COVID-19 Resources — Telehealth

Measuring Telehealth Success: You Can't Achieve it if You Can't Measure It: HITEQ Highlights Webinar (2021). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: More than a year into the Covid-19 pandemic, it is now obvious that telehealth — in the form of a hybrid care delivery model that blends virtual and in-person care — is not a fad, but a healthcare delivery option that is here to stay. Healthcare leaders are seeking to optimize their organization\'s telehealth services for high performance and long-term sustainability. The problem is that most leaders neither know how well (or how bad) their telehealth services are performing, nor what true success can or should look like. Telehealth, when designed and implemented correctly, will engage patients to achieve positive outcomes, delight physicians, and contribute to organizational strategic objectives, including sustainable financial success. In this presentation, Christian Milaster of Ingenium Digital Health Advisors leads viewers through a series of pragmatic concepts on how to set an organization’s telehealth success targets, what and how to measure telehealth performance, the Physician Bill of Telehealth Rights, and how to leverage telehealth to achieve strategic success. This presentation is the second session of a two-part series. The first session focused on a telehealth maturity model and is available here. More Details...

The COVID-19 Pandemic Resources and Information: Spanish and English (2020). Resource Type: Other. Description: We at Migrant Clinicians Network have a priority to support both clinicians and the vulnerable patients they serve. MCN continually develops strategies and resources to support health centers, health departments, community groups, and clinicians as they reach out to communities that are often overlooked and give care to patients who might otherwise have nowhere to go. We remain highly concerned for the vulnerable populations that already encounter numerous barriers to health and to care. More Details...

The Stairway to Telehealth Sustainability: The Telehealth Maturity Model: HITEQ Highlights Webinar (2021). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth adoption increased significantly, supporting ongoing access to care and was critical to support healthcare operations continuity which resulted in the adoption of various modes of telehealth tools. The initial focus was applying telehealth capabilities to ordinary care to increase access to care and keep patients, providers and staff safe. What healthcare organizations are now looking for is a roadmap to make telehealth more sustainable, to integrate it into clinical operations and to leverage it more strategically. In this presentation, Christian Milaster of Ingenium Digital Health Advisors shares the 7-step Telehealth Maturity Model that guides organizations toward sustainable success with telehealth. This presentation is the first session of a two-part series. HITEQ will host a second webinar session in April -- Measuring Telehealth Success: The Why, The What, The How. More Details...

Bridging Patient Access: Best Practices for Community Health Workers (2021). Resource Type: Publication. Description: As telehealth services continue to bridge patient access to health services, it is important for health centers to focus on best practices that ensure excellent delivery of care. Thisguideincludeshelpful information about telehealth service delivery, tips for providing good virtual care, and how Community Health Workers(CHWs)can engage in telehealth. More Details...

The COVID-19 Pandemic: Supporting LGBTQIA+ Patients (2021). Resource Type: Field-Generated Publication. * Description: This 2021 publication from the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center details how the COVID-19 pandemic affects LGBTQIA+ subpopulations. This brief provides strategies and resources to improve the capacity of health centers to meet the needs of LGBTQIA+ patients during the pandemic. More Details...

Health Center Governance & Telehealth: Current and Future Considerations for Strategy and Oversight: Gobernanza y telesalud del centro de salud: Consideraciones actuales y futuras para la estrategia y la supervisión (2021). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This article outlines various strategic and oversight considerations related to telehealth for health center boards. A list of discussion questions is included at the end of the article. More Details...

Financial Impact of COVID-19 on Rural Federally Qualified Health Centers (2021). Resource Type: Other. Description: The Financial Impact of COVID-19 on Rural Federally Qualified Health Centers report highlights the net projected losses of Rural FQHCs from April 2020 through June 2021, after taking into account critical federal support made available through December 2020. (Released in 2021) More Details...

Financial Impact of COVID-19 on California Federally Qualified Health Centers - Infographic (2021). Resource Type: Other. Description: Created with support from the California Health Care Foundation, this infographic highlights California FQHCs’ net projected losses from April through December 2020, after taking into account critical federal support made available through December 2020. More Details...

