Hello, just a reminder you are receiving this email because you expressed an interest in the West Virginia Primary Care Association. Don't forget to add paula.beasley@wvpca.org to your address book, so you don't miss any issues of the WVPCA Weekly Outlook!
WVPCA Weekly Outlook
A Newsletter on Community Centered Healthcare
September 30, 2022
In This Issue...
WVPCA News - Outreach and Enrollment
Workforce Development - State News - National News
Funding and Financial Resources - Training Opportunities
News Flash!
West Virginia COVID hospitalizations back to 'reasonable levels,' but elderly continue to die
Read the entire article from WVNews here.

West Virginia Supreme Court hears arguments in school bullying case
Read the entire article from WVNews here.
WVPCA News
Hawaii Representative Visits
School Based Health Centers for Insight
Dr. John Vaz, CEO of the Community Clinic of Maui, visited school-based health centers around the state to gain insight into what makes local efforts successful, as his organization looks to expand school-based health outreach in Hawaii. He was accompanied by Paula Fields, vice president of consulting and technical assistance for the School-Based Health Alliance in Washington, D.C., and John Kennedy of the West Virginia Primary Care Association, as well as local school administrators and health care professionals at each site.

The group started with New River Health (Oak Hill school campus) and then visited Camden Family Health (Richwood High School and Gauley River Elementary). Followed by school-based health center visits to Cabin Creek Health Systems (Riverside High School) and FamilyCare (Mary C. Snow Elementary and McKinley Middle School).

"We are looking at community health center-run school-based health centers in Hawaii," Vaz explained. A looming project will feature a collaboration among the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Health and the Department of Education in Hawaii, he said.
Community Health Quality Recognition Badges
The WVPCA would like to congratulate all health centers that earned 2022 Community Health Quality Recognition (CHQR) badges for notable quality improvement achievements in several category areas for the most recent UDS reporting period. View the CHQR Dashboard to see if your health center received a CHQR badge in 2022!
Registration Now Open
Please join the WVPCA and Community Health Center, Inc. (CHC) as they provide an overview of the Readiness to Train Assessment Tool (RTAT) and guidance on beginning your health center's strategic workforce development planning. The speakers will present the results of the national assessment of health center readiness to train health profession students, as well as the state level data. Participants will leave the session equipped with a strong understanding of how to use the tool to identify barriers in advancing health professions training. Participants will also receive an overview of upcoming CHC Inc. Learning Collaborative that is designed to effectively move participating organizations from planning to implementation of replicable models.

PRE-WORK: Participants will be asked to review individual RTAT results beforehand.

TARGET AUDIENCE: COOs, Workforce Directors, HR Directors, etc.

This learning event is not open to non-CHC staff. 

Registration closes on October 11 at 5:00PM EST.
Training Modules Available
Assisters are invited to take the 2023 Assister Certification Training. In preparation for the Marketplace Open Enrollment Period starting November 1, 2022 for the 2023 Plan Year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has updated the Assister Certification Training curriculum.

The training is hosted on the Marketplace Learning Management System (MLMS); the online web-based training platform for assisters providing application and enrollment assistance to consumers in Federally-Facilitated Marketplaces (FFMs) and State-based Marketplaces using the Federal platform. The MLMS can be accessed through the CMS Enterprise Portal.


Please note: If you have accessed MLMS before and taken assister certification training in the past, please be sure to login vs. creating a new account. If you have had changes to your status, or changed organizations, you do not need to create a new account. You can update your information in your existing account.
Extend CDO Application Window
The CDO application window typically runs from June 1 to August 31, annually. To support organizations in FFM states during the Unwinding period, the Marketplace will extend the current CDO application window to November 1, 2022, and will open another CDO application window once the Medicaid Unwinding begins. These application window extensions will enable eligible organizations in FFM states to apply to become a CDO, which will provide them with access to FFM and Medicaid Unwinding technical guidance, training materials, and consumer support resources such as the Complex Case Help Center (CCHC).

CMS invites new applicant organizations who want to become a CDO for Plan Year 2023 to apply during CMS’ Open Season, which has been extended to November 1, 2022.

Any organization operating in an FFM state seeking to provide certified application counselor (CAC) enrollment assistance to consumers for Plan Year 2023 must apply to become a CDO and enter into an agreement with CMS, if they are not a current CDO.

CDOs are a vital component of the assister community. In the FFM, CDOs oversee CACs, who are annually trained and able to help consumers seeking health coverage options through the Marketplace. 
Recruitment and Retention Academy
The West Virginia State Office of Rural Health invites you to attend the 3RNet 2022 Recruitment and Retention Academy: Guiding Your Recruitment for Retention Process; Practical Tools to Position Yourself as an Employer of Choice in Today's Workforce Environment.

What is the 3RNET Recruiting for Retention Academy? This six-part webinar series features practical, action-oriented content for health care employers using a workshop-type approach. The 2022 Academy will examine the recruiting process: everything from planning and preparation to sourcing to closing the deal. Without a well defined recruitment process, employers will be hard pressed to succeed in recruitment efforts.

