UPCOMING TRAINING
& EVENTS
click link(s) for details
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September 2
TPCA Closed for Labor Day
September 17
October 2-4
October 10-11
October 22-24
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Are you attending an event at TPCA?
Click here for a list of nearby hotels!
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Attention
health centers!
Please send
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This publication is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $1,830,669, with 15 percent financed with non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit
HRSA.gov
.
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National Health Center Week
Be sure to share your celebrations on social media and tag your elected officials to show why they should value community health centers using #NHCW19 and #ValueCHCs. We also want to see your event photos; please send them to
update@tnpca.org
.
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V
isits from Elected Officials
During National Health Center Week, several members of Tennessee’s Congressional delegation will be visiting health centers.
HOPE Family Health
will be hosting Congressman John Rose (R-6), while Congressman Phil Roe (R-1) will be visiting
Rural Medical Services
. Senator Lamar Alexander will also be visiting a health center while he is back in the state. Several staff representatives for Members of Congress will be visiting health centers and attending health center events throughout the week.
Please let us know if you have an opportunity to host a legislator or other official at your health center by contacting
emily.waitt@tnpca.org
.
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CMS Request for Information on Reducing Administrative Burden
(From HRSA)
-- CMS recently issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking innovative ideas and solutions to reduce burden in the following areas:
- Streamlining CMS reporting and documentation requirements
- Aligning coding and documentation requirements for Medicare, Medicaid, and other payers
- Enabling data sharing to support clinician-patient relationships
- Improving accessibility of CMS requirements for quality reporting, coverage, or prior authorization
- Addressing policies and requirements that are overly burdensome for those in a rural setting
- Simplifying policies and requirements for dually enrolled (i.e., Medicare and Medicaid) beneficiaries
- Simplifying beneficiary enrollment and eligibility determination
- Improving CMS processes for issuing regulations and policies
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Federal Funding Update
On July 17, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed a legislative package that included a bill to extend funding for community health centers.
H.R. 2328, the Reauthorizing and Extending America’s Community Health (REACH) Act,
would provide four years of level funding for the Community Health Center Fund, the National Health Service Corps, and the Teaching Health Center Program. The bill number may look familiar because the committee took H.R. 2328, the Community Health Investment, Modernization, and Excellence (CHIME) Act, and substituted the text for an entirely new bill but with the same bill number. H.R. 2328 will now head to the full House for a vote.
Legislation introduced by Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Patty Murray (D-WA) to extend health center funding passed out of the Senate HELP Committee and is expected to head to the full Senate for a vote.
S.1895, the Lower Health Care Costs Act of 2019,
includes five years of level funding for health centers, the Teaching Health Center Program, and the National Health Service Corps. S. 1895 contains the text of bill the HELP Committee released earlier this year,
S.192
, with the addition of a funding mechanism to pay for health center program extensions.
We are rapidly approaching the September 30 deadline to reauthorize health center funding. To ensure that health centers receive the resources they need for continued success, please
reach out to your elected officials
and ask them to support legislation to provide long-term, stable funding for community health centers.
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New SNAP Rule Proposed
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has
proposed a new rule
that would restrict how much leeway states have in making decisions about eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps. The income limit to qualify for SNAP is 130% of the Federal Poverty Level, but states can loosen eligibility requirements using broad-based categorical eligibility (BBCE). BBCE allows people to automatically qualify for SNAP if they receive other forms of federal assistance.
States can also loosen eligibility requirements by increasing asset and income limits up to 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. Under the proposed rule, states would be limited in using their discretion to broaden eligibility.
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Registration Open for the Grassroots Advocacy Leader Program
Interested in creating a culture of advocacy at your health center? Sign up to join the next cohort of The Grassroots Advocacy Leadership Program (ALP). The ALP is an extended skills-building program that will begin before the Community Health Institute and Expo (CHI) on August 16, 2019, and continue through February 2020. It provides intensive training and hands-on experience in all aspects of health center advocacy.
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Site Visit Promising Practices Report on the Clearinghouse
HRSA and the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), a HRSA-funded National Cooperative Agreement (NCA), developed the Clearinghouse, which provides an up-to-date selection of high-quality TA resources relevant to health centers. The Clearinghouse collects, in a single location, resources on a variety of topics created by HRSA’s TA partners. The site is searchable by keyword, topic area, type of resource, and other search fields.
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Free E-Learning Behavioral Intervention for Improving MAT Outcomes Program Available
(From HRSA)
-- SAMHSA-sponsored Provider Clinical Support Services released a free e-learning program for health professionals,
Behavioral Interventions for MAT: Improving Outcomes
. It provides information on four evidence-based practices that effectively treat the behavioral aspects of addiction in conjunction with MAT. Participants are eligible to receive continuing education credits upon successful completion of the program.