FTCA Office Hours for Clinical Leaders (2021). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: NACHC, in collaboration with Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell (FTLF), will be holding two virtual FTCA Office Hours to answer health center clinical leaders’ specific questions. Topics covered include coverage for COVID-19 related activities, navigating telehealth, coverage for virtual services, issues related to COVID-19 vaccine delivery, deeming of volunteer health professionals, preparing for a virtual site visit, and risk management. More Details...

Promising Practices in Virtual Integrated Behavioral Health Care: Lessons from Community Health Centers during COVID-19; February 2021 (2021). Resource Type: Publication. Description: With the rapid shift to telehealth services propelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, many community health centers had to rapidly transition to a mechanism of care delivery previously unknown and unfamiliar. Within a matter of days and weeks, health centers creatively found ways to transform workflows and approaches to care delivery to continue to provide care even if the patient was physically distant. This resource highlights promising practices in virtual integrated behavioral health care identified from community health centers. More Details...

Teledentistry During COVID-19: A promising practice (2021). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This promising practice features Petaluma Health Center in CA. The health center implemented a teledentistry program during the COVID-19 pandemic. This promising practice shares their experience in ensuring continuity of oral health care through teledentistry. More Details...

Coping with COVID-19: Trauma-informed Care for Pediatric NICU Providers During the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020). Resource Type: Online Self-Paced Learning Modules. Description: This is a FREE online continuing education course that provides 1 credit to nurses, physicians, social workers, and licensed marriage and family therapists. All other professions are welcome to take the course, and will receive a Certificate of Completion. More Details...

Coping with COVID-19: Trauma-informed Care for Frontline Maternity Providers During the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020). Resource Type: Online Self-Paced Learning Modules. Description: This is a FREE online continuing education course that provides 1 credit to nurses, physicians, social workers, and licensed marriage and family therapists. All other professions are welcome to take the course, and will receive a Certificate of Completion. More Details...

Telehealth Office Hours: Telehealth Policy Updates (2021). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: NACHC's policy team discuss federal and state level telehealth policy updates. More Details...

Telehealth Resource Library: Curated telehealth resources for health centers (2020). Resource Type: Other. Description: HITEQ is actively compiling a telehealth resource library for health centers, which houses actionable telehealth resources in the areas of telehealth technology, patient use of telehealth, provider use of telehealth, tele-behavioral health, and operationalizing telehealth more generally. This curated set of resources aims to assist health centers in accessing those resources that directly address current telehealth needs and challenges. More Details...

Ensuring Access to Care Through State Medicaid Telehealth Policies: COVID-19 & the HCH Community (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: In order to quickly respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government allowed temporary flexibilities to many policies related to telehealth services. This issue brief describes the temporary telehealth policies that have been especially successful for Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) health centers, and provides recommended actions at the state/local level for implementing more long-term solutions. Moving forward, making these policies permanent features of state Medicaid plans would help increase access to care for people experiencing homelessness, and improve health outcomes. More Details...

Addressing Intimate Partner Violence and Human Trafficking in the Health Center Setting: HITEQ Highlights Webinar (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: The coronavirus pandemic and consequent stay-at-home orders may increase danger for those at risk for or experiencing intimate partner violence and human trafficking (IPV/HT). Due to COVID-19, many health centers have shifted health encounters to virtual platforms, which offer unique opportunities to provide trauma-informed care and connect in new ways with those who may be experiencing abuse. Yet, telehealth and virtual visits also present health centers with new challenges related to privacy, safety and digital health equity. More Details...

Telehealth Office Hours: The Impact of COVID-19 on School Based Operations (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: Join us as we hear from the School-Based Health Alliance who will provide background information on the School-Based health center program and COVID-19 impacts on school-based operations. We will also hear directly from a School-based health center on their current operational status! More Details...

Telehealth for Supportive Housing Providers - CSH Three Part Telehealth Series: Guidance for Providers looking to adapt and are considering Billing for themselves (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: In the COVID19 environment technology can be used as a complement to face-to-face services, and also as a service on its own. Technology options can be especially useful for people with depression or suffering from distress, and when there are difficulties in physically meeting with tenants. More Details...