The West Virginia State Office of Rural Health is partnering with 3RNet to make the 2022 Academy available to all healthcare facilities free of charge, using coupon code WVSORH22 during your online registration. (a $500 value)

Session 1 is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, October 4, 2022. (We recommend attending the Live Sessions, however sessions are recorded if your schedule doesn't align.) 

If you need additional information, please contact Brandon Carman, Workforce Programs Manager and Network Coordinator at brandon.k.carman@wv.gov.
State News
Immunization Network Urges Flu Vaccination
As the weather changes, it is not only a reminder that fall is here, but that flu season is approaching. Flu season generally starts in October, peaks between December and February, and can last until May.

Influenza, also called the flu, is a respiratory infection with symptoms such as sore throat, runny nose, cough, muscle or body aches, fever, and fatigue. The influenza virus spreads from person to person in droplets from infected individuals when they cough, sneeze, or talk. The flu can cause mild to severe illness and people who are immunocompromised, over the age of 65, or pregnant are at greater risk for complications from the flu. Young children, especially those younger than 5 years old, are also at higher risk of complications from the flu.  

An annual flu shot is the best way to protect against the flu and its complications. The West Virginia Immunization Network urges West Virginia residents to get a flu vaccine this season. A flu shot is recommended every year for everyone 6 months of age and older, regardless of vaccination in previous years. It takes about two weeks to develop immunity, so it is important to get vaccinated before influenza starts spreading in your community.  

It is also important to remember that COVID-19 vaccination does not protect against the flu, but you can get a COVID-19 vaccine at the same time as your flu shot. 
2022 WV Perinatal Summit &
WV ACOG Section Meeting
The West Virginia Perinatal Partnership announces registration is now open for the 2022 WV Perinatal Summit & WV ACOG Section Meeting. The Summit is designed to bring professionals from multiple disciplines together to discuss perinatal and child health issues. Sessions will include innovative research, best practices, collaborative and new strategies in perinatal health policy and education.

After attending the Summit, participants will be able to:

  • Describe best practices in perinatal, neonatal and gynecologic health
  • Identify quality improvement strategies to promote better health outcomes for pregnant women/persons and newborns
  • Discuss barriers and opportunities for improving access to care for women/persons and infants in West Virginia
  • Outline policies and practices that lead to improvements in the quality and delivery of health care in West Virginia
  • Engage in collegial conversations about appropriate and necessary treatment for women/persons and infants
  • Build alliances and discuss initiatives to strengthen the West Virginia Perinatal Partnership.
Bridge of Hope Application Now Open
The Bridge of Hope Application is now open and can be found on The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation’s website at https://tgkvf.org/special-initiatives/bridge-hope-scholarship/. This scholarship is for those who are in active SUD recovery and interested in pursuing a training or education program. The application closes on November 1st
National News
Providing Care to People with
Substance Use Disorders Webinar
Please join the AETC National Clinician Consultation Center in partnership with the AETC National Coordinating Resource Center, Health Resources and Services Administration’s HIV/AIDS Bureau (HRSA HAB) and Bureau of Primary Health Care (HRSA BPHC) for the Providing Care to People with Substance Use Disorders webinar developed for clinicians and other health care providers. This webinar will be October 26, 2022 from Noon to 1PM.

The newly released National HIV/AIDS Strategy Federal Implementation Plan (2022-2025) calls for a coordinated and re-energized national HIV response at multiple levels, acknowledging people who inject drugs as one of several priority populations which continue to experience disparities across various HIV-related outcomes. Substance use and HIV care integration is one approach to provide comprehensive, person-centered medical services – yet clinics encounter differing challenges and opportunities when trying to implement an integrated model of care.

Objectives of this presentation:
  1. Review how newly curated AETC toolkits were designed to assist clinical teams with integration of behavioral health and substance use disorder (SUD) services into a wide variety of practice settings. 
  2. Identify opportunities where the National Clinician Consultation Center’s Warmline services could help bridge the gap to increase access to treatment and improve health outcomes of people who use drugs.
NACHC Health Center Salary and
Benefits Report Now Available
The NACHC 2022-23 Health Center Salary and Benefits Report, the 26th edition of this report, is now available for purchase. This report is the single most comprehensive source of information on the compensation and benefits practices of Community Health Centers nationwide. It is an essential tool for health centers to use, along with comparative data from other areas of the healthcare industry, in establishing reasonable and competitive staff compensation and benefits packages.
Funding and Financial Resources
Two Teaching Health Center Funding Opportunities to be Launched
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), through the American Rescue Plan, will invest in two new funding opportunities.

These are specific to two Teaching Health Center Funding Opportunities to be launched very soon!!


Eligible community-based primary care/ fellowship programs for both funding opportunities include: family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine-pediatrics, psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, general dentistry, pediatric dentistry, or geriatrics.

