UPCOMING TRAINING
& EVENTS
click link(s) for details
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January 15
January 20
TPCA Closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday
January 23
January 28
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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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If you would like to be added to the
TPCA Update
mailing list, please
click here.
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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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UDS 2019 Report Season
(From HRSA)
-- The Uniform Data System (UDS) 2019 reporting period has begun. All HRSA-funded health centers and look-alikes are required to submit complete and accurate UDS reports by Saturday, February 15. Upon successful submission, your UDS report will be assigned to a UDS reviewer who will work with you to finalize your data submission through March 2020. No changes will be permitted to the UDS report after Tuesday, March 31. As a requirement of the Health Center Program award, UDS reports must be submitted on time with complete and accurate data.
Click here
for the 2019 UDS Manual and other resources to help you complete an accurate report.
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Quarterly 340B Program Registration
(From HRSA)
-- Quarterly 340B Program site registration is open from January 1 to 15. Health centers will still be able to register a site that has been verified as implemented and with a site status reflected as “active” in EHBs Form 5B through February 21. After that date, the system will close to prepare for the April 1, start.
Email the 340B call center
or call 888-340-2787 (Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Eastern) to register a new site or ask questions.
You will need to provide the following information when calling:
• Health center name
• Site/clinic name
• Site IDs for all sites
• HRSA/BPHC grant number
• Contact name and email address
• Authorizing official name and email address
The authorizing official will receive an email message that the account is unlocked and a registration may be submitted.
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TennCare Block Grant Proposal
The 30-day federal comment period for the state’s block grant proposal closed on Friday, December 27. November 20 marked the deadline for the Bureau of TennCare to submit its Medicaid block grant proposal,
Amendment 42
, to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). TennCare made some alterations to the proposal following the state’s public comment period and a series of public hearings. TPCA worked closely with our partners to formulate and submit our comments to CMS. CMS can make a decision as early as 45 days following receipt of the proposal, but there is no deadline by which CMS must approve or reject the proposal.
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Federal Funding
On December 20, President Trump signed a year-end spending package that includes discretionary funding for health centers through September 30, 2020, and an extension of mandatory funding through May 22, 2020. The legislation,
H.R. 1865,
includes $1.6 billion in discretionary funding and extends mandatory funding for the Community Health Center Fund, National Health Service Corps, and Teaching Health Centers Program at current levels. The spending bill also contains several public health provisions, such as raising the age to purchase tobacco products to 21, extending Medicaid funding for Puerto Rico and U.S. territories, repealing several taxes under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and extending funding for the Special Diabetes Program.
Passage of the spending bill followed news that leadership from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and House Energy and Commerce Committee reached an
agreement
to provide a five-year extension of health center funding. However, that legislation was unable to pass Congress because of debates over how to address surprise billing. The five-month extension provides additional time for Congress to work toward a compromise on surprise billing that could offset the cost of a longer-term extension of health center funding.
We are grateful to everyone who has taken action to secure health center funding this year by emailing or calling your Members of Congress and visiting Members of Congress in D.C. or hosting them at your health centers. We will continue to work closely with NACHC to advocate for stable, multi-year funding for community health centers.
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Tell Your Community Health Center Story
(From RCHN Community Health Foundation)
-- Health centers are invited to share their stories on
CHroniCles
, an interactive, multimedia website dedicated to the living history of the community health center movement. A special joint project sponsored and hosted by the RCHN Community Health Foundation in collaboration with the Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health Policy at Milken Institute School of Public Health and the National Association of Community Health Centers, CHroniCles aims to honor this rich history by having health center organizations contribute to a dynamic, on-line, web-based tapestry. CHroniCles documents the vibrant, diverse, and important story of each community health center and of the health center movement as a whole, and makes it accessible to visitors everywhere.
CHCs are invited to create and update a customized profile with photos, data, narratives and videos. Taken together, the profiles on CHroniCles provide an extraordinary account of a movement dedicated to improving health access and providing high quality health care to all. The site creates a unified resource for documenting, preserving and sharing those stories.
More information about the site is found
here
, and instructions on how to upload content to your profile can be found
here
.
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Health Centers in the News
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TPCA to Launch Exclusion and Debarment Service
Many health centers face challenges in establishing and maintaining compliance with exclusion and debarment screening requirements. Beginning in January 2020, health centers will be able to utilize the TPCA Exclusion and Debarment Service to screen employees, contractors, vendors, directors, and volunteers. This service will help health centers save valuable resources and achieve operational excellence.
To learn more,
click here
. An introductory webinar will take place on January 28 at 10 a.m. (Central).
Click here
to register.
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RCORP-ETC to Host Meeting with State Leaders on the Opioid Crisis
The Rural Communities Opioid Response Program for East Tennessee (RCORP-ETC) will host "The Opioid Crisis: A Dialogue with Community Stakeholders and State Legislators" on Saturday, February 1, from 9:30-11:30 a.m. (Eastern) at the Newport Community Center (433 Prospect Ave.) in Newport. This will be an opportunity to share experiences and struggles related to the opioid crisis with state legislators and mayors from all 10 counties in the grant area. Click here to RSVP. If you have any questions,
email Jennifer Tourville
with the University of Tennessee College of Nursing.
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Healthy Nutrition Resources for Patients
(From health.gov)
-- Are you looking for nutrition information to guide your patients’ food choices in 2020? The
Dietary Guidelines for Americans Toolkit for Professionals
has a variety of materials designed to help you share information from the current Dietary Guidelines with your patients, clients, and peers. Resources are available in both English and Spanish.
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HRSA's Health Center Program Making Progress on Blood Pressure Control
(From HRSA)
-- AHRQ and HRSA released a
Data Spotlight
illustrating that HRSA-funded health centers met the Healthy People goal for blood pressure control in 2016-2018. AHRQ and HRSA will continue to support efforts by health centers to reach the CDC Million Hearts® goal of 80 percent blood pressure control among hypertensive patients aged 18-85 years.
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PARTNER-SPONSORED EDUCATION & TRAINING
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NACHC and Americares Partner to Bring Mental Health Resources to Health Centers
(From NACHC)
-- The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) is pleased to share that Americares will once again sponsor a Mental Health First Aid Instructor Training program this year! Applications are now open and will close on January 17, at 8 p.m. (Eastern).
The Mental Health First Aid Instructor Training program is open to NACHC organizational member health centers and will award six scholarships for a health center staff member to become a Certified MHFA Instructor by participating in a five-day training through the National Council for Behavioral Health.
Click here
to learn more and apply.
To learn more about last year's winners,
click here
. Refer any questions to Jason Patnosh, vice president of partnership at resource development, at jpatnosh@nachc.org.
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HCV Treatment Training Opportunity
The AIDS Education and Training Center Program will host a half-day training entitled "From Diagnosis to Treatment: Building an HCV Toolkit" on February 27, from 1-2 p.m. (Eastern) in LaFollette. The training is designed for clinical providers (physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and nurses) who are new to HCV who are new to HCV treatment.
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