Thank you to everyone who helped make this year's CHC Leadership Retreat a huge success! Nearly 60 Community Health Center leaders joined together to discuss innovative models in chronic care management, integration of services and payment reform. We are looking forward to the coming year with renewed energy and focus! 

 

During the sessions, participants heard from a panel comprised of Dr. Donovan Beckett, CEO and Medical Director for Williamson Health & Wellness Center; Brenda Cappellini, Director of Clinical Analytics and Outcomes for the Health Plan; Dr. Richard Crespo, Department of Family and Community Health at Marshall University; and Kim Barber Tieman, MSW, ACSW, Program Director Health and Human Services for the Benedum Foundation, on the topic of Innovative Models: Care Coordination for High Risk Diabetic Patients. Our speakers presented a model for chronic care management of high-utilizer patients that includes community health workers as members of the care management team, as well as strategies for sustainable funding. 

 

The retreat also featured Craig Hostetler, Principal of the Hostetler Group and Jonathan Watson, Executive Director of the Minnesota Association of Community Health Centers who discussed payment reform options and strategies.

 

Behavioral health staff and Chief Medical Officers had the opportunity to discuss the integration of behavioral health and primary care. Behavioral health providers also heard from Dr. Scott Fields regarding integration of chronic care into behavioral health and strategies to support chronic care management.

 

Finally, WV DHHR Cabinet Secretary Bill Crouch and Deputy Secretary Jeremiah Samples joined our group and  discussed DHHR Initiatives and payment reform considerations. 

 

The WVPCA would like to offer special thanks to our partners for their sponsorship and attendance:  Medline Industries, Inc., Community Health Ventures VIP, and LabCorp.

The training is $125 and Nursing CEs will be available. Registration and additional information is available  here . 

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the human papillomavirus (HPV) causes 32,500 new cases of cancer each year. As a healthcare provider, it is more important than ever to create a culture of immunization in your practice. This means getting your entire health center involved in HPV cancer prevention through effective communication with parents about the HPV vaccine and building systems to ensure your preteens are being vaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control recommend these 5 tips to increase vaccination in health centers:

For more information about how to implement these tips please visit https://www.cdc.gov/hpv/hcp/vacc-coverage/5-ways-to-boost-hpv-vaccination-rates.html

One challenge that West Virginia faces in moving towards an improved quality of life is having a workforce that is healthy, educated and ready to meet the demands of being a productive citizen. Is that not the dream for all parents? However, our children are encountering adverse experiences in their childhood that are not only creating long-term health and behavioral issues, but limiting their ability to achieve some of the very same dreams their parents may have had. Research has demonstrated that childhood trauma is a major factor in the health, education and overall quality of life determinant. It is important that we focus on building resilience in our children if we are to produce a work force that is capable of creating a good economy. 

In a recent editorial in the Charleston Gazette-Mail, social worker Allison Jackson delves deeper into the subject. To read the article, please click  here. 

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is now accepting applications for $930 million in State Opioid Response Grants. SAMHSA will distribute funds to states and territories in support of their ongoing efforts to provide prevention, treatment and recovery support services to individuals with opioid use disorder.

The State Opioid Response Grants aim to address the opioid crisis by increasing access to evidence-based medication-assisted treatment, reducing unmet treatment need and reducing opioid-related overdose deaths. "This large new grant program reflects President Trump's deep commitment to fighting the opioid crisis, and will provide extra support for the hardest-hit states," said HHS Secretary Alex Azar. "It demonstrates the emphasis we place on expanding access to treatment that works, especially medication-assisted treatment with appropriate social supports."

The grants will be awarded to the states and territories using a formula specified in the funding announcement. Fifteen percent of the total funds will be set aside to provide extra support to states that have been hardest hit by the crisis. States and territories will use the grants to design plans and conduct activities across the spectrum of prevention, treatment, and recovery.

These prevention, treatment, and recovery activities represent a comprehensive response to the opioid crisis and include action at the federal, state and local levels. "The State Opioid Response Grants were designed to meet the specific needs of communities within each state and territory," explained Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use Dr. Elinore F. McCance-Katz. "The grants will expand capacity to provide much needed evidence-based care to people who haven't yet been reached."

Under President Trump, in April 2017, HHS unveiled a new five-point Opioid Strategy. The Strategy prioritizes efforts in five areas: 1) Improving access to prevention, treatment and recovery support services, including medication-assisted treatment; 2) Promoting the targeted availability and distribution of overdose-reversing drugs; 3) Strengthening public health data reporting and collection; 4) Supporting cutting-edge research on addiction and pain and 5) Advancing the practice of pain management. Over fiscal years 2017 and 2018, HHS will invest over $4 billion in opioid-specific funding, including funds to state and local governments as well as tribal, public, and nonprofit organizations to support treatment and recovery services, target availability of overdose-reversing drugs, train first responders and more.

HRSA's Office of Federal Assistance Management (OFAM) has recently announced that some health center grantees will be subject to Financial Management Reviews (FMRs), with the goal of determining if their policies adequately incorporate HHS' " legislative mandates". These mandates are restrictions on the uses of Federal grant funds which are located in the annual Appropriations Acts. The mandates were signed into law March 23, 2018, and became effective immediately.

To assist health centers in ensuring that they are prepared for an FMR, NACHC -- in partnership with FTLF - has prepared a sample Policy and Procedure that addresses these mandates. This sample P&P along with general background information are available here.

 

Please contact our office should you have any questions or need any further clarification.

Health centers that have PCMH recognition by July 1 of this year may be eligible to receive a 2018 Health Center PCMH Recognition Quality Award. View the table of health centers with a valid PCMH recognition status, and the number of sites with PCMH recognition.

If your health center's PCMH recognition is accurate, you do not need to take action. If it is inaccurate, please submit an update to your PCMH recognition information via HRSA's Electronic Handbooks (EHBs) no later than Friday, July 6. View instructions for submitting an update, including the acceptable forms of required documentation. If you have questions about your health center's PCMH recognition information, contact the HRSA Accreditation and Patient-Centered Medical Home Initiative.

CMS recently released the following updates: