Applications are due to Grants.gov by 11:59pm on Tuesday, April 21, 2015. Supplemental information is due in HRSA's Electronic Handbooks (EHB) by 5:00pm on Thursday, May 21, 2015. .

Save the Date: National Health Center Week 2015 Kick-Off Webinar May 12 at 2PM ET

National Health Center Week will be observed August 9th-15th this year and is themed: America's Health Centers: Celebrating Our Legacy, Shaping Our Future. To kick off National Health Center Week planning efforts, NACHC will host its annual NHCW webinar on Tuesday, May 12 at 2PM ET. The webinar is open to all and will cover the nuts and bolts of how to plan and host successful events, recruit local sponsors, and invite federal, state, and local officials to join the celebration at your health center. Without a doubt one of the best ways to ensure a successful NHCW event is to start your planning EARLY and allow plenty of time to prepare. Click here to register for the webinar and join us next month! And, be sure to visit the National Health Center Week website to get event ideas and access resources to support your event planning.

NHSC New Site application cycle

The 2015 NHSC New Site application cycle is now open for eligible health care sites.  The application cycle will close on June 2, 2015, at 7:30 p.m. ET.  Interested sites are encouraged to read the 2015 NHSC Site Reference Guide for all program requirements.
Eligible sites include health care facilities that provide outpatient, ambulatory and primary health care services (medical, dental, and behavioral) to populations residing in high-need urban and rural areas. Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) are the only eligible inpatient facilities and must be affiliated with an NHSC-approved outpatient clinic.

Applicants are encouraged to participate in any of these upcoming events, which will offer application help and technical assistance to those applying to become an NHSC Site.

Thursday, April 30 from 12:00 - 1:30 p.m. ET

Access link: https://hrsaseminar.adobeconnect.com/nhscsite2015
Dial-in Number: 1-888-996-4919
Passcode: 8392355
* To participate in the webinar, you will need to use both the access link and the dial-in number.

NHSC Site Application Technical Assistance Conference Call  

Wednesday, May 13 from 12:00-2:00 p.m. ET
Dial-in Number: 1-888-790-1868
Passcode: 8788160

Health Center Site Visits Now Include 340B Questions

Health centers preparing for HRSA Operational Site Visits (OSVs) to verify their compliance with the 19 Health Center Program requirements should be aware that those visits now include five questions on the 340B Drug Discount Program.  OSV reviewers are to ask the following but are not expected to review 340B documents/policies or patient records.  The questions are:

1.   Does the health center participate in the 340B drug pricing program? (if NO, the remaining questions are not required)

2.    Does the health center have written 340B policies, procedures, or other related documents? (if NO, proceed to question 4)

3.    If YES to #2, do the policies, procedures or other related documents address the following areas to assure that the individuals provided access to 340B drugs purchased by the health center meet all of the following?

a)   The health center has an established relationship with the individual, as documented by the health center maintaining records of the individual's health care;

b)    The individual receives health care services from a health care professional who is either employed by the health center or under contractual or other arrangements (e.g. referral for consultation) such that responsibility for care provided remains with the health centers; i.e. 340B prescriptions are only made available to those who receive services that are either provided directly by the health center (Form 5A Column I or II) and/or through formal written referral arrangements (Form 5A Column III) consistent with approved scope of project; and

c)     The prevention of duplicate discounts for patients covered under Medicaid?

4.   Does the health center dispense 340B drugs to patients through a contract pharmacy services model?  If YES, please verify the following: 

a)   Does a written contract exist between the health center and contract pharmacy(ies);

b)    Does the health center have within its contract or in written policies and procedures how the contract pharmacy will ensure against diversion;

c)     Does the health center have, within its contract or in its written policies and procedures, a process that reflects how the contract pharmacy will ensure against duplicate discounts.

5.  Does the health center attest that it provides oversight (e.g. annual audit or other mechanism) of the 340B drugs dispensed by the contract pharmacy(ies)?

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) 2015 Edition Health Information Technology (IT) Certification Criteria Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM)

Has Your Health Center Hasn't Yet Started the Medicaid Re-validation Process?

The Affordable Care Act requires states to re-validate all providers participating in the Medicaid program by March 24, 2016, and every five years thereafter.  Being well aware of the length of time approval of PROMISe applications can take, we urge you to re-validate now, rather than wait closer to the deadline, when there will likely be an avalanche of applications. The Department of Human Services (DHS) this week clarified the following question:

Q:  I know we have to revalidate all our providers but do we have to do that for our service locations since we have a promise number for each of our sites as an FQHC or RHC?

A:  An FQHC or RHC is a provider, as is each site(geographic location) and each clinician, so each organization, site and clinician requires revalidation by the deadline of March 24, 2016.

On April 10, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a new proposed rule for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs to align Stage 1 and Stage 2 objectives and measures with the long-term proposals for Stage 3.  The modifications would allow providers to focus more closely on the advanced use of certified EHR technology to support health information exchange and quality improvement. The proposed rule would streamline reporting requirements by:

• Reducing the overall number of objectives to focus on advanced use of EHRs
• Removing measures that have become redundant, duplicative or have reached widespread adoption
• Realigning the reporting period beginning in 2015, so hospitals and critical access hospitals would participate on the calendar year instead of the fiscal year
• Allowing a 90 day MU reporting period in 2015 (instead of one year) to accommodate the implementation of these proposed changes in 2015
• Modifying patient action measures in Stage 2 objectives related to patient engagement

A fact sheet about the NPRM is also available. The deadline for comments is 5:00 pm, June 15, 2015.  For more about meaningful use, visit the CMS EHR Incentive Programs website.

As Florida lawmakers far away in the state capital struggle to break their stalemate over Medicaid expansion, Cynthia Louis sees the bus bench advertising "Obamacare" near her Miami home as a reminder of a broken promise: that the Affordable Care Act would help her get the medical care she needs to return to work.

Louis, 57, has been unemployed since fall of 2013. Before then, the mother of three worked for Burger King for nearly 25 years, preparing and serving breakfast and lunch to Miami customers.

We are well passed the fifth year anniversary of the day President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which was supposed to give every American affordable and accessible health care, especially to those people who had pre-existing conditions and were either forced to pay extremely high premiums for insurance or were denied coverage. However the ACA only works, assuming your goal is not a government-payer health care system, if those of us who don't have health insurance buy into the system to help ensure less healthy individuals can keep their premiums down. 

Three shot at Delaware university cookout 

Three people were shot at a Delaware State University student cookout Saturday, resulting in a police search across the campus and nearby areas.

The shooting was reported at about 8 p.m. at a school-sanctioned sorority and fraternity cookout event, university President Harry L. Williams said in a statement.

At the beginning of this year's General Assembly session, the prognosis for quality, affordable health care in Maryland was unclear. Newly elected Governor Larry Hogan had proposed a number of cuts to critical programs, the funding mechanism for our health insurance marketplace was up in the air and uncertainty in Congress clouded the future of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Now, with the 2015 General Assembly Session just ended, we have made some substantial progress. The General Assembly has done its job. But now Governor Hogan must act to keep Maryland's health care progress going. We strongly urge the governor to use the funds allocated by the General Assembly for critical health care programs.