This newsletter is brought to you by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) and the Community Health Systems Development Team at the Georgia Health Policy Center.
GRANTEE SPOTLIGHTS
Network Development Grantee
  The Georgia Health Policy Center recently spoke to Pamela Spradling, director of strategic planning and development at Big Sandy Healthcare (Kentucky), to discuss how the network is addressing chronic health conditions in a five-county region of eastern Kentucky, in the heart of Appalachia. 

Network Planning Grantee
The Georgia Health Policy Center recently spoke to Dan Mistak, J.D., acting president and director of health care initiatives for Community Oriented Correctional Health Services, about building a health justice collaborative to care for justice-involved populations transitioning back to the community in Hawaii.
PROGRAM-SPECIFIC UPDATES
Rural Health Network Development 

Grantee Meeting Dates and Travel Funds Re-Budgeting Information 
The Rural Health Network Development program grantee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 24 to Thursday, August 25, 2022. It will be held over two half days (tentatively scheduled from 1-5 p.m. ET). The meeting will be held virtually and in conjunction with the Delta States program. 

Since the meeting will be held virtually, funds previously requested to account for travel to the annual partnership meeting for both years 2 and 3 of your grant budget are no longer needed. Therefore, grantees can re-budget their grantee meeting travel funds for both years 2 and 3. Please see below for additional details. 

  • Grantees who make changes to their awarded grant budget totaling less than 25% of total grant funds can do so without needing to submit a formal prior approval request for re-budgeting in the Electronic Handbook (EHB) as long as there are also no changes to their awarded grant budget’s line-item categories or the activities funded. 
  • Grantees will need to submit a formal prior approval request for re-budgeting in the EHB if any of the following apply: 
  • If a grantee changes funds in an amount that are equal to or greater than 25% of their total awarded funds 
  • If a new line item is added to the budget 
  • If funds will be used for something that is not already in your approved grant budget 

Note: Re-budgeting prior approval requests should be submitted prior to the grantee meeting. 

  • Grantees also have the option to request year 2 funds be carried over to be used in year 3 of the grant and re-allocate the use of those funds for use during the grant year 3. The final deadline for carryovers is November 30, 2022, however, the sooner you are able to submit, the better.  

Please discuss your options with your project officer. 

Upcoming Deliverables 
Performance Improvement Measurement System (PIMS) Report 
All grantees are required to submit a PIMS Report in the EHB. The report should reflect data from the most recent grant year (July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022). PIMS will be made available in the EHB on July 1, 2022, and is due July 31, 2022. The PIMS data points and reference guide are available on the Rural Health Network Development webpage under ‘Resources.’ 

Data Dashboard 
Award recipients will be expected to submit a data dashboard of key project measures and resulting outcomes. Data dashboards identify key project data to support the ongoing data collection, documentation and tracking across the three-year period of performance, as well as resulting project outcome data. Updated guidance will be sent out by your project officer. The Data Dashboard is due July 29, 2022. 

Carryover Requests 
If applicable, carryover request guidance will be sent out by your project officer in July 2022. As a reminder, a carryover is where unobligated federal funds remain at the end of any budget period that, with approval of the Grants Management Officer or under an expanded authority, may be carried forward to another budget period to cover allowable costs of that budget period (whether as an offset or additional authorization). Begin consulting with your business office now to determine if a carryover will be requested. Carryover requests should be submitted in the EHB no later than November 30, 2022. 

Extended Deadlines: 
Business Model and Funding Plan 
Grantees are required to define a business approach and document proposed Network Development activities that illustrate how revenue will be generated by the network. Office hours with Heather Gowdy were held on March 2 and the recording, instructions, and template (not required) are available on the Rural Health Network Development webpage under ‘webinars.’ The Business Model and Funding Plan are due August 31, 2022.
 