A pre-launch webinar was held earlier, and the recording will be shared as soon as it is available.  

Remember to sign up for the WVPCA’s Workforce Listserv to receive timely updates on workforce topics and resources. To sign up, contact Shannon Parker at shannon.parker@wvpca.org
Upcoming Training Opportunities
WE'VE DECIDED TO OFFER VISION SERVICES IN OUR HEALTH CENTER, NOW WHAT? 
Join the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved, Prevent Blindness, & NACHC to learn more about the feasibility of opening an optometry department at your CHC. Explore budgeting, best practices for hiring and staffing, and how to overcome challenges in providing vision services. 

In this webinar, we will take a deeper dive into the feasibility of opening an optometry department within a community health center. You’ll learn about what it takes to create an optical, budgeting, best practices for hiring and staffing, and how your peers have overcome challenges in starting up vision services in their own health centers.

Learning objectives:
  1. Raise awareness of the feasibility of opening an optometry department within CHCs; creation of an optical; and hiring/staffing needs
  2. Build skills in operationalizing the integration of vision services into health centers; and
  3. Learn from peers how to overcome challenges in the process of integrating vision services into health centers.

Recommended pre-reading: Spring 2022 two-part webinar series "Eyes on Access" which can be found on the Health Center Resource Clearinghouse or at https://www.healthcenterinfo.org/results/?Combined=Eyes+on+Access

Wednesday, November 2, 2022
3:00 PM ET
Breast Cancer Awareness: “Tag You’re It” 
October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and we’ll honor the observance with a webinar focused on breast cancer screening challenges and successes. Speakers will emphasize the impact and barriers experienced during the pandemic and improving health equity among higher-risk populations. There will be an opportunity to ask questions of expert leaders in the field.

Thursday, October 6, 2022
3:00 PM ET
UDS: Strategies for Successful Submission
Better understand the importance of UDS data collection and reporting, specifically focusing on assessing data for accuracy and quality. The session will cover utilizing available electronic handbooks (EHBs) reports and tools (i.e., health center trend report, comparison tool, etc.), working through your review (data audit report, edits, including how to utilize the EHBs system for review), and working with your reviewer for a successful submission.

Thursday, November 3, 2022
1:00 PM ET
Community Health Center Resources
Jackson Kelly attorneys provide limited consultation to all members of the WVPCA at no charge, as part of the WVPCA contract. There is no limit to the number of calls which any member may make. All inquiries within the scope of professional competence of firm attorneys will be addressed. Inquiries which require expertise not available through the firm will be promptly identified and, when requested, Jackson Kelly will assist in referring the matter to accounting firms, insurance agents, or others as circumstances warrant.

All inquiries, responses and consultation services provided by the firm lawyers will be provided without additional charge beyond the retainer amount, except for matters which require formal opinions, representation of record in litigation, transactional work, e.g. the purchase or sale of real property, or matters which require continued representation, research or consultation beyond a single inquiry or document review.

Justin M. Harrison is a labor & employment lawyer with Jackson Kelly PLLC. He is available for consultation through a special retainer relationship with the WVPCA. Justin can be reached at 304.340.1358 and via email at justin.harrison@jacksonkelly.com.
ECRI Institute
Risk Management Manual for Health Centers Now Available!
The Risk Management Manual for Health Centers is now available on the ECRI Institute Clinical Risk Management Program website! Designed to support a proactive approach to risk management at health centers and free clinics, the Manual provides background, tips, and how-tos in a manageable format.

Specific areas that are covered include:
Risk Management Programs & Plans
Claims and Lawsuits
Role of the Risk Manager
Patient Grievances and Complaints
Communication with Patients
Credentialing and Privileging
Communication among Providers, Staff, and Community Partners
Tracking Systems for Diagnostic Tests, Referrals, and Hospitalizations

View an archived webinar that provides a guided tour of the Manual and key features. For access to the ECRI Institute Clinical Risk Management Program website or any other questions, email clinical_rm_program@ecri.org.
WVPCA Staff
Sherri Ferrell, MBA | Chief Executive Officer
Debra Boyd | Chief Financial/Chief Operations Officer
Paula Beasley, MA | Education & Communications Coordinator
Jennifer Boyd, PA-C, PCMH-CCE | Clinical Consultant
Aaron Johnson | Special Projects Director
John Kennedy, MA | School-Based Health/Behavioral Health Coordinator
Shannon Parker, MBA, PCMH-CCE | Director of Health Center Operations
Ruby Piscopo | Outreach & Enrollment Coordinator
Amanda West | Finance and Operations Manager
Emma White, RN, PCMH-CCE | Clinical Quality Improvement Coordinator
Kevin Treadway, MS | Health Data Analyst
To sign up to receive the WVPCA Weekly Newsletter:
1700 MacCorkle Avenue, SE
Charleston, WV 25314
Phone: 304.346.0032
Toll Free: 1.877.WVA HLTH
This project is/was supported partially/fully by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number U58CS06834 State and Regional Primary Care Associations. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.