Quick Finds: Clinical Issues

The COVID-19 Pandemic Resources and Information: Spanish and English (2020). 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...

Leading with Optimism in Challenging Times (2021). In this national webinar you will hear New York Times Best Selling Author, Shawn Achor, talk about his research in positive psychology, Jordan Voigt, president of Genesis Medical Center, Davenport, who will share the story of Genesis Health System, recently featured in Harvard Business Review, and we will explore “what leading with optimism really looks like” in times of significant challenge. More Details...

CDC and FDA Recommendation to Pause Use of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine (Talking Points) (2021). This resource provides talking points concerning the CDC and FDA's recommendation to pause the use of the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine after six reported U.S. cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot. The recommendation was made in order to prepare the health care system to recognize and treat patients appropriately. More Details...

Maintaining Access to Dental Services During COVID-19 (2021). At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, dental services were deemed non-essential and oral health services stopped. For people experiencing homelessness especially, however, dental services are critical. Over time, Health Care for the Homeless health centers innovated strategies to reopen and sustain access to these crucial services. This paper tracks themes from these innovations and recommends strategies to keep oral health services going during a pandemic. More Details...

Using HRSA Health Center Funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to Improve Systems of Care for People Experiencing Homelessness (2021). As part of a larger $10 billion dollar investment to expand vaccine access in hardest-hit and high-risk communities, $6 billion dollars is being allocated by HRSA to 1,376 health centers to expand access to care. This funding presents a substantial opportunity to meet immediate needs and also improve systems of care for people experiencing homelessness. Read our issue brief on funding possibilities. More Details...

Antigen Testing in Congregate Shelters: Process Outline and Implementation Playbook (2021). Ongoing testing is still needed to identify cases and properly treat those with symptomatic or asymptomatic COVID. The CDC has issued Interim Testing Guidance for shelters and encampments to inform practices. Use this Antigen Testing Playbook for step-by-step guidance on implementing a comprehensive testing strategy in congregate shelters. More Details...

A Clinical Resource Guide for Community Care Centers During the COVID-19 Pandemic (2021). The COVID-19 pandemic is requiring a comprehensive infectious disease response. People experiencing homelessness are at a unique disadvantage in adhering to infectious diseases prevention and control directives. In response, many communities have created facilities that provide 24/7 shelter, urgent and medical respite care, and infection prevention and control measures. This guide will focus on the needs of homeless populations requiring a stay at centers because they have tested positive for COVID-19, have been exposed to it, or are thought to be particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 exposure. More Details...

COVID-19 Vaccine:  Tips from your Community Health Worker (2021). COVID-19 vaccines are a critical tool to help stop the spread of disease and protect our communities. MHP Salud\'s Tips from your Community Health Worker resource for is designed for health workers supporting patients with Limited English Proficiency (LEP). The tips and resources aim to help health centers build vaccine confidence among the migrant and agricultural worker population and their families. More Details...

Bridging Patient Access: Best Practices for Community Health Workers (2021). 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...

Sexual Health and Older LGBTQIA+ Adults - 2021 (2021). Sexual health is an integral part of overall health, and this remains so as people age. This publication describes core terms and concepts for sexual orientation and gender identity, addresses common misconceptions about sexuality and aging, and outlines special considerations for the sexual health care of older adults, including a demonstration of how to elicit an affirming sexual history. More Details...

The Invisible Second Patient: Supporting the Family Caregiver (2021). This webinar focused on educating participants about engaging family caregivers as a part of the healthcare team and the value of promoting opportunities for their own self-care. More Details...

The Importance of Social Connection for Older Adults During COVID-19 (2021). Physical distancing and loss of social supports during the COVID-19 pandemic may result in situations where vulnerable older adults experience emotional distress and poorer health outcomes. This webinar focused on helping participants understand the importance of early identification of ways to identify and support socially isolated and lonely older adults. More Details...

Promoting Health Literacy in Older Adults (2021). This webinar focused on applying an individualized approach to clarify and improve communication with older adult patients and support their healthcare engagement. More Details...