Annual Federal Financial Report 
All projects are required to submit annually a Federal Financial Report (FFR) for their grant project in the Payment Management System. FFRs are due no later than October 30, 2022. 
Rural Health Network Development Planning 

Upcoming Deliverables 
Performance Improvement Measurement System (PIMS) Report 
All grantees are required to submit a PIMS Report in the EHB. The report should capture quantitative outcomes of Network Planning activities during the one-year period of performance (July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022). PIMS will be made available in the EHB on July 1, 2022, and is due by July 31, 2022. The PIMS data points and reference guide are available on the CRL Consulting website under “Grantee Portal.” 

Final Programmatic Report 
All grantees are required to submit a Final Programmatic Report in the EHB. The report should capture results of your Network Planning activities, sustainability efforts, and any recommendations to FORHP. The report is due in the EHB approximately 90 days after the end of the project period. The Final Programmatic Report template is available on the CRL Consulting website. 

Annual Federal Financial Report 
All projects are required to submit annually a Federal Financial Report (FFR) for their grant project in the Payment Management System. FFRs are due no later than October 30, 2022. 

No Cost Extension (if applicable) 
A no cost extension is a request to extend your project period for up to one year and is submitted electronically through the Electronic Handbooks as a prior approval request. Your no cost extension request must include three components: a narrative (which includes an updated work plan), an SF-424A budget form, and a budget justification. Any grantee that plans on submitting a no cost extension and has not done so already, please submit one before the end of the project period which is June 30,2022. Guidance was sent via email on April 1, 2022. 

Please Note: If you are requesting a no cost extension, all of the due dates for the remaining deliverables remain the same. (Strategic Plan and PIMS). The only due date that will change is the Final Programmatic Report which will be due 90 days after the end of the no cost extension period. 
QUARTERLY TA-RELATED ACTIVITIES
Rural Health Network Development 

Technical Assistance Support for your Business Planning Deliverable 
This will be a busy quarter for completing Network Development grant deliverables! Remember that your technical assistance (TA) provider is here to support you as you complete these. In particular, as you dig deeper into your business planning deliverable this quarter, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your TA provider for assistance. In addition to the resources provided during the office hours session with Heather Gowdy, you and your TA provider may decide to use routine monthly TA call time to work through sections, or you may schedule an extended time to do so. This is a good opportunity to consider a virtual site visit that may include your team, core network members or others to create the plan to operationalize the network or funded project for the next few years. This site visit may include working with your TA provider, and potentially a subject matter expert or fellow grantee with similar interests as needed. 

Grantee Program Meeting August 24-25, 2022 
During this meeting, you will have the opportunity to network with your peers in the Network Development and Delta States programs. In addition, you will have the opportunity to do a deeper dive into the topic of sustainability as well as a review of the template developed for the sustainability planning deliverable in December. If you have a particular topic or speaker that you would like to see on the agenda, please be sure to mention it on your calls this month, or send an email. 

Work Plan Conversations on July TA Calls 
Just a reminder that the first month of the quarter, July, will include a work plan check-in conversation with your project officer and TA provider. The purpose of this discussion is to celebrate recent accomplishments and look ahead to determine any resources or other support that you may need. 

Recording and Resources from the June 1 Webinar on Sustainability 
For your future reference, the recording, slides, and resources shared during the June 1, 2022, webinar on “Introduction to Sustainability – Sustainability Framework and Formative Assessment” will be uploaded here, under the webinars section. All previously shared TA resources and events are archived on this webpage for Network Development grantees. Let your TA provider know if you are having difficulty retrieving anything from the page and it can be emailed to you. 
Rural Health Network Development Planning  
  
