The new vaccine summary section gives a breakdown of how many people have been vaccinated in each of the state’s 55 counties. Click on this link and then go to the Vaccine Summary at the top of the webpage.

HRSA has added a new Health Center COVID-19 Vaccine Program category to their COVID-19 FAQ webpage, which contains a dozen new FAQs about the program. As a reminder, other COVID-19 resources on HRSA’s site include our coronavirus-related funding FAQ page and COVID-19 Information for Health Centers and Partners.

A law passed during the 2020 legislative session required the WVDHHR Bureau for Public Health to develop a Diabetes Action Plan for the state. The WVPCA participated in the creation of the plan, which was publically released earlier this month. The plan calls for a number of broad-scale changes, including those requiring legislative approval, to improve the prevalence of diabetes in West Virginia.

Please join the West Virginia Primary Care Association (WVPCA) and GreenwayHealth for virtual office hours on March 4, 2020 from 11:00 am to Noon. During this one-hour webinar, Harrison Cleworth, Inside Account Executive and Todd Colburn, Account Executive at GreenwayHealth will be joining us to discuss a variety of topics to include: 

Target Audience: Administrative, Billing/Financial, Clinical, and Quality staff from CHCs who utilize Greenway.  

Please join Rachel Merino, Chief of Staff at Valley Health Systems and Crystal Hawkins from Cabin Creek Health Systems for a presentation and a discussion to assist health centers to improve SDoH screening and referral workflow on Thursday, March 18th from 12:30 - 1:45PM. This is a great opportunity to learn first-hand from two West Virginia health centers who have successfully implemented SDoH screening into a standardized process within their organizations. The presenters will describe the implementation and workflow process and participants will have the opportunity to ask questions. This webinar is a perfect learning opportunity no matter what stage of contemplation or implementation you are in. 1.5 Nursing CE available pending final approval. 

TARGET AUDIENCE: Quality Improvement staff, Nursing staff, Care Management staff and anyone who may be involved with SDOH workflow.

In accordance with the Executive Order signed by President Biden, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that the Special Enrollment Period (SEP) for the Health Insurance Marketplace® is available to consumers in the 36 states that use the HealthCare.gov platform from Monday, February 15, and will continue through Saturday, May 15.

The Biden administration has signaled that states may no longer be able to pursue Medicaid work requirements. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has begun a process to rollback demonstrations of work requirements under Section 1115 waivers. A new issue brief by the Kaiser Family Foundation showcases the challenges Medicaid members face if subject to work requirements during the pandemic-induced economic downturn. 

Buffering…remember that from dial-up internet days? Slow internet speeds are still a problem in West Virginia, which is one of only five states losing ground in terms of broadband connection. In fact, West Virginia is 48th in terms of broadband connectivity. An article from the non-profit news organization “Mountain State Spotlight” took a look at how the state backslid on broadband and what it is doing to fix it.

A recent national poll by C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, affiliated with the University of Michigan, emphasized the problem of children receiving routine, preventive dental care during the pandemic. According to the poll, one in three parents reported problems accessing dental care. The challenge of accessing dental care was even greater among children insured by Medicaid, which must provide dental benefits for children.  

If you come across something worth sharing, please feel free to forward to Joshua Austin, WVPCA Policy and Communications Director at joshua.austin@wvpca.org.

“Today I received notification that two West Virginia health center systems will soon be receiving direct shipments of COVID-19 vaccine doses to administer to West Virginians. West Virginia continues to lead the nation in vaccination efforts and our health centers have been integral to the distribution program. The HRSA COVID-19 Vaccination Program is aimed at ensuring equitable vaccine distribution across the state and our health centers, who serve roughly 27 percent of West Virginians, are well equipped to do just that. Vaccines are essential to defeating this horrible virus and I am incredibly pleased that our health centers have been chosen to receive doses directly. I am also pleased West Virginia will be receiving another weekly vaccine allocation increase from Pfizer, increasing the state’s ability to vaccinate more West Virginians. As vaccine production continues to increase, I will continue to work with the Biden Administration to quickly procure enough doses for every West Virginian who wants to be vaccinated,” said Senator Manchin. 

“We are thankful for the Biden administration understanding the valuable role community health centers play in the COVID-19 pandemic response,” said Sherri Ferrell, CEO of the WVPCA. “This allocation will help serve our most vulnerable residents and improve health equity in vaccine distribution.”

Visit the Shortage Designation Modernization Project for more information.

Questions? Contact the Shortage Designation Modernization Project.

The Mid-Atlantic Telehealth Resource Center will be going ALL VIRTUAL this year. They are committed to providing a great virtual experience and one way to do that is to break up the normally packed full days into smaller blocks of time across multiple days. The draft agenda is now available and will become even more detailed in the upcoming weeks. Stay tuned – they will be sharing periodic updates about the innovative things they will be doing to make sure it’s not “just another Zoom meeting”!

On February 24, to support President Biden’s call to “mask up” for 100 days in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19, the White House announced a partnership between HHS and the Department of Defense (DoD) to deliver free masks to HRSA-funded health centers and Health Center Program look-alikes for distribution to patients, staff, and community members. This initiative recognizes health centers as vital partners in community-based outreach efforts to reach vulnerable populations. DoD is also working with the Department of Agriculture to supply masks to 300 food banks as part of the effort.

DoD anticipates shipping the masks beginning in March, as production ramps up. HRSA will send an email communication from the Electronic Handbooks (EHBs) to each health center and look-alike with the specific number of masks that will be shipped to the health center’s administrative address on record within the EHBs. If your health center does not want to receive a shipment of masks, you will be able to opt out using the BPHC Contact Form.

HRSA have added several new questions about the HHS Mask Distribution Program to the COVID-19 FAQ webpage.

The 340B Program HRSA Recertification Period for HRSA and IHS grantees (except STD, TB, and FP) is February 1 to March 1, 2021. 

Before certifying, Authorizing Officials and Primary Contacts must set up user accounts in the 340B Office of Pharmacy Affairs Information System (340B OPAIS). Failure to set up accounts will result in removal from the 340B Program. AOs and PCs must create individual accounts. All active 340B IDs associated with an AO’s account must be updated for recertification and completed by the deadline. 

For assistance with the 340B OPAIS, please utilize the online help that is available. HRSA also has information and tutorials available on the OPA website here. For further assistance, please contact the 340B call center at apexusanswers@340bpvp.com or 1-888-340-2787 (Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Eastern).

The WVPCA invites you to complete the Readiness to Train Assessment Tool (RTAT) survey before February 28, 2021. This survey tool was developed to assess organizational readiness to implement Health Professions Training (HPT) programs in health centers across the country and is strongly encouraged by HRSA. 

Please contact Shannon Parker, WVPCA Director of Health Center Operations at Shannon.parker@wvpca.org should you have any questions or concerns.

Technical assistance (TA) resources, including a webinar overview of the NOFO, are available on the SBSS TA webpage.

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.

The Pandemic Operational Recovery Guide for Health Centers and Free Clinics was written to assist health centers and free clinics in identifying and minimizing risks as they recover from operational disruptions related to a pandemic.

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.

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.