January 14, 2016 Edition

Congress Approves FY16 Omnibus Spending Package, Including $1.5 Billion for Health Centers 
On Friday, December 18, Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of a $1.15 trillion financial package for FY16 that includes $1.5 billion for the Health Center Program. This allocation, when combined with the the $3.6 billion in mandatory funding provided earlier this year through H.R. 2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), represents a total funding level of $5.1 billion for the Health Center Program in FY16. 

Urgent Action Required: Essential Community Provider Registration - January 15^th Deadline  
The deadline for registering your site(s) to be included on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) list of Essential Community Providers has been extended to this Friday, January 15. As required by the Affordable Care Act, all Qualified Health Plans (QHP) participating in New York’s health plan marketplace must include a sufficient number of ECPs in their provider networks. When making their selections, QHPs refer to the ECP list maintained by CMS. A large number of New York State FQHCs have not yet registered with CMS to appear on this list and only have a few days remaining in which to do so. 

Congress and NYS Legislature Back in Session
The second session of the 114th Congress began on January 5, and the NYS Legislature kicked off its 2016-17 session on January 6. Governor Cuomo delivered a joint State of the State and Executive Budget address on January 13, and the CHCANYS Policy Team is working quickly to develop a summary of health care-related highlights to share.  The New York State Legislative Calendar is available here, and the Congressional Calendar may be viewed here.  We encourage you to refer to them when scheduling health center visits and meetings with your elected officials in the coming weeks.

Value-Based Payments, Partners and Propositions
Date: January 28-29, 2016 
Location: The Gideon Putnam, Saratoga Springs; 
Hosted by: New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS) in partnership with the NYU Managed Care Technical Assistance Center (MCTAC) and Health Management Associates

This two-day event will bring together partners from across the healthcare sector, including PPSs, Managed Care Organizations, government officials, FQHCs, and behavioral health providers, to talk about the role of behavioral health in value-based payment arrangements. 

Advocacy Day 2016: Registration Now Open!
Community Health Center Grassroots Advocacy Day 2016 is right around the corner, and we hope you are finalizing your plans to come to Albany on Monday, March 7. This annual event is our big opportunity to engage state policymakers and ensure that they are familiar not only with the high-quality, primary and preventive health care services that community health centers provide, but also with the challenges faced by community health centers as efforts to transform New York’s health care delivery system continue. Please join us! Registration is now open; click here to get started.

Senate Passes Bill to Improve Medicare ACO Beneficiary Assignment 
In late December, the Senate unanimously voted in favor of S. 2261, the Rural ACO Provider Equity Act of 2015. The bill was introduced by Senator John Thune (R-SD) and Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) in an effort to streamline the way beneficiaries are assigned to Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) by allowing FQHCs and rural health clinics to assign patients. Efforts are underway to introduce similar legislation in the House. The Senate may also soon take up a related bill, S. 2259, the ACO Assignment Improvement Act, which would ensure that visits with nurse practitioners, physician assistants or clinical nurse specialists would also count for the purposes of beneficiary assignment – a particularly important change for PA-led and NP-led health center sites in rural and frontier areas. The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) is working with the sponsoring offices to move these bills through the legislative process.

New York Implements New Insurance Eligibility Rules for Pregnant Women and Newborns 
On December 22, Governor Cuomo signed into law S.5972, which permits pregnant women to enroll in the state health insurance exchange at any time, and S.4745, which amends the date on which a child is eligible to be enrolled in the Children's Health Insurance Plan (CHIP). 

ACA Pocket Guide for Providers
Health care providers play an essential role in connecting patients to health care coverage and services. This pocket guide includes resources and information that providers can share with their patients to help them get covered. It also outlines for providers the services that are considered essential health benefits (included in all Marketplace health insurance plans), as well as the preventive services that must be covered at no cost by in-network provider.

Ebola Virus Disease Update 
On January 7, the NYS Dept. of Health issued a Health Advisory on Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), The Dept.also released an earlier advisory in mid-December detailing updates to the October 16, 2014 Commissioner’s Order regarding EVD, which may be accessed here.  

Emergency Management for Primary Care Centers Online Course Now Available as In-Person Training
The Primary Care Emergency Preparedness Network training course EM-101: Emergency Management for Primary Care Centers is now also available as a live training for your staff!  

Webinar: Integrating Behavioral Health Training into Primary Care 
Date: January 19, 2016 
Time: 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.

Presented by: HRSA Health Workforce’s Division of Medicine and Dentistry 
For more information and to register, please click here.

Integrated Services Webinar 
Date: January 26, 2016 
Time: 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. 
Hosted collaboratively by the New York State Department of Health, Office of Mental Health and Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services, this webinar will review the Integrated Services requirements and the regulations and policies surrounding them.  Following the presentation, participants will be given the opportunity to type in questions. A “Frequently Asked Questions” document  will be distributed within the week prior to the webinar. 

CMS Announces Accountable Health Communities Model 
On December 7, the Department of Health and Human Services announced a new funding opportunity called the Accountable Health Communities Model, which is designed to test whether screening Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries for health-related social needs and associated referrals to and navigation of community-based services will improve health care outcomes and cut related costs. Funded by the Affordable Care Act's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, the $157 million, 5-year program will support up to 44 bridge organizations, through cooperative agreements, who will deploy a common, comprehensive screening assessment for health-related social needs among all Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries accessing care at participating clinical delivery sites, including FQHCs. For more information about the initiative, including eligibility requirements and upcoming webinars, click here.  

Is Your Service Area Competition Application Due?
The Fiscal Year 2016 Service Area Competition (SAC) applications for service areas with a June 1, 2016 project period start date (under HRSA-16-008) are due to Grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday, January 6, 2016, and in HRSA’s Electronic Handbooks (EHB) by 5:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, January 20, 2016. Technical assistance materials are available on the HRSA website.  Please contact Rebecca Gaige with questions.

UDS Resources: Reports Due February 15
The UDS report, due February 15 , is  required  of all grantees of BPHC-administered Section 330 primary care programs, including community, migrant, homeless, and public housing health centers. Resources to assist you in preparing your report, including training modules, FAQs, and topic-specific webinars, are available here.   Additional New York State- specific tips and materials from CHCANYS’ in-person trainings are available here.  Assistance is available by calling 1-866-UDS-HELP ( 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. ET, Monday – Friday) or e-mailing UDSHelp330@bphcdata.net.

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

BPHC All-Programs Webcast Now Available Online
An archived recording of the BPHC All-Programs Webcast that took place on December 10, 2015 is now available to view online. Highlights include results from the Grantee Satisfaction Survey and future plans for FY 2016. Click here to watch.

HepCure Toolkit 
Working in collaboration with the NYS Dept. of Health and community health centers across New York State, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City has developed HepCure, an innovative provider and patient education toolkit that uses web-based and smartphone enabled resources, navigation, consultation and support to enhance the quality of care for persons infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) . HepCure is available free of charge and has three components: a provider dashboard, a patient app, and a weekly tele-education webinar series. These features interact with each other in real-time, allowing for provider-expert tele-education and bidirectional patient-provider communication. 

Training Sessions on Shared Decision-Making Registration  
Registration is open for enrollment in AHRQ’s SHARE Approach training, a five-step process aimed at increasing the use of evidence in shared decision-making between health care providers and patients.

Medical Home Webinar Series 
The New York - Midopen for enrollment in AHRQ’s SHARE Approach training, a five-step process aimed at increasing the use of evidence in shared decision-making between health care providers and patients-Atlantic Consortium for Genetic and Newborn Screening Services (NYMAC) invites you to participate in a free Medical Home webinar series beginning this month. For more information and to register, click here. For more information, please email ksangha1@jhmi.edu. 

Free Planners Help Patients Manage Bone, Joint, Muscle and Skin Health  
As part of its National Multicultural Outreach Initiative, the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) is offering free planners in bulk that include reliable information about keeping bones, joints, muscles, and skin healthy throughout the year.  

Ryan/Adair Community Health Center to Offer Free Mammograms
The Ryan/Adair Community Health Center will offer free mammograms to women 40 years of age or older. 

Webinar: Integrating Behavioral Health Training into Primary Care  
Date: January 19, 2016; Time: 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.; Presented by: HRSA Health Workforce’s Division of Medicine and Dentistry 

Webinar: Leveraging Care Management Technology to Manage Fragile Populations  
Offered by NACHC, this seminar is designed to provide CEOs, CFOs, and COOs with an orientation to financial management, accounting principles, and terminology unique to health centers. 

Seminar: Practical Art of Health Center Finance Training 
Offered by NACHC, this seminar is designed to provide CEOs, CFOs, and COOs with an orientation to financial management, accounting principles, and terminology unique to health centers. The training also consists of an in-depth focus on managing the 330 grant, including the elements of the scope of services, budgeting, and reporting.