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.
News from Health Center Support
Deadline Extended for NHSC Loan Repayment Application Because of continued power outage in regions of Washington DC, the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) had been unable to receive calls and faxes earlier this week. The phone and fax service to the NHSC Loan Repayment Call Center (1-800-221-9393) has now been restored. Additionally, the deadline for applications is now August 2nd; the deadline for supporting documents is on or before August 9, 2010.
New RCHN CHF Webcast is AUGUST 5 at 3 p.m. EST This webcast will feature Dr. Leighton Ku, lead author of the report "Strengthening Primary Care to Bend the Cost Curve: The Expansion of Community Health Centers Through Health Reform," recently released by the Geiger-Gibson/ RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative. Joining Dr. Ku to provide expert commentary will be Dan Hawkins, Sr. Vice President of the National Association of Community Health Centers. This webinar is designed to advance the dialogue on the ongoing critical importance of CHCs and support CHC-related research and programming.
If you cannot join us for this important event, the webinar will be recorded and archived so that you may listen to it at a later date.
NACHC and McGladrey Announce Two Summer Webinar Series:
Qualifying for ARRA EHR Incentive Funding, August 18, 2 PM EDT Deadline for registration: August 15 Cost: $119 This webinar will explain how much money you may be eligible for, what you must do to qualify, and how to start preparing now. It will also include a discussion of the HIT functionality measures, including health information exchange, clinical quality measures and how reporting and attestation are designed to work. To register, please click here.
Performing a Self Assessment Using HRSA’s Site Visit Guide August 25, 2 PM EDT Online registration cutoff: August 22 Attend this webcast to hear about the Health Center Site Visit Guide and how your health center can use it to assess what should be in place for compliance with key section 330 Health Center Program requirements.
To register or view more about this webinar, please click here.
Deadline for The HRSA Patient Safety and Clinical Pharmacy Services Collaborative 3.0 Participation Packages has been extended to August 15, 2010. You are invited to be a part of an effort that is dramatically improving the health outcomes and medication safety of high-risk patients in your community. For the past two years, HRSA’s Patient Safety and Clinical Pharmacy Services Collaborative (PSPC) has been helping teams across the nation transform how they deliver care to their patients to achieve impressive results in patient safety and health status. Teams interested in participating in PSPC 3.0 should click here to complete your package by August 15th. If you still need additional time, please email a letter of intent topatientsafety@hrsa.gov and we'll work with you to get your application completed.
Please share this information with others who would benefit from joining the PSPC so we can take this work to an even larger, national scale! Help us spread the word!
NYS Medicaid Preferred Drug List and Quicklist have been Updated. The New York State Medicaid Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T) Committee recently made changes to the lists that you won’t want to miss. To get more information and sign up for the Medicaid Update, please click here.
The Draft FTCA Policy Manual is now available for review. NACHC's comments focus on areas of the proposed guidance which either mis-state existing policy/practice or, in our opinion, are vague and/or misleading as drafted. To see NACHC’s preliminary comments on the Draft FTCA Policy Manual, please click here.
Final comments are due to HRSA by August 16 and NACHC welcomes any and all comments regarding the attached draft and will do its best to incorporate your concerns into its final comments. Please send your comments to Roger Schwartz at RSchwartz@nachc.org.
CHCANYS Clinical Forum & Statewide Conference tentative workshop schedule now available. This year’s conference will focus on health care reform and provide important content related to capital development, health care home and timely news and practices in health care policy, clinical quality, reimbursement, health information technology, and more. The conference will take place October 3-5 at The Desmond Hotel in Albany, NY. For the tentative schedule, please click here.
Jeffrey T. Latman Foundation Grant: Finance Scholarships –Applications accepted until August 15. There is still time to apply for the Jeffrey T. Latman Foundation grant to support technical assistance training and financial webinars for community health center finance and accounting staff. The grant also provides a limited number of scholarships for CHCANYS’ Clinical Forum and Statewide Annual Conference October 3-5 in Albany, NY. To apply for a scholarship, please click here.