Managing Diabetes in Older Adults within a Dental Setting: A Practical Integrated Care Approach (2021). This webinar focused on the benefits of implementing and monitoring blood glucose and hemoglobin A1C testing for older adults in their health center oral health services. More Details...

COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic Implementation Toolkit (2021). This is a toolkit for decision-makers and implementers of vaccine clinics. Our goal was to create a “vaccination clinic in a box” that could be replicated in, and tailored to, many types of settings. The guide includes prompts for questions you may need to ask, examples of many types of documents that you may need (and information about where to find more documentation), and lessons-learned from our experience. More Details...

SC Primary Health Care Association COVID Testing and Vaccine Education Video (2021). As of Monday, March 22nd there has been 459,772 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in South Carolina. This video offers some directions and a few resources as proactive measures. Prominent in this video is a discussion of equity in relationship to the vaccine and vaccine hesitancy among persons of color. Available with sub-titles in Spanish. More Details...

FTCA Office Hours for Clinical Leaders (2021). 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...

Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy: Media, Web Page, Person to Person, and Target Populations (2021). Weitzman ECHO COVID-19 combines specific didactic, case-based learning and COVID-19 experiences and expertise in primary care to front line Safety Net healthcare providers across the country during this pandemic. More Details...

America’s COVID-19 Vaccine Plan: A Discussion with Dr. Bechara Choucair, White House Vaccinations Coordinator (2021). This timely discussion with Dr. Bechara Choucair, White House Vaccinations Coordinator, focused on the state of the nation’s vaccination effort against COVID-19. More Details...

Partnering for the COVID Vaccine: Lessons from the Flu-LEAD Project (2021). The National Nurse-Led Care Consortium, the National Center for Health in Public Housing, and subject matter experts from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development hosted a webinar about leveraging health center and housing authority partnerships for COVID vaccine distribution. More Details...

Infographic: COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine FAQ (2021). This infographic is meant to be a client-facing handout providing education and FAQs on the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. While it is designed to be accessible to populations experiencing homelessness, it is applicable to all patients. More Details...

Using SMBP to Diagnose and Manage Hypertension (2021). Out-of-office BP measurements are recommended to confirm the diagnosis of hypertension. Recent research estimates that up to 30% of patients with non-hypertensive in-office blood pressure readings have elevated blood pressures when measured outside of the office (Masked Hypertension). In addition, up to 35% of people with elevated office blood pressures may have normal blood pressures when measured outside of the office (White-Coat Hypertension). SMBP helps prevent these misclassifications and helps ensure patients are diagnosed more accurately. More Details...

US Blood Pressure Validated Device Listing (2021). Uncontrolled high blood pressure (“BP”) is the leading risk factor for death and disability. The accurate measurement of BP is essential for the diagnosis and management of hypertension. One important aspect of accurate measurement is whether the BP measurement device has been validated for clinical accuracy. This website lists blood pressure measurement devices that have been validated for clinical accuracy as determined through an independent review process. More Details...

Taking Control of My Blood Pressure: Natalia's Story (2018). Natalia, a Community Health Center patient, explains how she has taken control of her blood pressure with the help of self-measured blood pressure monitoring (SMBP) at Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center. More Details...

Taking Control of My Blood Pressure: D'Angelo's Story (2018). D’Angelo, a Community Health Center patient, explains how he has taken control of his blood pressure with the help of self-measured blood pressure monitoring (SMBP) at Whitney M. Young, Jr. Health Center. More Details...

SMBP: Evidence-based Protocols for Using it in Clinical Practice (2021). An overview of SMBP, its benefits, and how to use it in a clinical practice. More Details...

SMBP Joint Policy Statement 2020 (2020). Self-measured BP monitoring, the measurement of BP by an individual outside of the office at home, is a validated approach for out-of-office BP measurement. Several national and international hypertension guidelines endorse self-measured BP monitoring. Indications include the diagnosis of white-coat hypertension and masked hypertension and the identification of white-coat effect and masked uncontrolled hypertension. Other indications include confirming the diagnosis of resistant hypertension and detecting morning hypertension. More Details...