Telehealth Basics for Supportive Housing Providers and their Health Center Partners - CSH Three Part Telehealth Series: Guidance for Providers Looking to Support Residents Getting Connected to Telehealth (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: The public health emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic has required the health care sector including Community Health Centers and supportive housing providers to work in new ways to support their service participants (i.e. health center patients who are also supportive housing tenants). This brief considers the basics regarding telehealth for collaborations between health centers and the supportive housing field to consider as they adapt to provide services in a manner that protects both the client and staff. More Details...

A Framework for Health and Housing Partnership During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Key partnership elements for successful health and housing partnerships to address crisis (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Community responses to the COVID-19 pandemic like shelter-in-place, quarantine, testing, and management of strained health resources have elevated the necessity and value of effective health and housing partnerships to address the needs of vulnerable populations. This brief highlights strategies for health centers, housing, and community service providers in leveraging partnerships to address a range of health and housing needs both during, and after the COVID-19 crisis subsides. More Details...

Serving Rural Patients with Telehealth: Resources and Tips for Federally Qualified Health Centers: A HITEQ telehealth publication (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: With the challenges of provider shortages and lack of accessible facilities, telehealth presents an opportunity for health centers serving rural areas to expand health services, integrate primary care with subspecialty services, and improve care management.6 Telehealth provision in rural communities is particularly important and in-demand during the COVID-19 pandemic as many health centers have had to quickly transition to providing remote services. While telehealth has the potential to improve healthcare provision and access, many rural areas lack the reliable broadband connection and devices necessary for high-quality telehealth provision. More Details...

Health Centers on the Frontlines of COVID-19: The First 6 Months (2020). Resource Type: Infographic. Description: This infographic on health centers’ response to COVID-19 over the past six months. This infographic builds on the weekly COVID-19 infographic and presents how many patients health centers have tested, their telehealth and visit rates, how many sites have temporarily closed and much more from early April to early October. More Details...

Building the Plane While Flying It: Health Care for the Homeless, Telehealth and COVID-19, Part II (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: This Coffee Chat is the second of our series highlighting representatives from three HCH health centers featured in the Council’s recent publication on telehealth. The conversation shared information on how to engage clients through telehealth to enhance the experience and how to develop low-literacy messaging. Presenters discussed how to engage clients with limited or no access to internet or broadband services and establishing “technology hubs” can address these challenges. More Details...

Ending the HIV Epidemic Collaborative: Other EHRs (2020). Resource Type: Learning Collaborative. Description: Peer to peer sharing. If you are a Primary Care HIV Prevention (PCHP) funded health center that struggles with clinical decision support, tracking HIV prevention and treatment outcomes, your peers can share innovative ideas and strategies to help you find solutions. Relationship building. This is a unique opportunity for PCHP health centers to get together to share ideas around HIV screening and prevention. The EHE Collaborative is an opportunity to build relationships with other PCHPs. Improved technical assistance and training. Your participation in this roundtable helps HITEQ tailor our training and technical assistance services to serve you better. More Details...

Ending the HIV Epidemic Collaborative: Next Gen: HITEQ Ending the HIV Epidemic Collaborative (2020). Resource Type: Learning Collaborative. Description: Peer to peer sharing. If you are a Primary Care HIV Prevention (PCHP) funded health center that struggles with clinical decision support, tracking HIV prevention and treatment outcomes, your peers can share innovative ideas and strategies to help you find solutions. Relationship building. This is a unique opportunity for PCHP health centers to get together to share ideas around HIV screening and prevention. The EHE Collaborative is an opportunity to build relationships with other PCHPs. Improved technical assistance and training. Your participation in this roundtable helps HITEQ tailor our training and technical assistance services to serve you better. More Details...

Ending the HIV Epidemic Collaborative: Next Gen (2020). Resource Type: Learning Collaborative. Description: Peer to peer sharing. If you are a Primary Care HIV Prevention (PCHP) funded health center that struggles with clinical decision support, tracking HIV prevention and treatment outcomes, your peers can share innovative ideas and strategies to help you find solutions. Relationship building. This is a unique opportunity for PCHP health centers to get together to share ideas around HIV screening and prevention. The EHE Collaborative is an opportunity to build relationships with other PCHPs. Improved technical assistance and training. Your participation in this roundtable helps HITEQ tailor our training and technical assistance services to serve you better. More Details...

Ending the HIV Epidemic Collaborative: Greenway (2020). Resource Type: Learning Collaborative. Description: Peer to peer sharing. If you are a Primary Care HIV Prevention (PCHP) funded health center that struggles with clinical decision support, tracking HIV prevention and treatment outcomes, your peers can share innovative ideas and strategies to help you find solutions. Relationship building. This is a unique opportunity for PCHP health centers to get together to share ideas around HIV screening and prevention. The EHE Collaborative is an opportunity to build relationships with other PCHPs. Improved technical assistance and training. Your participation in this roundtable helps HITEQ tailor our training and technical assistance services to serve you better. More Details...

Ending the HIV Epidemic Collaborative: Greenway (2020). Resource Type: Collaborative. Description: Peer to peer sharing. If you are a Primary Care HIV Prevention (PCHP) funded health center that struggles with clinical decision support, tracking HIV prevention and treatment outcomes, your peers can share innovative ideas and strategies to help you find solutions. Relationship building. This is a unique opportunity for PCHP health centers to get together to share ideas around HIV screening and prevention. The EHE Collaborative is an opportunity to build relationships with other PCHPs. Improved technical assistance and training. Your participation in this roundtable helps HITEQ tailor our training and technical assistance services to serve you better. More Details...

Ending the HIV Epidemic Collaborative: E-Clinical Works (2020). Resource Type: Collaborative. Description: Peer to peer sharing. If you are a Primary Care HIV Prevention (PCHP) funded health center that struggles with clinical decision support, tracking HIV prevention and treatment outcomes, your peers can share innovative ideas and strategies to help you find solutions. Relationship building. This is a unique opportunity for PCHP health centers to get together to share ideas around HIV screening and prevention. The EHE Collaborative is an opportunity to build relationships with other PCHPs. Improved technical assistance and training. Your participation in this roundtable helps HITEQ tailor our training and technical assistance services to serve you better. More Details...

Ending the HIV Epidemic Collaborative: E-Clinical Works (2020). Resource Type: Collaborative. Description: Peer to peer sharing. If you are a Primary Care HIV Prevention (PCHP) funded health center that struggles with clinical decision support, tracking HIV prevention and treatment outcomes, your peers can share innovative ideas and strategies to help you find solutions. Relationship building. This is a unique opportunity for PCHP health centers to get together to share ideas around HIV screening and prevention. The EHE Collaborative is an opportunity to build relationships with other PCHPs. Improved technical assistance and training. Your participation in this roundtable helps HITEQ tailor our training and technical assistance services to serve you better. More Details...

Brief Telehealth Needs Assessment (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: As it becomes ever more clear that the public health emergency will last longer than initially anticipated, health centers are likely adapting telehealth services to that reality. This includes moving to a more hybrid clinic model where some visits are in the clinic, but many are still best done via telehealth. This also means refining telehealth services that may have been very rapidly adopted in early 2020 to be more sustainable and integrated going forward. More Details...

Patient Confidentiality and Telehealth Package (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This packet contains guidance on immediate and long-term telehealth/patient confidentiality questions relevant to federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) across the country. The resources contained within aim to provide risk management considerations for a sustainable telehealth program. More Details...

Building the Plane While Flying It: Health Care for the Homeless, Telehealth, and COVID-19 (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: This archived webinar highlighted Health Care for the Homeless leaders who described their distinct experiences in adopting telehealth in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The lessons learned promise to be helpful to other health centers that serve people without homes. More Details...

Delivering Telelegal Services During COVID-19 (2020). Resource Type: n.a.. Description: This town hall featured teams from Los Angeles, Montana, and Alaska who have experience delivering remote medical-legal partnership services in urban, rural, and frontier settings More Details...

Snapshot: FQHCs and Oral Health (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: n.a. More Details...

The Health Center Program and Increasing Access to Comprehensive Care Through the Use of Telehealth: An Update During COVID-19 (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: This fact sheet discusses how health centers are expanding their use of telehealth during COVID-19. More Details...

Telephone and Virtual Visits: Operational Considerations (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Tips and scripts for health center organizations to use in conducting telehealth visits with patients. More Details...

Telehealth.HHS.gov website (2020). Resource Type: Other. Description: The Telehealth.HHS.gov website provides information about the latest federal efforts to support and promote telehealth services. It was built by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). More Details...

