The Tennessee legislative session is beginning to wind down, with focus turning to the FY22-23 budget process. TPCA is advocating for an additional $5M in Health Care Safety Net funding. Along with enhanced Safety Net funding, TPCA and community health centers have been advocating for legislation to increase access to care, support post-pandemic transformation, and improve social determinants of health. The following pieces of TPCA-supported bills have continued to progress through the legislative process:

President Biden released his FY 2023 budget request, beginning the annual the appropriations process.

President Biden’s proposal includes an additional $155M for community health centers, which brings total funding to $5.7B and an additional $90M for the National Health Service Corps, which brings funding to $502M. The budget request also includes funding for other workforce programs, pandemic preparedness, mental health, immunizations, and the 340B drug pricing program.

TPCA created a COVID-19 Resources page that contains information and tools for health centers and the general public on a variety of COVID-19 related topics including COVID-19 vaccines, updates, human resources & operations, telehealth, and PPE.

TPCA Members may also access the COVID-19 Vaccine Toolkit for the latest in TN COVID-19 Vaccine distribution as well as timely and relevant resources.

Last week, Cempa Community Care held the “Strides of March,” a fundraiser walk to help commemorate their fight against HIV and AIDS.

The event also helps to raise awareness of and fundraising for Cempa’s efforts to reach the underserved community about HIV. Cempa and researchers everywhere still search for the final and best remedy.

View coverage from wdef.com >>>

To better support the needs of its growing patient population, Cherokee Health Systems is opening a new health center in Knoxville.

The new location will expand on Cherokee’s mission of improving the quality of life for its patients through the blending of primary care and behavioral health services while making health services accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds in its surrounding community.

Read more from WLVT.com >>>

Christ Community recently announced the opening of a pharmacy at its east Jackson location.

“Our commitment to Jackson is to continue expanding our services by delivering quality healthcare and spiritual healing to all our patients," said Shantelle Leatherwood, Chief Executive Officer.

Congratulations to Memphis Health Center, one of eight grantees from Round 2 of the "Healthy Lifestyles, Healthy Communities" program!

NACHC, in partnership with the Henry Schein Cares Foundation (HSCF), is awarding community health centers, that are NACHC organizational members, with a cash award of $10,000 and donated products (valued up to $10,000) to support community-based screening events and campaigns.

News 2 recently selected Mahogany Anthony, Family and Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner at Neighborhood Health's Downtown Clinic, as its Hometown Hero for the month of March. Congratulations Mahogany!

The Public Health and General Preventive Medicine Residency Program (GPM) at Meharry Medical College (MMC) is for individuals who want to pursue a career in Preventive Medicine with a special interest in Maternal and Child Health, with emphasis on the health of underserved and rural communities. Board certification in a Primary care specialty will be enhanced by additional education and experiences in public health and prevention.

GPM residents interested in working in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) will receive training in public health, health administration, clinical preventive medicine as well as additional training in maternal & child health. The training offered by this program will benefit providers who work with patients with multiple chronic diseases and other health concerns.

GPM’s desired outcome is to recruit and retain physicians and residents. This program will support physicians who have completed training in a primary care specialty. The intent of the program is to impact health disparities and address health equity across the social determinants of health factors in the state of Tennessee (TN) and the United States. GPM believes that having well-rounded physicians who are prepared to care for individuals and populations is necessary to break the cycle of increased mortality and morbidity rates in maternal and child health, and within the general population.

Is your health center considering integrating vision services into your primary health care delivery? Is your health center looking to increase the vision services offered or facing challenges in the beginning stages of vision service integration?

Join the National Association of Community Health Centers, Prevent Blindness and the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved for a two-part webinar series, Eyes on Access, to learn strategies and models of investment from vision care experts and peers from health centers across the country.

Each session is approved for 1.5 online American Academy of Family Physicians elective credits.

Health Center Professional Staff (C-Suite and Relevant Administrators), Primary Care Providers, Health professions students (including but not limited to optometry students), School-Based Health Center staff, all FQHC staff

SAMHSA has published two Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs) to support a major expansion of the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic model:

The CCBHC has many similarities to CHC model, including Federal requirements to:

In addition, CCBHCs:

More information on the CCBHC model is available in these program criteria.

CCBHCs have been operating as a Medicaid demonstration for that last several years, and there are now around 430 CCBHCs nationwide. These NOFOs will lead to a major expansion in the number and impact of CCBHCs across the country. SAMHSA plans to make over 150 awards under each opportunity, and each award will be for approximately $1 million annually for a four-year project period.

As of April 1, 2022, all pregnant individuals with TennCare Medicaid will

The end of a pregnancy is the start of unique challenging and ongoing physical, psychological, and social needs. Expanding these services is key to improving the health of women and children in Tennessee, particularly as TennCare covers nearly half of all births in the state of Tennessee. TennCare is excited to partner with dental and health care providers to deliver care to this vulnerable population and asks for your help in increasing awareness about these two new benefits. Please feel free to share the materials below to help TennCare reach more women.

Please reach out to Jona.Bandyopadhyay@tn.gov or visit TennCare Maternal Health website if you have any questions regarding this new coverage or any other questions regarding Maternal Health coverage.