SMBP Implementation Guide: Implementation Guide for Health Care Delivery Organizations (2018). This implementation guide is designed to help guide health care delivery organizations to implement SMBP into practice or optimize their existing SMBP processes in a systematic way. It includes change ideas, implementation tips, and tools and resources to set up SMBP successfully based on your goals, environment, and community partners/assets. More Details...

SMBP CPT Coding (2021). Self-measured blood pressure (SMBP) refers to blood pressure (BP) measurements obtained outside of a physician’s practice, usually at home. When combined with clinical support (e.g., one-on-one counseling, web-based or telephonic support tools, education), SMBP can enhance the quality and accessibility of care for people with high blood pressure and improve blood pressure control. SMBP can be used to assess BP control and to make a diagnosis of hypertension. SMBP allows patients to actively participate in the management of their BP and has been shown to improve adherence to antihypertensive medications. More Details...

Self-Measurement: How Patients and Care Teams are Bringing Blood Pressure to Control (2018). This video showcases several community health centers' work to implement self-measured blood pressure monitoring (SMBP) programs in their clinics. The health centers provided blood pressure monitors to their at-risk patients for use at home as part of a project funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More Details...

Self-Measured Blood Pressure Monitoring: Action Steps for Clinicians: Action Steps for Clinicians (2014). The purpose of this guide is to facilitate the implementation of SMBP plus clinical support in four key areas: Preparing care teams to support SMBP, selecting and incorporating clinical support systems, empowering patients, and encouraging health insurance coverage for SMBP plus additional clinical support. For each area, the guide lists actions that can facilitate the implementation of SMBP plus additional support. Beside each action step, it provides corresponding electronic resources to assist with these actions. It also includes appendices that describe proper SMBP preparation and technique, clinical support interventions that are effective when used with SMBP, the proper way to check a home blood pressure monitor for accuracy, and the burden and cost of hypertension. More Details...

Self-Measured Blood Pressure Monitoring (SMBP) Implementation Toolkit (2020). This toolkit is designed to help organizations implement self-measured blood pressure monitoring (SMBP) successfully into their care processes and workflows. SMBP refers to blood pressure measurements taken outside of the clinical setting, usually at home. SMBP helps with both diagnosis and management of hypertension and increases patient participation in their own care. SMBP, when combined with other clinical supports, improves hypertension control. More Details...

How to Use your Home Blood Pressure Monitor (English) (2018). One of the most accurate ways to measure your blood pressure is to do it yourself, outside of the doctor’s office, in a comfortable setting like your home. It’s called self-measured blood pressure monitoring (SMBP). This short video will teach you how to use your home blood pressure monitor so that you can share your readings with your provider and, together with your health care team, make better decisions about your health care. For more information, visit millionhearts.hhs.gov. More Details...

Como Usar Su Monitor de Presión Arterial (2018). Una forma precisa de medir su presión arterial es hacerlo usted mismo fuera del consultorio del doctor, en un ambiente cómodo, como su casa. Se llama automedida de la presión arterial o AMPA, SMBP en inglés. Este corto video le enseñará los pasos que debe seguir para usar su monitor de presión arterial en su hogar para que pueda compartir sus lecturas con su doctor y, junto con su equipo de atención de salud, tomar mejores decisiones sobre su atención medica. More Details...

Are Community Health Center Patients Interested in Self-Measured Blood Pressure Monitoring (SMBP) – And Can They Do It? (2021). Self-measured blood pressure monitoring (SMBP) helps diagnose and manage hypertension from outside the clinic, which has implications for patient empowerment and outcomes, continuity of care, and resilience in care communities catering to vulnerable populations. More Details...

Accelerating Use of SMBP through Clinical-Community Care Models (2020). Self-measured blood pressure monitoring (SMBP), the regular measurement of blood pressure by a patient outside the clinical setting, plus additional support, is a proven, cost-effective but underutilized strategy to improve hypertension outcomes. To accelerate SMBP use, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded the National Association of Community Health Centers, the YMCA of the USA, and Association of State and Territorial Health Officials to develop cross-sector care models to offer SMBP to patients with hypertension. More Details...

7-Step SMBP Quick Guide: Helping patients achieve and maintain blood pressure goals (2020). The recent COVID-19 pandemic has led to a rapid increase in the use of telemedicine by many health care organizations, physicians and care teams. Using telemedicine modalities with self-measured blood pressure (SMBP) can help patients with hypertension achieve and maintain blood pressure goals. More Details...

Teledentistry During COVID-19: A promising practice (2021). 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...

NACHC COVID-19 Communications Toolkit for Health Center Staff (2021). This Toolkit is intended to provide health center staff with simple Key Messages (which can be tailored for use with specific populations); Frequently Asked Questions; Sample Social Media posts; and useful template communications materials to create confidence in the COVID-19 vaccine and encourage health center staff and the communities they serve to get the vaccine and help protect against COVID-19. More Details...

Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes - 2021 (2021). This annually updated evidence-based guide provides a comprehensive approach to the prevention, screening, management, and patient health literacy and self-management of diabetes. Sections address special populations that include children, elders, pregnant women, the food insecure, migrant and seasonal agricultural workers, and those with comorbid health conditions. Facilitating behavior change to reduce diabetes risk, complement sections focused on Prediabetes and the delay in progression of diabetes. More Details...

Prediabetes Risk Test (2021). This 8-question risk test can be taken online or on paper and uses an individual’s demographics, family, and medical history to assess their risk of developing diabetes. For those identified as being high-risk, information on the National Diabetes Prevention Program are included to encourage enrollment in a life-style change program to prevent or delay diabetes. More Details...

National Diabetes Statistics Report - 2020 (2021). This periodically updated report provides national data on the prevalence of diabetes within the United States. Assessed data includes the incidence of prediabetes, risk for diabetes complications, and the coexisting conditions and complications frequently experienced by those diagnosed with diabetes. More Details...

Military Lessons Drive Covid-19 Vaccine Plan at Philadelphia Health Center (2021). Retired Major Dr. Robert Heininger was responsible for health policies on his military base in Georgia and is now applying what he learned to operation of five Federally Qualified Health Centers, specifically around administration of COVID-19 vaccines. More Details...

Coping with COVID-19: Trauma-informed Care for Pediatric NICU Providers During the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020). 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). 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...

Process for Tracking Utilization of COVID-19 Therapeutics (2021). This resource discusses who should report on the use of federally purchased therapeutics, rules governing reporting, and the process of reporting. More Details...

Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine: Storage and Handling Summary (2021). This resource outlines how to store and handle the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. More Details...

Overview of Direct Order Process for COVID-19 Therapeutics (2021). The United States Government (USG) is responsible for the allocation and distribution of monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapeutics for the treatment of COVID-19 as per the Emergency Use Authorizations (EUA) issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The USG has developed a process for sites to directly order from the distributor, AmerisourceBergen (ABC). More Details...

Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine: Storage and Handling Summary (2021). This document outlines how to store and handle the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. More Details...

FTCA Office Hour for Clinical Leaders: January 21, 2021 (2021). NACHC, in collaboration with Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP, is continuing to hold a series of Office Hours to answer health center specific COVID-19 FTCA-related questions. Topics discussed 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...

COVID-19 Vaccine Posters and "I Got Vaccinated" Social Media Images (2021). To aid your vaccine communication efforts, NACHC has two new resources: Posters: NACHC’s new COVID-19 vaccine posters (in standard printer size) can help health centers positively promote the vaccine. Customizable social media graphics: Encourage staff and providers who have gotten the vaccine to share their experience on their social media channels with NACHC’s \"I got vaccinated against COVID\" social media graphics. More Details...

Common Questions and Concerns — COVID-19 Vaccine (English/Spanish) (2021). This document provides answers to common questions about the COVID-19 vaccine from patients, including "What are the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine?" and "Can the vaccine give me or my family COVID-19?" More Details...

COVID-19 Homeless System Response: Vaccine Planning and Distribution (2021). Vaccines are a vital, lifesaving tool that prevent illness and death. Vaccines have greatly reduced or eliminated many infectious diseases that once routinely killed or harmed adults and children, particularly those living in poverty. It is essential that households experiencing homelessness have access to the COVID-19 vaccine. Many states and counties around the country have prioritized vaccine access both for homeless service providers and individuals experiencing homelessness. More Details...

