NACHC and CHCANYS websites, where you will also find resources to assist you with your Health Center Week activities.
It is very important that you inform CHCANYS of any visits to your health center by your Member of Congress, so we can continue to track our grassroots efforts. If your Representative accepts an invitation to attend your Health Center Week event or to otherwise visit your center, please notify Beverly Grossman at bgrossman@chcanys.org.
If you have any questions about National Health Center Week, please feel free to contact Kate Graetzer at kgraetzer@chcanys.org.
Debt Ceiling Discussions Continue in Washington: Your Action Needed Now! The debt ceiling and budget discussions occurring in Washington right now will affect Medicaid and health center funding for years to come. New York State has already spoken loudly in support of health centers--on NACHC’s recent Health Center National Call-In Day, New York advocates logged 1401 calls into the Advocacy Hotline and connected with 3500 congressional offices with numerous other calls to the White House.
Please keep sending a loud and clear message to Washington by completing the below actions before the looming August 2nd debt ceiling deadline.
First:
Collect Names for the Campaign to Save America's Health Centers Petition.We need as many signatures as possible. To download the petition, click here. Please post it in your waiting room, ask board members to circulate and collect names from community members and have staff sign on as well.
Collect Patient Letters For a patient letter template, click here.
Pass a Board Resolution Ask your board members to pass a resolution in support of the Campaign to Save America's Health Centers at their next meeting. Download a sample resolution here.
Second:
Once you have completed the above steps, please send petitions, letters and resolutions directly to your Congressional Representative. It is critical that your Member of Congress continues to hear from you. The budget cutting debate has not been resolved, and both Medicaid and Health Center funding remain at risk.
In addition, scan and send your signed petitions and letters, as well as your passed Board Resolution, by e-mail to grassroots@nachc.com with a cc to bgrossman@chcanys.org. NACHC will forward them to the President and Congressional Leaders.
Other Steps You Can Take to Make Your Voice Heard:
Organize events during National Health Center Week (August 7-13, 2011) and invite members of Congress to attend. Click here to post your events on the CHCANYS website.
Strengthen our collective voice by asking your board members, staff and patients to join NACHC's Grassroots Action Network click here.
HRSA Awards Over $12M to School Based Health Centers in New York State The Health Resources and Services Administration has announced awards of capital funding totaling more than $12 million to 37 New York School Based Health Centers (SBHCs). This includes over $5 million awarded to FQHC SBHCs. For a complete list of awards nationwide, click here.
News from Health Center Support If you have questions about CHCANYS’ health center support, please contact Rebecca Gaige, rgaige@chcanys.org.
HRSA Supplemental Funding Opportunity: Quality Improvement and PCMH The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) has announced the release of the Affordable Care Act supplemental grant opportunity for existing section 330 funded health centers to improve the quality of care, access to services, and reimbursement opportunities for health centers by supporting the costs associated with enhancing quality improvement systems and becoming patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs). These costs may include access enhancements, patient flow redesign, care planning, support for team-based models of service delivery, and necessary systems upgrades. This PCMH funding opportunity provides upfront assistance to grantees as they make the practice changes necessary to achieve and/or enhance PCMH recognition. The program requirements and application to request this one-time supplemental funding will be e-mailed to health center project directors through the Electronic Handbooks (EHB) system.
Grantees interested in receiving the supplemental funds must submit a supplemental funding request of up to $35,000 in the EHB using the Prior Approval Request module within the H80 Grant Handbook. Note: This amount of funding may be increased up to $50,000 depending on the number of successful applicants. EHB applications must be submitted by 8:00 PM ET on or before August 22, 2011.
HRSA WILL BE OFFERING A PRE-AWARD CONFERENCE CALL FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY:
PCMH Supplemental Funding General Technical Assistance Call
July 21, 2011 at 3:00 ET
Call In: 800-988-9433
Passcode: PCMH
An mp3 recording of the call will be posted on the Technical Assistance website within 5 days after the call.
NACHC/Feldsman Tucker Offer Webinar- At the Bar: Hot Legal Issues Facing Health Centers July 27, 2011 2-3:30 PM EST Online Registration Deadline: July 25, 2011 NACHC’s general counsel will highlight the latest legal developments affecting health centers today, including key Medicare enrollment requirements for FQHCs. The webinar is geared for health center administration (CEOs, CFOs, CMO’s) and other senior staff. Time at the end of the webinar will be reserved to allow participants to ask questions. Based on the level of interest in, and complexity of, the topics examined in brief during this session, in-depth webinars (and additional guidance) on particular topics may be considered. Learning Objectives: By the end of this webinar, you will: 1. Understand current legal developments affecting health centers. 2. Identify situations that can result in legal liability for health center organizations. 3. Learn which situations raise compliance concerns.
Register online here. DANY Loan Repayment Program Announced The New York State Department of Health has announced the Doctors Across New York (DANY) Loan Repayment program. Applications and information are available here.
Applications for the program are due July 27, 2011 (initially), then continuously thereafter until March 30, 2012. There will be no bidders’ conference for this procurement. Please note that many questions you may have are already answered on the Practice Support RFA website here.
Please also note that, to SAVE the application form once completed, you have to DOWNLOAD it to your PC FIRST BEFORE COMPLETING THE APPLICATION. Special webinar on NY State HCRA Reporting and Compliance, presented by the NYS Department of Health July 28, 2011, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. CHCANYS will host this webinar, which will be presented by the Bureau of HCRA operations and Financial Analysis and will address Public Goods Pool reporting requirements, common challenges and general HCRA topics. Participants will be given an opportunity to ask questions, both in advance and during the session. Topics will include:
Public Goods Pool reporting requirements and common challenges o How to handle fixed dollar patient portion revenue o How to handle payments for Medicare covered services o How to handle payment for NYS Medicaid and out-of-state Medicaid payments
HCRA audits and common areas of concern; what you can expect and what you should prepare for
Delinquency Process and Collection Process for Non-Compliance
The Elector List
Your obligation to pay surcharges on certain patient services revenue
Registration: You must register in order to participate in this webinar; to do so, please click here. Please be sure to include any questions you may have, as the presenters would like to address them in their presentation. Upon registration, you will receive a confirmation e-mail containing the dial-in number as well as instructions for accessing the video portion of the webinar.
Opportunity for Partnership Funding: DANY Ambulatory Care Training Program CHCANYS, HANYS and GNYHA are joining together in encouraging our members to partner in submitting applications for the Ambulatory Care Training Program, a component of the Doctors Across New York initiative. This program is designed to incentivize sponsoring institutions to provide clinical training of residents and medical students in freestanding ambulatory care sites.
The 2011-12 State Executive Budget appropriates $4.3 million to fund awards for the fiscal year. Awards may range from $50,000 to $250,000 annually, per application, for up to thirty-six (36) months. Additional appropriations are anticipated in future years to continue to support this program. Applications are due at 3pm on August 12, 2011.
The goal of the Ambulatory Care Training Program is to enhance clinical training experiences in the settings where residents and students will practice throughout their careers. Community Health Centers are particularly suited to partner with “Sponsoring Institutions” as “Freestanding Ambulatory Care Sites” in applications to this program. Applicants to this RFA must be from the “Sponsoring Institution List” of the RFA (to download list please click on Attachment #10). We encourage community health centers to review the list of eligible sponsoring institutions and contact those that would be suitable partners.
You may download a copy of the RFA for this opportunity (RFA #1001051045) here. Grant Opportunity: Healthy Smiles, Healthy Children—Due Aug. 15 The Foundation of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry is accepting applications for its Health Smiles, Healthy Children (HSHC) Grant Initiatives, including its Access to Care Grants. HSHC Access to Care Grants are matching/challenge grants of up to $20,000 per year supporting local service initiatives that provide dental care to under served/ limited access children. Letters of intent are due August 15, 2011. For more information on all the HSHC Grant Initiatives, click here.
News from Clinical Quality Improvement If you have questions about CHCANYS’ Clinical Quality Improvement initiatives, please contact Kathy Alexis, kalexis@chcanys.org.
Visit CHCANYS’ Online Clinical Library! Don’t forget to visit CHCANYS’ Online Clinical Library, a repository of clinical guidelines and best practices that you are helping us build! To go directly to the Clinical Library page, click here.
Adolescent Health Webinar NIHCM Foundation recently hosted a webinar entitled "Partnering to Promote Health Equity for Adolescents." The webinar featured presentations by Renee Jenkins, Howard University; Rochelle Rollins, Office of Minority Health; Nedra Kline Weinreich, Weinreich Communications; and Marsha Shotley, BlueCross BlueShield of Minnesota Foundation. The discussion focused on how health plans and health plan foundations can support health equity for adolescents. An archive of the event is available on the Foundation’s website. To learn more about adolescents and health equity, please visit the accompanying additional resources page.
HealthBeat CHCANYS recommends HHS HealthBeat. Launched in 2005, this service provides health promotion and disease prevention tips five days a week in audio and text formats. Providers will find it useful because it gives a quick reminder of important health promotion messaging tips for patients! http://www.hhs.gov/news/healthbeat/
Other Conferences/Trainings
Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation-Transform Conference This premier multidisciplinary event focuses on innovations and designing solutions to transform the experience and delivery of health care. The organizers are expecting an audience of approximately 1,000 attendees from around the world to participate in person while thousands more will engage online. There will be ample opportunities for networking and collaborations, numerous surprises, and incredible talks from world renowned experts in their field. The audience will be a dynamic mix of innovators, leadership and decision makers from health care organizations, information technology, Web 2.0, policymakers, designers, and entrepreneurs across many fields that touch health care. The conference aims to transform and find solutions to health care issues from a multidisciplinary point of view.