New Access Point and Expansion Application Workshop a Huge Success! More than 80 people registered for Growing the Federally Qualified Health Center Program: New Access Point and Expansion Application Workshop in Albany NY and heard national experts provide information and tools to assist existing FQHCs, look alikes and folks looking to get started develop applications. CHCANYS will soon be announcing additional training opportunities to promote growth in Federally Qualified Health Center programs in upcoming Your CHCANYS. We would also like to get your input on what needs you might have for training and technical assistance. Please contact Rebecca Gaige at rgaige@chcanys.org with your suggestions.
News from Clinical Quality Initiatives
Plant a Seed for Healthy Vision in Your Community NEI is pleased to announce the 2011 cycle of the Health Vision Community Awards (HVCA) program which provides up to $10,000 in seed money to nonprofit and community-based organizations to support grassroots eye health education efforts. Proposed projects must focus on eye health education, be innovative, have the potential for sustainability once funding ends and address one or more of the following topics: Age-related Macular Degeneration; Diabetic Eye Disease; Glaucoma; Occupational Eye Safety or Vision Rehabilitation. For program information, including more details about applicant eligibility, the electronic application processes, and criteria for final award selection, please click here. Online application deadline: August 30.
Diabetes Learning Series: Recorded Webinars Now Available The following recorded webinars are available on the CQI page of the CHCANYS website as part of the NYS Diabetes Campaign.
Master your Cultural and Survival Nutrition Skills
Shared Medical Appointments–An Innovative Practice Model to Improve Outcomes in Your Patients with Diabetes
Managing Progressive Kidney Disease
Incorporating Self Management Goal Setting with the Patient into a Routine Visit
Click here to access the recordings and download the associated PowerPoints.
Diabetes Prevention-Keeping Our Eyes on the Prize This Diabetes Prevention program demonstrates that lifestyle modifications that achieve and maintain modest weight loss in adults at risk for type 2 diabetes can reduce the risk of developing the disease by 58%. After watching this broadcast, participants will be able to:
Describe real-world lifestyle interventions to prevent type 2 diabetes
Understand the role of community involvement in diabetes prevention
Describe strategies to prevent type 2 diabetes through the lifespan.
OPTIONS Project is seeking HIV medical providers for a focus group and pilot training program. The Cobb/NMA and UCONN OPTIONS Project will offer minority providers training in techniques they can use to help HIV-positive patients reduce HIV risk behaviors. Based upon powerful Motivational Interviewing techniques, Options is one of the few evidence-based HIV interventions to be tested within urban communities with seropositives and demonstrated to be efficacious.
Three forms of participation in the Options Project are possible: (1) participation in a provider focus group, (2) participation in a training workshop followed by implementation of the Options protocol, or (3) participation in both the focus group and the training/implementation components.
For more information about The Options Project and a registration form, please click here. For questions, please contact Joanne Cunningham, Ph.D., coordinator for the project at joanne.cunningham@uconn.edu or 860-486-6024.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!! CHCANYS would like to congratulate Hudson Headwaters Health Network (HHHN) for achieving NCQA Diabetes Recognition. If your health center would like to achieve this recognition, contact Kathy Alexis at (212) 710-3817 or kalexis@chcanys.org.
NCQA is now recognizing Nurse Practitioners and Physician’s Assistants NCQA’s Recognition Programs have recently been extended to include nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs). A practice that is submitting an application for NCQA Diabetes Recognition may list its NPs and PAs to be recognized based on their ability to meet the measures and standards. Click here for more information or contact Kathy Alexis at (212) 710-3817 or kalexis@chcanys.org.
2010-2011 Hypertension Initiative Recruitment CHCANYS is currently in the initial recruitment phase for health centers to participate in the 2010-2011 Hypertension Initiative. The overarching goals of the initiative are to: expand the reach of the initiative to additional FQHCs throughout the state; provide resources to clinical staff and leadership on best practices in cardiovascular/hypertension health care and management in health centers; and provide technical assistance to participating health centers in improving their cardiovascular health outcomes. All year activities will be based on the Care Model and Model for Improvement.
While all health centers in New York State are eligible, each participating health center must meet the following criteria for participation:
Experience with learning collaboratives (selection of health centers will not be limited to only those with collaborative experience);
Implemented electronic medical/health record for at least one year; and
Ability to access at least one year’s worth of data populated in an electronic medical/health record.