Consumer Perspectives of the COVID-19 Vaccine: COVID-19 & the HCH Community (2021). To better understand how people experiencing homelessness view the COVID-19 vaccine, the National Health Care for the Homeless Council conducted focus groups with steering committee members of its National Consumer Advisory Board and with consumers from local community homeless service programs. This brief is intended to (1) share their direct feedback so those planning vaccination events can better reach priority populations like those experiencing homelessness, and (2) identify actions that should be taken now to maximize the uptake of the vaccine. More Details...

Microplanning for COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery (2021). This short document outlines the process for COVID-19 vaccine delivery to serve as a planning guide for health centers. The guide addresses the role of the board and the C-Suite in determining the organization's role, then focuses on the core leadership team in four major planning areas: design workflow, data use, education,and engagement. More Details...

Breaking the Cycle of Integenerational Diabetes Webinar: Webinar highlights strategies to address diabetes impacting multi-generational families (2021). This webinar highlights health center programs that reach into underserved communities to address diabetes care across generations More Details...

A Call for Reinforcements in Diabetes Care: Maximizing the Role of Non-Clinical Staff and Partners Publication: Issue brief and case studies highlightin promising practices for non-clinical staff with links to the community (2020). Successful diabetes care for vulnerable populations demands a multi-prong approach and support from a range of community resources to address SDOH. This report outlines promising practices utilizing interdisciplinary teams and community resources can support consumers’ self-management and in-turn More Details...

Strategies for Increasing HIV Screening Rates at Your Health Center (2020). Health centers are always searching for innovative strategies to increase their HIV screening rates. This year, health centers have gotten creative by combining HIV testing with COVID-19 screening, while others are mailing at-home HIV testing kits to patients. Finding strategies to help increase HIV screening at your health center is a lesson in trial and error. We hope our latest blog will give you some ideas on improving your HIV screening rates! More Details...

Federal Activities and Approaches to Advance Social Determinants of Health Data Use and Interoperability in Support of Community Health Centers: HITEQ Highlights Webinar (2020). View this HITEQ Center webinar, where the The Health and Human Services, Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT present on the current state of federal activities and standards based approaches for collecting, sharing, and using SDoH data with a focus on technical and policy considerations. The presentation describes available standards, tools, and initiatives for health center use and input. More Details...

The HCH Community & COVID-19: Vaccines for Clients and Staff (2020). As vaccines for COVID-19 are approved and become available for distribution, questions abound on when they will be available for people experiencing homelessness as well as staff working in community-based programs (such as health centers and homeless shelters). This discussion identified the main challenges to vaccinating the HCH community, the strategies needed to ensure a successful vaccination campaign, and the immediate action steps to consider in order to be prepared. More Details...

Public Housing Primary Care (PHPC) COVID-19 Dashboard (2020). This dashboard by NCHPH provides the latest COVID-19 statistics in Public Housing Primary Care (PHPC) Health Centers, including race and ethnicity data and additional resources. More Details...

COVID-19 Vaccination Communication Toolkit: CDC Vaccine Communications Toolkit (2020). Ready-made materials to inform healthcare teams and staff. More Details...

Ask Me Anything: Microplanning for Flu and COVID-19 Vaccines, Part 1 (2020). The first in a series of 30-minute Q&A sessions with the Association of Immunization Managers’ CEO, Claire Hannan. Hannan answers questions and provides guidance on microplanning for both Flu and COVID-19 vaccinations in 2020/2021. More Details...

Supporting Implementation of Smoking Cessation Programs in Public Housing Primary Care Settings: Learning Collaborative (20; Session 2 11). During this learning collaborative health center staff learned about different aspects for implementation of smoking cessation programs. More Details...

Diabetes and Seasonal Influenza (Flu) During COVID-19: Protect Yourself! (2020). This infographic addresses the importance of influenza (flu) prevention among public housing residents with diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic. More Details...

Culturally Competent Care: Learning Collaborative (20; Session 2 11). This is a learning collaborative series of 4 sessions where Health Center staff learned about standards for providing culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) to their patients. Slides and recordings for all sessions are available here as well as resources to facilitate the implementation of CLAS in health center settings. More Details...

The HCH Community & COVID-19: Vaccines for Patients and Staff (2020). As COVID-19 vaccines become available, questions abound on how to immunize patients and staff of health centers that serve people experiencing homelessness. This issue brief outlines unique considerations for this vulnerable population. More Details...

Food Insecurity and Trauma Informed Approaches to BMI and Diabetes Care While Experiencing Homelessness (2020). This archived webinar describes the importance of trauma-informed care in assessing Body Mass Index in the context of diabetes treatment for patients experiencing homelessness. More Details...

A Brief Case for Safety: Preventing Errors Associated with Vaccine Management (2020). Developed by ECRI, this brief case study focuses on best practices for vaccine management. It provides a checklist for health centers and free clinics to help prepare for immunization activities and vaccine distribution. More Details...

Emergency Preparedness: Infectious Disease Risk: Risk Communication: Infectious Disease (2019). Sarah Darcy, Media Relations Manager for South Shore Health System, speaks on risk communication and how it relates to infectious disease. More Details...

Winter is Coming: Flu and COVID-19 (2020). This webinar described the challenges and strategies of two co-occurring issues: the surge of COVID-19 cases and the flu season. More Details...

Integrating Smoking Cessation Services in Community-Based Primary Care (2020). A one-hour webinar that explores best practices for smoking cessation treatment for residents of public housing. More Details...

Implementing Opt-Out HIV Screening in Your Health Center: Understanding Opt-Out HIV Testing (2020). Getting tested for HIV is a powerful step towards taking control of one’s sexual health. Opt-out HIV testing, sometimes referred to as universal screening, is defined as conducting HIV testing after notifying patients that the test will be conducted and that they may decline or defer testing. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), opt-out testing is an evidence-based approach that has been shown to remove the stigma associated with HIV testing, foster earlier diagnosis and treatment, reduce transmission risk, and is cost-effective. More Details...

Ending the HIV Epidemic: The Health Center Role: HITEQ Highlights Webinar (2020). This presentation will be led by Dr. Tim Long, and will focus on the four pillars of Ending the HIV Epidemic and primary care HIV prevention. This webinar will focus on the clinical aspects of Ending the HIV epidemic, and use of health IT and EHR to support clinical care. More Details...

Addressing Intimate Partner Violence and Human Trafficking in the Health Center Setting: HITEQ Highlights Webinar (2020). 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...

This bilingual tool for Community Health Workers can be printed into a pamphlet that participants can use to track their A1C and other biometric data. (2018). Community Health Workers & Hypertension and Heart Health Interventions: A Resource for Program Managers and Administrators is a resource for Community Health Worker program managers and administrators. It explains how Community Health Worker-led intervention programs can positively impact patients who have hypertension. About 75 million American adults (1 in every 3) have high blood pressure. Although high blood pressure can be easily detected and can be controlled with lifestyle changes and medication, almost a third of individuals with hypertension don’t know they have it, and only about half have it under control. Due to their close understanding of and trust from the communities they serve, CHWs can be particularly strong champions for patients with hypertension and/or at risk of heart disease. More Details...

The Role of CHWs in Addressing Hypertension (2020). Community Health Workers (CHWs) are uniquely qualified to support individuals with hypertension. CHW interventions are known to improve health outcomes among individuals diagnosed with hypertension and support at-risk individuals to prevent the development of the condition. The purpose of this guide is to assist health centers and partners in identifying the roles of CHWs in addressing hypertension. More Details...

The Role of CHWs in Addressing Diabetes (2020). Community Health Worker (CHW) interventions have demonstrated success in improving health outcomes among individuals diagnosed with diabetes. Additionally, CHWs support at-risk individuals to prevent the development of the condition. The purpose of this guide is to assist health centers and partners in identifying the roles of CHWs in addressing diabetes. 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). 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...

Nurses on the Front Line: Models for 2020 Flu and COVID-19 Vaccines (2020). This document outlines key components for planning the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as models and lessons learned for the 2020 flu vaccine. More Details...

NNOHA Teledentistry Workflow (2020). A sample generic workflow provides an example of how oral health care can be delivered through teledentistry. More Details...

Know Your A1C Tool / Conozca Su A1C (2018). One of the most commonly reported positive health outcomes in Community Health Worker-led diabetes interventions is the improvement/stabilization of A1C levels reported in patients. The hemoglobin A1C test is a marker widely used to diagnose pre-diabetes and diabetes and to monitor diabetes control in patients. More Details...

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Cost Calculator (2020). NNCC’s HCV Cost Calculator is an interactive tool designed to evaluate the costs and benefits of Standard vs Enhanced HCV Care. The HCV Cost Calculator uses a numerical value-based model of health center staff training, screening, and treatment regimen to estimate the cost-benefit comparison and return on investment (ROI) to the health center. More Details...

Hepatitis Awareness Month: Providing Care for Patients During COVID-19 (2020). This webinar explored resources available to providers that treat patients seeking viral hepatitis services during the COVID-19 pandemic More Details...

Diabetes, Heart Disease, and LGBTQIA+ Populations (2020). Dr. Alex Gonzalez of Fenway Health  and Katherine Overton of the American Heart Association discuss diabetes and heart disease in LGBTQIA+ populations. More Details...

Care for LGBTQIA+ People of Color (2020) (2020). In this talk from the 2020 Advancing Excellence in Sexual and Gender Minority Health conference, Dr. Darrell Wheeler identifies challenges and solutions for supporting the health of LGBTQIA+ people of color. More Details...

Addressing the Opioid Crisis: Innovative Programs Serving People Experiencing Homelessness: Health center case studies for the Opioid Crisis. (2020). Health centers are increasingly seeing individuals who are suffering from Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) and other Substance Use Disorders (SUDs), and many of these individuals are also faced with housing instability or are experiencing homelessness. Innovation is being driven at the ground level by providers including health centers, public health departments, harm reduction agencies and supportive housing agencies that are all concerned with the impact of OUD and other SUDs on the health of the people they serve. Essential in any innovative care model are the services needed to ensure people experiencing homelessness have access to evidence-based care, including Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT). More Details...

Health Centers' Experienced and Anticipated COVID-19 Testing Challenges (2020). This report documents health centers’ experienced and anticipated challenges with COVID-19 testing. This report discusses the findings from NACHC’s open call for information on this topic and has testimonials from health center staff on their experiences. More Details...

Health Centers' Challenges with COVID-19 Testing (2020). This infographic illustrates high-level findings from the aforementioned report, which has additional testimonials from health center staff on their challenges with testing for COVID-19. More Details...

Health Centers on the Frontlines of COVID-19: The First 6 Months (2020). 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...

Flu Vaccine Guidance during COVID-19 for providers serving people without homes (2020). People experiencing homelessness are uniquely vulnerable to COVID-19 and the Flu and may face additional barriers to receiving vaccinations. A flu vaccine this season can also help reduce the burden on our healthcare systems responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. This infographic describes these key considerations. More Details...

Flu LEAD (Linkages to End Access Disparities) Initiative 2020 Information: A Pilot Project to Increase Influenza Vaccination Coverage among HUD-Assisted Residents (2020). This NCHPH informational page provides an overview, and resources about the Flu LEAD pilot project directed by the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to increase influenza vaccination coverage among residents of Public Housing Agencies (PHAs). More Details...

Promising Health Center Practices During COVID-19 (2020). This document provides a compendium of promising practices for health centers during COVID-19. This robust collection of field examples speaks to the breadth and depth of change and transformation carried out by health centers and their partners as they continued serving their communities in the midst of a pandemic response. More Details...

Influenza Vaccine Readiness in an Era of COVID-19: Reflections from Community Health Center Leaders (2020). This document contains interviews conducted by the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) with a diverse group of health center leaders to ascertain issues being considered in light of the urgent need for expansive influenza vaccine overage in the face of the novel coronavirus pandemic. More Details...

