Please join the WVPCA and Nell Stuart, MS, Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator as we dive into the progressive nature of Type II Diabetes.  To better understand how to treat people with diabetes holistically, it is important to understand the pathophysiology of this chronic disease.  This webinar is appropriate for clinical providers who want to review diabetes and for those who want a better understanding of the disease. 1 Nursing CE will be available (pending)

Target Audience:  Physicians, PA-C, NPs, Nurses, Medical Assistants, Care Managers, Community Health Workers, and Social Workers.

Objectives:  

1. Discuss the natural history of Type II Diabetes.
2. Discuss the implications of T ype II D iabetes as a progressive disease on treatment goals for the patient.
3. Be aware of the gaps in care that exist in the treatment of  T ype II D iabetes which results in confusion to the patient.

Registration closes March 4 at noon.

For detailed information click here.

We are excited to announce that we have partnered with Jennifer Calohan, and the team at CURIS Consulting, to offer our members a highly interactive learning collaborative focused on using LEAN/Six Sigma principles and practices to improve health outcomes.  The collaborative will be a combination of onsite training workshops, supported peer-to-peer networking, remote trainings, webinars, and individualized coaching sessions. Improving diabetes outcomes will be used as the case study for the learning collaborative. However, the principles learned can be applied to improve processes and outcomes throughout your health center. 

Please join the WVPCA & CURIS Consulting for an in depth Webinar and Q&A about this learning collaborative discussing topics such as: 

To register click   here.

If you have any questions, please contact Shannon Parker at shannon.parker@wvpca.org  or Emma White at  emma.white@wvpca.org .

Our Community Together:  A Collective Impact on HIV in West Virginia.   This conference is intended to address medical and first responder issues surrounding the recent HIV outbreaks that are currently impacting our residents and ourselves.  This can't miss event is offered at no cost and is being held on March 23, 2020 at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel and offers medical educational credits.  For additional information and registration information click here.

Attendees will be provided the most recent information regarding HIV prevention to include impact of stigma, PrEP and NPEP, HIV case finding in the primary care setting and prevention in the setting of commercial sex work.  This conference will also address burnout and mental health among first responders.  

A federal appellate court Friday shut down the CMS' approval of Arkansas' Medicaid work requirement, dealing a major blow to the Trump administration's Medicaid policy centerpiece of requiring beneficiaries to work as a condition of receiving benefits.

In a unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a lower court decision that HHS' approvals of Medicaid work requirements in Arkansas and Kentucky were arbitrary and capricious and not consistent with the primary objective of the Medicaid statute. Kentucky ultimately terminated its Medicaid work requirement program and withdrew from the appeal.

The opinion, written by Republican-appointed Judge David Sentelle, said the lower court "is indisputably correct that the principal objective of Medicaid is providing healthcare coverage."

The Trump administration in its approvals of Section 1115 waiver requests from Arkansas and Kentucky said requiring beneficiaries to report 80 hours a month of work of "community engagement" activities would lead to improved health outcomes and wellbeing for beneficiaries.

But the panel rejected that rationale.

"We agree with the district court that the alternative objectives of better health outcomes and beneficiary independence are not consistent with Medicaid," Sentelle wrote.

The CMS did not immediately comment on the ruling. It's unknown whether the administration or Kentucky officials will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.   CMS Adminstrator Seems Verma has aggressively promoted the administration's move to expand Medicaid work requirements. Nearly a dozen conservative-led states are seeking waiver approvals for such requirements. Michigan and Ohio currently are launching programs requiring Medicaid expansion beneficiaries to report work or community engagement activities.  

Jane Perkins, legal director of the National Health Law Program, which spearheaded the legal challenge to the work requirement waivers, praised the ruling on Friday.   "It means that thousands of low-income people in Arkansas will maintain their health insurance coverage - coverage that enables them to live, work, and participate as fully as they can in their communities," she said.

Arkansas's Republican leaders had hoped to reinstate the work requirement program, which was blocked by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg last March after more than 18,000 Arkansas Medicaid expansion enrollees lost coverage.   Kentucky's new Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear recently withdrew his state's work requirement waiver program.

Some experts believe this could dramatically impact other work requirement requests. Nicholas Bagley, a University of Michigan law professor who has closely followed the work requirements litigation, said Friday's ruling marks "the end of the road for work requirements at least until the Supreme Court has an opportunity to weigh in."   He said the opinion minces no words in saying the Trump administration can't approve waivers that would result in kicking tens of thousands of people off program. It might also block variations like Utah's waiver, which requires Medicaid expansion enrollees to report that they have applied for employment but does not require them to actually be employed.   "They might try to go ahead with something different like Utah," Bagley said. "But it's very difficult to see how any waiver whose adoption would result in loss of coverage could possibly be approved."

HRSA has updated its technical assistance resource (TAR) on Health Center Mergers, Acquisitions and Other Organizational Changes and Related Successor-in-Interest Requests. It provides information for Health Center Program awardees considering changes to their organizational structure, such as mergers or acquisitions, that may impact the status of their federal award. Additionally, the TAR provides specific guidance regarding when a prior approval request to HRSA for recognition of a new Health Center Program award recipient, also referred to as the "Successor-in-Interest" (SII), is necessary. The TAR also provides information on the review criteria, timeline, and process HRSA will utilize in making decisions regarding requests for recognition of a SII.

As a reminder, decisions regarding changes to a health center's organizational or corporate status are the sole responsibility of the health center's governing board. Related questions may be directed to your designated Grants Management Specialist and the BPHC Project Officer listed on your Notice of Award.