CHCANYS will coordinate an informational webinar for senior leadership of FQHCs that express interest in participating. FQHCs that continue to express interest in the initiative will be offered an initiative Terms of Participation. Those health centers that successfully complete the year collaborative will be awarded a stipend based on completion of deliverables.
For more information, please contact Candy Magana, Quality Initiatives Coordinator, via phone or email at 212-710-3816 or cmagana@chcanys.org.
Direct Referral Initiative to Increase Colorectal Cancer Screening CHCANYS would like to acknowledge the following FQHCs for partnering with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the American Cancer Society to increase screening colonoscopy rates through use of direct referral:
Bedford-Stuyvesant Family Health Center
Betances Family Health Center
Brownsville Multi-Service Family Health Center
Community Healthcare Network
Institute for Family Health
Project Renewal
Direct referral helps to fast-track medically eligible patients by eliminating unnecessary consultation appointments for screening colonoscopies, thus reducing barriers to care for patients. DOHMH and the Citywide Colon Cancer Control Coalition created a standardized direct referral form now accepted by a growing list of over 20 facilities and 65 private gastroenterologists in NYC.
Thank you to all of the participating health centers for making a commitment to increase colorectal cancer screening for your patients. If you are interested in learning more about direct referral, please visit www.nyc.gov/directreferral to access a training webinar and the list of direct referral gastroenterology practices.
For more information about the project, please contact Jessica Jacobs from DOHMH at 212-361-2147 or jjacobs6@health.nyc.gov.
New York City Fitness Services Body Sculpt of New York, Inc is a not-for-profit health and fitness organization with a mission to educate adults and children about obesity and offer healthy alternatives in fitness and nutrition. The organization offers several programs that NYC health centers can use as a resource for their patients. Click here for more information or call (718) 346-5852 or visit www.bodysculpt.org.
Relief Effort Opportunities in Haiti The National Haitian American Health Alliance (NHAHA) will hold its 7th annual Conference: Shaping Haiti Health through Collection Action on October 20-23 in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. The conference on Haitian health includes presentations, panels, workshops, a career fair and tour of Port-Au-Prince and service facilities.
NHAHA is seeking sponsors for this conference. It is also seeking abstracts related to building health care infrastructure; NGO’s pre/post earthquake perspectives; innovative and relevant care delivery systems in HIV/AIDS; child health, mental health and women’s health; and training and recruitment of health care personnel for Haiti.
For a NHAHA sponsorship registration form, please click here. For an abstract submission template, please click here.
For more information and to register for this conference, email NHAHA’s conference department at conferences@nhaha.org.
Emergency Preparedness
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released an official health advisory regarding the increased potential for dengue infection in travelers returning from international and selected domestic areas. Please click here to access the advisory.
News from HIT and Policy News
Check the next YourCHCANYS for updates.
Management & Finance
PCDC Webinar on Capital Financing to air August 17, 10 am – 11:30 am This webinar will discuss PCDC’s unique New Markets Tax Credit Program, a $40 million loan fund available only to borrowers in New York State, as well as other types of financing available to health centers, including options for bridging government grants or undertaking small capital improvements. A substantial amount of time will be dedicated to Q&A. Health centers and other health care providers involved in capital project development are encouraged to participate.
To learn more about the New Markets Loan Program and other financing options, contact Tom Manning, Director of Capital Financing: (212) 437-3920; tmanning@pcdcny.org
NACHC Offers Webinar on Davis-Bacon Requirements Many health centers have already received funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) that require compliance with the Davis-Bacon wage rate requirements. Although many other grant programs have been subject to these wage rate requirements for years, these standards are new to health centers. Knowing when and how to apply Davis-Bacon can be tricky and failure to properly implement the requirements could potentially delay the completion of health center construction projects and have costly consequences. In response, the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) is hosting, "What You Need to Know to Comply with Davis-Bacon Requirements for ARRA Funded Projects." The presenter will be Edward T. Waters, Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP. Register onlinefor the August 25th, 2:00 -3:30 p.m. webinar. The registration rate is $99 for NACHC members, $149 for non-members. For more information, contact Sherry Giles at sgiles@nachc.com, or (301) 347-0466.