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NCQA PCMH Training in October
The Tennessee Primary Care Association, South Carolina Primary Health Care Association, and the North Carolina Community Health Centers Association, with support from HRSA, will host the National Committee for Quality Assurance's
"Introduction to Patient Centered Medical Home" and "Advanced Patient Centered Medical Home" training programs
on October 22-24. The programs will be offered at the very reduced rate of $185 per person (compared to the normal registration rates of $2,300). Health center staff who attend the training will be eligible to register for the PCMH Certified Content Expert Exam.
Introduction to the Patient-Centered Medical Home
October 22 - 23, 2019
Advanced Patient-Centered Medical Home Concepts
October 24, 2019
The training will take place in Asheville, N.C.
Click here
to register and for hotel information.
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Emergencies Happen: What Health Centers Need to Know
(From HRSA)
-- Health centers and Primary Care Associations (PCAs) play a critical role in providing services and resources before, during, and after emergency events. HRSA may request that PCAs gather critical health center information and report the status of service delivery sites, depending on the severity of the emergency. When your health center is impacted by an emergency event, your PCA will contact you; be prepared to report site-level operational status as soon as you are able.
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Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Program Funding Opportunity
(From HRSA)
-- HRSA is accepting applications for the FY 2020 Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) Program.
Apply by Friday, August 30
. The THCGME Program provides funding to support the training of residents in a new or expanded primary care residency training program in rural and underserved communities.
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New HCCN Funding Awarded
TPCA’s Center for Quality in Community Health (CQCH) has been awarded a new round of Health Center Controlled Network (HCCN) funding. The total award for Tennessee is $780,000, which will support programming designed to increase the use of information technology among health centers, with the goal of increasing value-based care. You can
click here to read the news release
from HRSA.
The CQCH promotes collaboration, sustainability, and cost effectiveness to support healthier communities in Tennessee. Since its establishment in 2012, the CQCH has supported health centers in sharing information and expertise to facilitate learning, support quality improvement, and develop leadership.
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Register Now for the TPCA 2019 Annual Conference
TPCA's 2019 Annual Conference will once again provide health center leaders and staff the opportunity to participate in educational workshops, network with peers, and discuss products and services with exhibitors. The conference will take place October 2-4, at the Embassy Suites Murfreesboro.
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Nominations Open for TPCA Awards of Excellence
Is there someone on your staff or in your community who needs to be recognized for contributing to your health center's success? Nominate him or her for a
TPCA Award of Excellence
.
Each year, TPCA honors health center staff, board members, and community supporters for their exceptional gifts of time, effort, and dedication to the community health movement. Nominations are being accepted now for the Awards of Excellence, to be presented at the 2019 Annual Leadership Conference in October.
Award information and nomination forms for the following categories can be found on TPCA’s
website
.
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Call for Proposals: Cross Sector Innovation Initiative
(From PHNCI)
-- The Public Health National Center for Innovations (PHNCI) and the Center for Sharing Public Health Services (CSPHS), with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), are jointly leading the
Cross-Sector Innovation Initiative (CSII)
to examine the unique role of public health in fostering work across multiple sectors addressing social determinants of health and health equity. The initiative recently released a
call for proposals
seeking collaborations aimed at aligning and supporting partnerships among public health, healthcare, and social services sectors. Proposals will be submitted in a two-phase process and must be submitted through the
RWJF online system
.
Up to 10 grantees will be selected to receive awards of up to $150,000 each for projects that will last between 18 and 24 months, starting in early 2020. Eligible applicants must be part of established collaborations, although it is anticipated that selected collaborations will have reached different levels of maturity. The collaborations must include, at a minimum, partners from multiple organizations representing public health, healthcare, and social services. Applicants may be governmental or non-profit organizations from the public health, healthcare, or social services sectors, and one or more health departments must have a leading or prominent role in the collaboration.
All grantees will participate in a learning community designed to promote peer-to-peer exchange and foster knowledge transfer throughout the project period. While the CFP does not specify topics or categories of work, grantees will be required to work collaboratively to address at least one root cause or social determinant of health, based on an identified community need or priority, that will lead to improvements in population health.
Submission deadline:
September 5, 2019, at 3 p.m.
(Eastern)
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PARTNER-SPONSORED EDUCATION & TRAINING
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AAAHC Standards: Quality of Care, Clinical Records, and Health Information
Hosted by AAAHC
Thursday, August 8
1-2 p.m. (Eastern)
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HIV and Oral Health: An Update and Refocus
Hosted by The National Network for Oral Health Access, a HRSA-funded NCA
Tuesday, August 20
1-2 p.m. (Eastern)
Register here
**1.0 CDE available**
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