News from Policy Last week New York State Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) joined over 2000 health center advocates at the NACHC Policy & Issues Forum in Washington D.C. Advocates met with Members of Congress to discuss the potentially catastrophic impact if the House’s proposed $1 billion in FQHC funding cuts were enacted. If the House bill, H.R. 1, were to pass, New York State would immediately lose over $13 million, with additional cuts likely going forward. New York advocates were able to share with the New York State Delegation what these devastating cuts would actually mean to their communities. Meetings with Congressional staff during the Policy & Issues Forum and with Members of Congress back home came at a critical time in the ongoing battle over FY2011 funding. Today, with less than a week remaining before the current Continuing Resolution (CR) runs out on April 8th, health center advocates need to stay more focused and active than ever to ensure FQHC funding is kept whole at $2.19 billion. Please join us in our efforts to protect FQHC funding by clicking here.
F-SHRP Waiver Extended The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has granted the New York State Department of Health (DOH) an extension of New York State’s sections 1115 F-SHRP waiver. This includes the federal match for HEAL projects that were in jeopardy of losing their 50% federal match with the looming deadline of September 30, 2011. The extension has been approved until March 30, 2014.
News from Health Center Support SAVE THE DATE! – CHCANYS Statewide Annual Conference and Clinical Forum CHCANYS Statewide Annual Conference and Clinical Forum is October 16-18, 2011. This year’s conference will take place at The Saratoga Hilton and City Center in Saratoga Springs, New York. This is an exciting year as CHCANYS celebrates its 40th Anniversary. Sponsors & Exhibitor Registration is now open, please click here. For more information, contact rwynn@chcanys.org or (212) 710-3806.
Become a Preceptor 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.
CMS Re-launches Innovation Center The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (the Innovation Center) re-launched its website called Innovation Center. Along with providing information about the Center's mission and operating process, the website provides ways for the Center to gather new ideas to improve the health care system for Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries.
Developing a Great Federally Qualified Health Center June 8- 10, 2011 – Indianapolis, IN Online registration deadline: May 16, 2011
What is required to qualify as an FQHC? How to build a responsive, sustainable program?
Organizing a new health center or expansion program is complex. Fully understanding the foundations of health center development will help you increase your FQHC’s success. Developing a Great Federally Qualified Health Center is a three day training on how to logically develop your program model from starting with a comprehensive needs assessment through developing health and business plans and budgets.
Why this training would benefit you and your staff? After this three-day training, you will be able to develop your health center’s: 1. Comprehensive needs assessment 2. Service delivery model and organizational structure 3. Governance, operating, financial and clinical systems
Who should attend this training? Planners, stakeholders, administrative, clinical, finance and development staff and board members
Registration Rates Early bird discount rate: $395 Regular and On-Site Registration Rate: $425
Click here to download training brochure for specific hotel information, registration form and registration deadlines. Click here for more information.
News from Clinical Quality Initiatives Dental Employment Fair – April 2nd CHCANYS and the New York City Metropolitan Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) invite you to participate in a dental career/recruitment fair that will be held this Saturday, April 2nd from 10:00 am -1:00pm at the NYU College of Dentistry. The purpose of the event is to encourage third and fourth year dental students and dental residents to work in underserved areas, and recruit dentists for your centers. It will be a wonderful opportunity for you to encourage students and residents to seek careers in your health centers, and to recruit graduating residents to your centers.
Our very own Dr. Ronald Salyk, VP of Dental Affairs at Morris Heights Health Center, will be the keynote speaker. In addition, the day will include a presentation by staff of the National Health Services Corps on loan forgiveness and repayment programs, presentations highlighting career opportunities in underserved areas, dental exhibits, and vendors. We expect representation from health centers and other potential employers as well as dental recruiters and associations.
We hope you will join us by setting up a table to talk about your center with potential candidates. As you know, despite significant advances in dental productivity, access to dental care remains a problem for high need urban populations, and recruiting dentists for these communities remains a challenge. The fair is supported by the New York State Department of Health, Bureau of Dental Health, and will be free for students, residents and employers.
Click here to see a flyer regarding the event. Please feel free to circulate it to anyone that might be interested.
Please register on line by visiting www.metroahecdentalfair.eventbrite.com. If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Dr. Kameron Wells (VP, Clinical Affairs) at 212-710 3814 or kwells@chcanys.org. Or you may call Gabrielle Kersaint (program organizer) at 718-797-1558 or by e-mail at gkersaint@bqliahec.org.
HIV Vaccine Awareness Day May 18th is HIV Vaccine Awareness Day (HVAD). This annual observance is a day to recognize and thank the thousands of volunteers, community members, health professionals, and scientists who are working together to find a safe and effective HIV vaccine. It is also a day to educate communities about the importance of preventive HIV vaccine research. In recognition of HIV Vaccine Awareness Day, community activities and media events are being held around the country. For more information access the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), here.
Public Health Webinar Series on Hemoglobinopathies ”Hosted by: The Division of Blood Disorders, CDC 4th Thursday of every month from 2:00PM – 3:00PM EST The purpose of this webinar series is to offer a hemoglobinopathies learning collaborative platform for providers, consumers, educators, and scientists.
This month’s webinar will take place on Thursday March 24th from 2:00pm – 3:00pm EST, featuring Dr. Tom Adamkiewicz’ presentation on “Iron Overload in Children with Sickle Cell Disease.”
To Join the Webinar Copy this address and paste it into your web browser: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/cdc/join Copy and paste the required meeting ID: 84QK2D and click “join”. First Time Users: To save time before the meeting, check your system to make sure it is ready to use Microsoft Office Live Meeting. To hear the presentation you must call in to the number below.
For Audio Dial 1-877-953-6706 and enter participant code: 9706616If you are unable to join us on the internet for viewing, you are welcome to call in for audio access only.Participants outside the United States must be able to access 800 numbers to the US.
Hemoglobinopathies Webinar Schedule 2011
3/24:Iron overload in Children with Sickle Cell Disease Dr. Tom Adamkiewicz, Morehouse College School of Medicine
4/28:New Born Screening Engagement with the Community Dr. Allyson Streetly, King’s College London
5/26:Vitamin Deficiency and Sickle Cell Disease Dr. Ifeyinwa Osunkwo, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
6/23:--- No Webinar This Month ---
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
Using Health IT to Improve Diabetes Outcomes 101 Dr. Neil Calman, President & CEO of the Institute for Family Health (IFH), and Dr. Elizabeth Molina, IFH's Diabetes Director, conducted a webinar highlighting the Institute's quality improvement process, which integrates its electronic health record and registries to improve clinical practice and reduce disparities in care. Specifically, they discussed the fundamentals of using health information technology (HIT) to identify best practices, as well as present a clinical perspective on how they use HIT to engage clinicians in improving diabetes care management. Link to the recording is below.
Community Health Worker Basic Training Kingsborough Community College, in partnership with CUNY and the CHW Network of NYC, will be offering a CHW training on core competencies that will be aligned with developing efforts to offer a college credit-bearing CHW training certificate. The course will be offered on Saturdays at a convenient community-based location in Downtown Brooklyn. The course embraces the content and teaching methods identified through extensive community-based participatory research by the CHW Network of NYC, Columbia University and the University of Arizona and made popular by CHW Network trainers. The course includes all CHW core competency elements endorsed by the CHW Network of NYC as essential to the CHW scope of practice and covers that content with teaching methods that respect training participants as wise, knowledgeable, experienced individuals who learn best through interaction, discussion and discovery - not just lecture. Please see below for more details.
When: Saturdays, April 2 through June 25 (not April 22, Easter weekend, or May 28, Memorial Day weekend) 9:30am - 4:30pm
Where: Convenient Downtown Brooklyn site accessible by most subway and bus lines
For Whom: Experienced or future frontline members of the health team who work with communities to help reduce cultural, linguistic, social, and financial barriers to health care and healthy lifestyles.