TA monthly calls will “officially” end at the end of the original grant period on June 30, 2022. On the last monthly call, your TA provider will lead a reflection discussion about what you have accomplished, what you learned, and your reflection on your experience with the grant program and TA support. We have enjoyed working with you and your network partners over the year and wish you all much success in the next phase of your work. Please stay in touch!
RESOURCES, NEWS AND UPDATES
Federal Cash Transaction Report (FCTR) 
Effective April 1, 2022, HHS grant recipients are no longer required to submit quarterly cash transaction reports (aka Federal Cash Transaction Report [FCTR]) 30 calendar days after the end of each calendar quarter. PMS will pre-populate the cash transaction section (lines 10a through 10c) of the FFR using recipient real-time cash receipts (drawdowns, refunds, and journal vouchers) information from PMS and adjust recipient-reported disbursements to equal cash receipts on all non-closed sub-accounts (PMS type P). Recipients will be required to certify at the time of each drawdown request whether the cash drawdown request is for reimbursement of actual expenditures or is an advance for immediate disbursement. For additional information, please visit the Payment Management Center website. 

Opportunities:  
The purpose of the Community Health Worker Training Program is to support projects that will increase the number of community health workers (CHWs) and health support workers and equip them with the skillsets needed to provide effective community outreach; build trust with communities; support connections to and retention in care and support services, and other strategies to increase access to care; and to assist individuals in prevention services, recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and other public health emergencies in underserved communities. These combined efforts are intended to advance public health, strengthen the public health workforce, reduce health disparities, and help underserved populations achieve health equity. Applications are due June 14.
 
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration will make 150 awards with total funding of $55 million. The funding is meant to support culturally appropriate prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery support services for opioid use disorder. Application is due June 27.
 
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention will make 40 awards of up to $125,000 each to state, local, and tribal governments. Grantees will develop an implementation-ready plan to reduce disparities related to chronic disease in underserved populations. These include racial and ethnic minorities, people living in rural communities, and those otherwise affected by persistent poverty or inequality. Applications are July 8.

COVID-19-Related Resources  
Visitors to the site can enter their county and map nearby locations for masks, respirators, vaccines, boosters, and all testing and treatment options. Click here to access the toolkit.
 
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services provides resources – posters, flyers, videos, and talking points – to help promote the extra protection from COVID-19 boosters. Click here to access the resources.
 
Other Resources 
The Georgia Health Policy Center recently published a blueprint to creating a culture of health through shifting your mindset to build innovations in financial including thinking more upstream, looking at the money, building stewardship, exploring the financing vehicles, and looking for intersections. Click here to access the blueprint.
 
The National Council for Mental Wellbeing recently published a paper to introduce the Comprehensive Healthcare Integration Framework, for guiding implementation of integration of physical health and behavioral health. The framework help providers, payers, and population managers measure progress in organizing delivery of integrated services to demonstrate the value produced by progress in integrated service delivery and provide initial and sustainable financing for integration. Integration is also inclusive of social determinants of health and health equity for underserved populations. Click here to access the paper and framework. 
UPCOMING EVENTS 
Below is a list of additional opportunities that you may find useful for your network planning and development. Attendance is not required. 
June 15, 2022, 1:00 p.m. CT
This webinar will dive into Accountable Care Organizations via the Community Health Access and Rural Transformation model, the importance of the transition to value basics for rural health care providers, examine Rural Health Clinics Value Payment Options considerations, and new opportunities to explore current services delivered, such as chronic care management, transitional care management, principal care management, and integration of services such as behavioral health and oral health. 
July 12, 2022, 1:00 p.m. CST 
This webinar will provide an entry-level overview of how to gather and use data to take a step in the transition from volume to value. Additionally, this session will provide practical application of quality metrics, data collection, and the use of that data in telling the story of services provided. 
August 3, 2021, 1:00 p.m. CST 
This webinar will explore performance measurement and quality improvement within a Rural Health Clinic setting with practical application tips to ensure forward momentum toward value.
September 19–20, 2022 
Communities Joined in Action (CJA) is hosting their annual conference. The mission of CJA is to connect and equip communities with tools to improve health equity and well-being. CJA is a national membership organization committed to improving health and eliminating disparities. This year’s conference theme is Bridging Communities to Achieve Equity for All: 20+ years of improving health, increasing access, and eliminating disparities.