Public Health Webinar Series on Hemoglobinopathies Hosted by: The Division of Blood Disorders, CDC 4th Thursday of every month from 2:00PM – 3:00PM ET
The purpose of this webinar series is to offer a hemoglobinopathies learning collaborative platform for providers, consumers, educators, and scientists. Note: Based on overwhelming response, the capacity limitations have been removed for the web and audio portions of this series. The entire webinar series will be recorded and made available for viewing.
Hemoglobinopathies Webinar Schedule 2011
7/28: Transfusion Issues for Sickle Cell Disease and Thalassemia Patients Dr. Rebecca Kruse-Jarres, Tulane University School of Medicine
8/25: Administrative Data Sets Dr. Scott Grosse, CDC Division of Blood Disorders
9/22: Emerging Pathogens and Blood Safety for Transfused Populations Sean Trimble MPH, CDC Division of Blood Disorders
10/27: The Use of Hydroxyurea for Sickle Cell Disease Dr. Nancy Green, Columbia University Medical Center
11/24: --- No Webinar This Month ---
12/22: TBA
If you have ideas on topics for future webinars, would like the call-in number, or have any questions or comments about this series, please contact Shae Pope at spope@cdc.gov.
Diabetes Care Management
Free Webinar: Improving Type 2 Diabetes HEDIS Measurement Scores Join the North American Center for Continuing Medical Education, LLC and National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) for a telewebinar on Achieving and Outperforming Type II Diabetes HEDIS Measures.
TeleWeb with Live Q&A Offered On Friday, July 22, 2-3 pm ET Click here to register. Family Planning/Women and Reproductive Health
Contraceptive Pearls Does Hormonal birth control increase cancer risk? My 23 year old patient has cancer in her family: her mother had breast cancer, and her paternal grandmother had ovarian cancer. Is it OK for her to take oral contraceptives? …2nd year Family Medicine resident
Contraceptive Pearl Answer: Fear of cancer prevents many women from using hormonal contraceptives. However, contrary to popular belief, oral contraceptives (OC) do not raise women's overall risk of cancer. In fact, OC use has been associated with significant reductions in ovarian and endometrial cancer. Current OC use may slightly increase breast cancer risk, but this risk disappears 5-10 years after women stop taking OCs. Even for BRCA1/2 carriers, the overall risk of breast and ovarian cancer is lower on OCs.
What's the bottom line? Women currently being treated for breast or liver cancer cannot take OCs. However, women with a family history of cancer can take OCs: the pill's cancer-related benefits outweigh its risks.
News from Emergency Preparedness If you have questions about CHCANYS’ Emergency Preparedness work, please contact Matt Ziemer at mziemer@chcanys.org.
News from HIT If you have questions about CHCANYS’ HIT work, please contact Lisa Perry, lperry@chcanys.org.
CHCANYS’ New Assistant Director Technology Solutions: Bill Leo Bill Leo has joined CHCANYS’ Statewide Health IT program as Assistant Director for Technology Solutions. Bill comes to CHCANYS with 15 years of technology experience in the business sector, having managed diverse projects including data center builds; office relocations; telecommunications configurations; and desktop, mobile application and database system support. Our member Technology Committee has identified several areas for assistance including technology infrastructure, disaster recovery and business continuity planning, data warehousing, and privacy and security policies & procedures. Bill is available for a site visit to your center to discuss these and other issues. You can reach him at 212-710- 3818.
News from Management, Finance and Compliance HRSA Releases New Program Assistance Letter (PAL) 2011-07: Sites, Scope of Project, and Capital Project The purpose of this Program Assistance Letter (PAL) is to highlight the existing policy and processes for documenting sites within a health center’s approved scope of project, with an emphasis on sites at which Federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)-supported capital investments and improvements (e.g., construction, alterations/renovations funded by CIP, FIP, and CD grants) have occurred/are occurring. To view this PAL click here.
News from Workforce Development If you have questions about CHCANYS’ Workforce Development Program, please email us at workforce@chcanys.org.
Training for Asthma Champions Twenty-five early career physicians are being recruited from across the country to be trained as Asthma Champions through a new program led by the South Bronx Asthma Partnership and funded in part by the National Asthma Control Initiative of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes of Health (NIH).
You are eligible to apply for this program if you:
are an early-career physician who completed a primary residency training in pediatrics or family medicine less than 10 years ago
plan to continue in your current position for at least two additional years
have demonstrated recent leadership potential in promoting quality patient care
want to play an active role in the future success of the health care system
To focus program resources in locations with the greatest need, the program will give preference to:
junior faculty working in residency programs located in geographic areas demonstrating a high prevalence of childhood asthma
pediatricians and family practitioners currently working in safety-net practices or community health centers providing care to underserved or vulnerable patient populations
those at institutions that do NOT have an affiliation with a fellowship training program in either allergy/immunology or pulmonology
To apply, complete and return the application by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, August 2, 2011. You can download the application at http://blhcpediatrics.org/sobrap and complete, save and email to sobrap@blhcpediatrics.org. You will receive a confirmation email when your completed application is received.
For further details and for application instructions, please click here for the program recruitment flyer. For any questions or clarifications, please contact Dr. Mamta Reddy at mreddy@bronxleb.org.
National Health Service Corps: Now Accepting Site Applications Online On July 19, the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) began accepting applications from sites interested in becoming NHSC-approved through an online application process.
Qualifying sites interested in becoming an NHSC-approved site can apply by visiting NHSC. Interested sites should read the NHSC Service Site Reference Guide that is also posted at that Web link before applying to the Corps.
Here are the steps prospective sites will now need to take to apply:
Visit NHSC.hrsa.gov/communities and click on the "Apply Here" button.
Click "Create a Site Administrator Account."
Complete the required fields and click "Register."
The site will receive an email with account information. You will need to click the link in the email to activate your account. If you do not see this email in your inbox, you should check your junk or spam folder.
Upon clicking the link, you will be redirected to the login page. Use the account credentials previously entered to login to the NHSC site portal. You should make note of these login credentials for future use.
Click the "Apply for a New NHSC Site" button, in the "Apply for a New NHSC Site" section.
Follow the screen-by-screen instructions to complete and submit the official NHSC site application for review.
The application will be processed and the applicant will be notified electronically once the application is approved.
Prospective NHSC sites may contact the NHSC Recruitment, Training, and Support Center (RTSC) at 877-313-1823, Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. EST (except Federal holidays) with questions on using the online site application. CHCANYS Community HealthCorps Members Make a Difference! As we come to the close of the 2011-2012 CHCANYS Community HealthCorps program, we want to highlight some of our members’ many accomplishments.
Community HealthCorps members were instrumental in developing and implementing important and successful programs and events at their Health Center sites, including:
Wendy Navarro organized and implemented the Family Fun Day event at Urban Health Plan
Lily Yan and Jonathon Espitia were instrumental in helping to develop and launch Urban Health Plan’s first Community Supportive Agriculture program
Makenzie Schmitt developed and implemented a Reproductive Health Curriculum for Montefiore School Based Health Program
Tara Singh developed and implemented a Puberty Curriculum for Montefiore School Based Health Program
Lisa Garland organized and implemented three Health Fairs for Morris Heights School Based Health Programs
Luciano Landaburu and Gillian Beier organized and implemented the Stanford Model for Chronic Disease Self Management Program (CDSMP) at the Greater Hudson Valley Family Health Center
Angela Katrichis and Adriana Chacon organized and implemented the Stanford Model for CDSMP at the Whitney M. Young Jr. Health Center
After they complete their term of service, some Community HealthCorps members choose to stay in the world of community health centers, while others pursue further education in medical professions. From CHCANYS’ program this year:
Luciano Landaburu will be joining the Ryan Chelsea VISTA Program
Lisa Garland will take a position as a Health Educator at Morris Heights Community Health Center
Tara Singh become a Community Health Organizer at the Montefiore School Health program
Alana Lopez will be returning to the CHCANYS HealthCorps program for a second year of service.
Lily Yan will attend Stanford University School of Medicine
Megana Ballal will attend Albert Einstein School of Medicine
Alex Chen will attend New York Medical College
Bronwyn Fleming Jones will attend Yale School of Nursing
Julianne Tondre will attend Ohio State School of Medicine
Caroline Hawes will attend Baylor College of Medicine
CHCANYS is presently in the midst of recruiting HealthCorps members for the 2011-2012 program year, which begins on Sept. 4, 2011, and there are still seven available positions left to be filled. If you know someone who would like to be a part of Community HealthCorps, please share with them the details on how to apply and the information on CHCANYS’ HealthCorps program available here. We thank our members for their hard work and commitment to service. We would also like to congratulate them on successfully completing the program year and we wish them all the best of luck in their future endeavors.
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.
Register Today! – CHCANYS Annual Statewide Conference and Clinical Forum October 16-18, 2011
Are you a vendor interested in the community health center market? Sponsor CHCANYS’ conference today – opportunities are going fast! To register, click