Contentincludes: •History, roles and responsibilities of Community Health Workers •Public health concepts•Communication and Interpersonal relationship building skills •Capacity and self-empowerment building skills•Health care systems navigation •Informal counseling •Home visits •Community outreach •Small group presentations/facilitation•Advocacy •Community organizing •Chronic disease management and prevention (Asthma, Diabetes, Hypertension)
Benefits: Certificate awarded; Intended to qualify trainees for future NYS CHW certification. College credit toward KCC's Community Health degree available upon matriculation.
Cost: $600; Includes all 11 sessions and course book and course manual
To register contact Kingsborough Community College Continuing Education Department (718) 368-5050
For more information about the course, contact: Karen Denard Goldman, PhD, CHES Co-Director, Community Health Program Kingsborough Community College kgoldman@kbcc.cuny.edu karendenardgoldman@verizon.net Office: 718-368-5716 Cell: 917-715-0928 Fax: 718-368-4866
How Resilient Is Health Care? Ecological, Fiscal and Economic Challenges A free talk for public health & medical professionals on making NYC healthcare institutions sustainable. Wednesday, April 6th, 2011 7:00 – 8:30 PM Humanity is in a sustainability crisis that has ecological, financial, economic and political dimensions. Members of the Columbia University community, and NYC public health and medical professionals, are invited to hear Dr. Dan Bednarz discuss how public health systems can be made more resilient in a time of declining government funding, climate change, and depleting resources such as oil and water. Dan Bednarz, PhD spent three years as the Associate Director of the Center for Public Health Practice at the University of Pittsburgh and has lectured at the university level in business strategy, organizational studies, sociology, and policy analysis. He runs a consulting firm, Sustainable Health Systems, and co-edits a website, Health after Oil exploring why public health and healthcare must design health systems that are fiscally, economically and environmentally sustainable. He is the co-author of a paper on hospital preparedness in an upcoming American Journal of Public Health special issue on peak oil.
Where: Hess Commons Room, Allan Rosenfield Building, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 W. 168 Street, New York, NY 10032
Webinar on the NY Bridge Plan Thursday, April 7, 2011 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. The NY Bridge Plan, created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, provides "a bridge" of health insurance from October 1, 2010 until January 1, 2014, for New Yorkers with pre-existing medical conditions. This health insurance program is available to any New York State resident legally residing in the United States who has a diagnosed medical condition and has been uninsured for at least six months. The NY Bridge Plan provides comprehensive coverage with no deductibles, $0 copays for preventive care, low copays for provider visits, and low copays for prescriptions.
Join us for a webinar with PJ Weiner, EmblemHealth's Community Outreach Liaison, as she discusses the details of the NY Bridge Plan, including why it is an option for uninsured New Yorkers diagnosed with diabetes.
Emergency Preparedness Healthcare Emergency Management Workshop The Regional Resource Center at Westchester Medical Center is holding a Healthcare Emergency Management Workshop on Thursday, April 7th and would like to specifically invite representatives from Community Health Centers. The workshop will focus on several key topics in emergency management and could be a big step forward for health centers who are looking for ways to integrate their emergency preparedness efforts with other healthcare stakeholders. Find more information and RSVP here.
Webinar: Workplace Violence and Health Centers Colorado Community Health Network (CCHN) and the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) are pleased to present a two part webinar on workplace violence. Both sessions will provide detailed and hands-on information to guide health centers in adopting policies and practices to prevent and mitigate workplace violence. To register and find more information, click here.
Resource for Information on the Disaster in Japan Are you getting questions from your communities about radiating risks from the disaster in Japan? Levels of radioactive material in the United States continue to be VERY LOW and are not a cause for public health concern. The Department of Health and Human Services has a good information page here.
NYS Department of Health Aware Prepare New York State DOH’s April edition of Aware Prepare is now available here. Aware Prepare is a great source of information about NYS DOH preparedness activities, and a great resource to learn about upcoming events and trainings.
News from Health Information Technology CMS Issues Proposed ACO Rule HDM Breaking News, March 31, 2011 The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has issued a proposed rule to establish the Medicare Shared Savings Program authorized in the health reform law.
Under Shared Savings, provider organizations are encouraged to form accountable care organizations to tightly coordinate the care of chronically ill patients across the continuum of care, and to share in the savings that may result.
Further analysis will be forthcoming from CHCANYS re: the implications for our members. CHCANYS will also be offering a webinar on these proposed rules in the near future. Please stay tuned for more information on this upcoming webinar.
New PCDC PCMH Assessment Tool Now Available The Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC) has released a new version of its Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Assessment Tool here. It is available for free online and helps providers and staff assess their practice's operations against the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) 2011 PCMH Standards. Also , as reported in a previous article, NCQA has updated its PCMH standards to incorporate federal "meaningful use" of health IT language so that practices meeting the PCMH 2011 requirements here will be prepared to qualify for meaningful use. The new 2011 standards also place more emphasis on the patient experience as well as new standards for pediatric care.
NYS Physicians, Physician Assistants, Certified Nurse Midwives and Nurse Practioners, please take note. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is looking for physicians, physician assistants, certified nurse midwives, and nurse practitioners in New York State to participate in important focus group research. We are planning to hold the group sessions sometime between July and September 2011. This study will help inform federal policy related to the Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive program. Both users and non users of EHR systems are needed. We are offering each participant a $200 gift for participating in a 90-120 minute focus group session. We are seeking clinicians who work in the outpatient setting s (private practice or Federally-Qualified Health Center), and whose patient population is 30% or more Medicaid.
If you qualify, you may be able to participate in a focus group either in-person or via a conference call. Other health care professionals in the groups may include physicians, certified nurse midwives, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and dentists. Your responses will be kept confidential. This study is sponsored by AHRQ and is being conducted by RTI International, a leading non-profit health care research organization. To learn more about our study and to see if you qualify, please contact Sean Hogan, Ph.D., with RTI International at 312-456-5265.
News from Health Corps Throughout the coming months, CHCANYS HealthCorps staff will be meeting with hundreds of applicants from across the United States – individuals who believe in CHCANYS’ mission of providing primary health care services to the underserved communities of New York State and who are passionate about living a life of service to those in need. We have expanded the number of health center networks participating in our program to 11, with sites located across New York City, Albany, Newburgh, and Saratoga Springs.
HealthCorps members will provide a variety of services focusing on increasing access, improving utilization, and providing health education to health center patients. If you or somebody you know would like to apply to the CHCANYS HealthCorps program, please visit the AmeriCorps section of our website, www.chcanys.org, where you can find detailed information about the application process. You can also apply directly at http://my.americorps.gov (under CHCANYS Community HealthCorps program, number 06ACHNY0010009)
Additionally, current HealthCorps member Wendy Navarro has been instrumental in organizing the Family Fun Day event being hosted by Urban Health Plan (UHP). This event coincides with National AmeriCorps Week, and all of our current members will be attending and volunteering at the event as part of AmeriCorps Week festivities. We welcome everyone to attend and if you would like to get involved and volunteer at the event, please contact us and let us know.
What: Family Fun Day - this event is to help promote good health in children and to give them a reason to come out and explore different types of programs and activities that they can do year round. We will have different organizations as well as entertainment and healthy snacks.
When:Saturday May 14, 2011 from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Volunteers from 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM.
Where: Corner of 167 St and Southern Blvd. Approx 1 block from Urban Health Plan located at 1065 Southern Blvd.
Directions: Take the 2 or the 5 train uptown/Bronx to Simpson street and you will see El Nuevo San Juan Health Center.
Management, Finance and Compliance Stay informed about the latest ICD-10 Happenings Join "CMS ICD-10 Industry Email Updates" Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has an email update specific to ICD-10. The CMS-10 Industry email update provides subscribers with timely information about the upcoming version 5010 and ICD-10 transitions. To sign up, please click here.
2011 Poverty Guidelines Available HHS recently announced the 2011 Federal Poverty Guidelines which are issued every year in the Federal Register. Unlike previous years, the 2011 Guideline is based on the 2009 level as a result of legislative action to delay its publication in 2010.
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.
