March 31 Deadline for “Access is the Answer” Petition Signatures: New York Lagging Behind
With the mandatory Health Center Fund due to expire of at the end of FY2015, health centers are currently facing a challenge of unprecedented magnitude. As Health Center Advocates, it is our job to respond to all calls to action from NACHC and CHCANYS and fight the drastic funding cuts threatening our program. Over a month ago, NACHC asked each health center to collect 500 signatures on the Access is the Answer petition by the end of March - an easy enough task given NY’s strong response rate on past petition drives. However, only one New York health center has met this goal to date. read more >> 

NACHC Policy & Issues Forum a Success!
A big thank you to the health center leaders and staff from across the state who joined CHCANYS in Washington, D.C. on March 18-21 for NACHC’s annual Policy & Issues Forum. Collectively, our group met with the offices of 25 Members of Congress as well as staff of Senators... read more >>

New York Advocates Honored at NACHC Grassroots Awards Reception
Two New York advocates, Walter Edge of Open Door Family Medical Centers and Verona Greenland of Morris Heights Health Center, were honored as part of NACHC’s annual Grassroots Advocacy Awards reception, held at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. as part of the 2014 Policy and Issues Forum. read more >>

New York State Budget Update
All signs are currently pointing toward the New York State budget being delivered on time for the fourth consecutive year. The joint legislative bills are being taken up by the Senate and Assembly this week and a final vote should take place no later than Monday, March 31 at midnight. read more >>

NCQA Introduces 2014 PCMH Standards
The new Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) standards, launched on March 24, feature key changes which will affect the requirements of NCQA’s PCMH recognition program. For more information, including materials from NCQA’s March 10^th PCMH webinar, click here. To order a copy of... read more >>

NIH Announces HIV Research Funding Opportunity 
The HIV care continuum has provided a useful framework for tracking progress towards the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) HIV-testing and HIV-treatment goals, and has helped to guide a growing body of research to better understand and intervene at one or more steps in the continuum. Yet, there are some aspects of entering and remaining in HIV care that are relatively less studied than other areas, and merit urgent attention. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) encourages innovative studies to address gaps in HIV care continuum research. read more >>

NNOHA 2014 National Primary Oral Health Conference: Call for Abstracts
The National Network for Oral Health Access is seeking safety-net oral health promising practices that are innovative, successful, and replicable for sharing at the National Primary Oral Health Conference, scheduled for August 17-20 at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in Lake Buena Vista... read more >>

CDC Releases HIV Reports to Help Racial/Ethnic Groups
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) recently released a number of reports, including “HIV Among Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders in the United States and Dependent Areas” and “HIV/AIDS Among American Indians and Alaska Natives,” to highlight HIV prevention challenges for various racial/ethnic groups and some of the ongoing projects with the CDC and its partners to address them.  read more >>

Save The Date! Latino/Hispanic Health Equity Initiative - Statewide Symposium
Date: May 15-16, 2014; Location: Hilton Albany, 40 Lodge Street, Albany, NY 12207; Theme: Achieving Health Equity through Education, Collaboration and Action. More information coming soon.

Webinar: 2014 UDS Changes 
Date:Wednesday April 9th, 2014; Time: 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. On this call, representatives from the Bureau of Primary Health Care will review and discuss changes to 2014 UDS reporting, including patient characteristics (Table 4)... read more >>

Critical Management Skills for Community Health Center Managers and Leaders
Date: April 22-24, 2014; Location: Callahan Center at St. Francis College, Brooklyn. Presented by: Sogence Training and Consulting. This intensive, highly interactive, hands-on, 3-day training program is designed specifically to enable FQHC managers to develop and hone critical skills... read more >>

NYC Transit Seeking Proposals for Solicitation No. RFP65192 – Assessment Services for Paratransit and Reduced-Fare MetroCard Eligibility 
NYC Transit is seeking proposals to provide assessment services for paratransit and reduced-fare MetroCard eligibility.  Proposals are due on April 29. read more >>

HRSA Releases Policy Information Notice (PIN) 2013-01: Health Center Budgeting and Accounting Requirements Health centers are required to establish budgets that reflect the costs of operations, expenses, and revenues necessary to accomplish their service delivery plans.The purpose of this PIN is to clarify budgeting and accounting requirements for the Health Center Program’s approved scope... read more >> 

FTCA Deeming Deadline: May 23, 2014
Program Assistance Letter (PAL) 2014-03: Calendar Year 2015 Requirements for Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) Medical Malpractice Coverage for Health Centers, recently released by HRSA, describes the process by which Health Center Program grantees must submit Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) deeming applications for calendar year 2015. read more >>

New “Scope of Project” Resources Web Page Now Available from HRSA
HRSA has released a new “Scope of Project” page on the BPHC website.  This page provides a “one-stop-shop” for Health Center Program Scope of Project and Change-in-Scope policy, process, and resources. read more >>

Updated Process for Requesting a Change in Scope to Add Temporary Sites in Response to Emergency Events  
HRSA has released Program Assistance Letter (PAL) 2014-05, which does not change any existing policy but updates information on the process for requesting to add a temporary site to the scope of the project in response to emergency events, and consolidates the related policy... read more >>

Are You Maximizing Savings on Your Purchases?
CHCANYS is assisting the CommonWealth Purchasing Group, the leading group purchasing organization for community health centers and other community-based, not-for-profit organizations, in promoting its services to New York’s FQHCs. To learn more and to join, click here.  

NURSE Corps Scholarship Program: Application Cycle Now Open
The application cycle for the 2014 NURSE Corps Scholarship Program is now open. All completed applications must be submitted by May 22, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. to be considered for an award. Please refer to the 2014 Application and Program Guidance for all of the program requirements. Applicants are encouraged to participate in one of the two upcoming technical assistance conference calls, when questions will be addressed. To participate, please... read more >>

Save the Date: CHCANYS Statewide Conference & Clinical Forum is October 19-21, 2014
CHCANYS’ Statewide Conference & Clinical Forum offers participants an opportunity to engage with national and state leaders as well as to share best practices through workshops and networking opportunities. Registration and new sponsor/exhibit opportunities will be launched in the coming weeks.  For more information, please contact Roxanne at rwynn@chcanys.org.