Telehealth Workflows (2020). Resource Type: Other. Description: Suggested diagramed workflows for any organization managing patient caseloads via telemedicine. More Details...

Triage & Tele-Health Support Plan for Isolation Units: Strategies for engaging clients for telehealth in COVID19 environment (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This step-by-step support plan is applicable to Supportive Housing Providers, Managed Care Organizations (MCOs), Health Centers, and Case Management services across the country in the early stages for addressing infectious disease. The support plan includes Triage Interview Questions and Immediate Intervention Steps for front line staff. More Details...

Telehealth Implementation Quick Guide – COVID-19 Resource Packet / Guía rápida para la implementación de telesalud: Paquete de recursos sobre la COVID-19 (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This resource packet provides a short overview of reimbursement and legal considerations for telehealth during the pandemic, operational guides compiled from health centers for implementing telemedicine and telephonic visits, and sample workflows. More Details...

Basic Preparations for Fluid Operations During a Pandemic: A COVID-19 Operations Resource Packet (2020). Resource Type: Toolkit. Description: This packet contains basic, sample procedures and workflows informed by health centers that are currently managing ‘new normal’ operating procedures. “Fluid operations” are a result of circumstances may include partial, physical opening of some sites while virtually delivering other services, rapid closure and then re-opening of sites and services based on local COVID-19 health indicators, and rapid response to emerging needs requiring redeployment of staff and communication to patients and/or community members. More Details...

Getting a New Workflow and Process Started during COVID-19 Pandemic: Moving to Telehealth during Coronavirus Public Health Emergency (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Health centers are having to dramatically change approaches to patient care as the COVID-19 public health emergency keeps patients at home and ramps up the demands of telehealth and other remote care modalities. Many health centers are moving primary care, care for chronic conditions, behavioral health, and other important care that patients need to telehealth, but the changing landscape and quick turnaround is tricky for organizations to navigate successfully. This resource is a quick start guide for health centers making this change. More Details...

HIPAA Compliance and Telework (English/Spanish) (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This short legal guidance memo from FTLF is intended to guide health center staff in assuring HIPAA compliance in a remote work setting. It accompanies two other NACHC resources: Remote Work Toolkit; and Reduced Workflows and Staffing Guidance for Non-Clinical Operations COVID-19 Resource Packet. More Details...

Telehealth Implications for FQHCs — COVID-19 (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: In this complimentary webinar, we will describe the new telehealth flexibilities in the Appropriations Act and PAL 2020-01, discuss the President's recent national emergency declaration, and explain the broader impact of each on health centers. More Details...

Using Non-Traditional Technology for Telehealth During COVID-19 Pandemic: Issue Brief for implementing commercial applications for telehealth consistent with March 2020 OCR Guidance (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights (OCR), the entity responsible for enforcing regulations under HIPAA, stated, effective immediately, it will exercise enforcement discretion and will not impose penalties for HIPAA violations against covered healthcare providers if patients are served on a good faith basis during the COVID-19 nationwide public health emergency. OCR has clarified that, during this public health emergency, these technologies can be used for any services, not only those specific to COVID-19. More Details...

Telehealth Policy during Coronavirus/COVID-19 Pandemic (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: The HITEQ Center is adding additional telehealth information, including policy and regulatory developments, relevant to coronavirus/ COVID-19 pandemic as it impacts health centers as it becomes available. More Details...

Telehealth Essentials (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This brief guide by Mid-Atlantic Telehealth Resource Center discuss the essential aspects of telehealth, from policy to implementation. More Details...

Telehealth to Support Primary Care during COVID-19 (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: Sanjeev Arora, MD, discusses how the Project ECHO model is being applied to support primary care providers during this pandemic. Bob Phillips, MD reports on how primary care practitioners are applying emerging telehealth policies and the tough choices practices are making to maintain financial viability with dramatically reduced in-person visits. More Details...

Telehealth and COVID-19 (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: The National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers held a webinar exploring further uses and benefits of telehealth during the COVID-19 outbreak. More Details...

Telehealth Toolkit — COVID-19 (2020). Resource Type: Toolkit. Description: This toolkit outlines ways in which telehealth can be used in response to COVID-19. More Details...