Guide to Improving Care Processes and Outcomes in Health Centers: An approach to quality improvement (2016). The quality improvement QI approach outlined in this Guide can be used to augment current QI approaches used in your health center, or can serve as a placeholder QI methodology when there isn’t already a robust QI process in place. It provides a framework and tools for documenting, analyzing, sharing and improving key workflows and information flows that drive performance on high-stakes care performance measures, and related improvement imperatives. This webpage provides strategies and tools that health centers and their partners can use to enhance care processes and outcomes targeted for improvement, such as hypertension and diabetes control, preventive care, and many others.   This webpage provides strategies and tools that health centers and their partners can use to enhance care processes and outcomes targeted for improvement, such as hypertension and diabetes control, preventive care, and many others. For authorship and acknowledgement for this Guide, see the bottom of this guide. The quality improvement QI approach outlined in this Guide can be used to augment current QI approaches used in your health center, or can serve as a placeholder QI methodology when there isn’t already a robust QI process in place. The approach provides a framework and tools for documenting, analyzing, sharing and improving key workflows and information flows that drive performance on high-stakes care performance measures, and related improvement imperatives.  The diagram to the left illustrates the data-driven, health IT-enabled continuous quality improvement approach that this Guide supports.  For an overview of the information contained herein access this recorded webinar and companion materials including transcript and slides for reference.     Background to Guide Guide Context and Approach This section includes guidance on leveraging Health IT to improve quality and clinical performance including data validation tools, Clinical Decision Support Quality Improvement worksheets, and change packages for recommended approaches related to various quality of care measures. Read More...   The diagram below illustrates the Guide’s focus on helping health centers adapt to the intensifying performance improvement imperatives they face pyramid tip. The Guide does this by providing strategies and tools to help analyze and improve critical workflows and information flows layers beneath the pyramid tip. For an introduction to the Guide that was presented as part of a webinar, see here the pertinent discussion is between these times/markers on the recording: 43:46-58:44     Audience The strategies and tools in this Guide are designed for quality, clinical and other health center staff, and health center partners that support quality improvement efforts. Read More... Everyone in a health center has a stake in successful quality improvement, and many different staff roles might be the first to encounter this Guide. For initial review, roles including QI/clinical/data/operations team members or leads are likely most appropriate. To drive substantial improvements, these tools and strategies should then be shared and used more widely with pertinent health center team members responsible for the organization’s clinical, operational and other activities key to successful QI. A QI team is typically the driving force behind the cross-stakeholder work outlined in this Guide. For more on building QI teams, see here.   Various organizations that support or depend on information from QI efforts within health centers can also become better QI partners by understanding and applying the strategies and tools in this Guide. These partners include:   Support organizations such as HCCNs, PCAs, payers and others   Organizations that supply health centers with technology that play a critical QI role, such as EHR and population health software vendors    Why Using this Guide is Important for Health Centers Quality improvement has traditionally been a core health center activity as health centers try to continually maximize value and efficiency. Dramatic healthcare payment reforms, increasingly tying payment to QI efforts and results, make effective QI a business imperative for all provider organizations. Wherever your organization is on the QI journey – from beginning through highly sophisticated – this Guide uses tools such as the CDS/QI Worksheets -- see under 'Document/ Analyze Flows; Identify Improvements' and strategies such as the CDS 5 Rights Framework that can enhance your QI efforts and results. Read More... Payment reforms seek to transform healthcare to achieve 3 key goals often referred to as the ‘Triple Aim’ or ‘Three-part Aim’:   Better care for individuals   Better health for populations   Lower cost   Key stakeholders assert that to achieve these goals, it’s important to also improve work life for clinicians and staff. Adding this dimension to the 3 goals above is referred to as the ‘Quadruple Aim.’ This shift to value-based payment is driven by both the public and private sector, and directly affects FQHC financial health. For example, the Merit-based Incentive Payment System is transforming Medicare by tying provider payments to performance on quality measures, clinical performance improvement activities, costs, and use of health IT. Medicaid and private payers are also driving transformation through increasing use of value and/or risk-based contracts that require successful QI.   Many health centers already use robust QI approaches such as those outlined in this quality improvement primer as part of UDS measure reporting and improvement efforts. Many likewise leverage powerful health IT capabilities such as population health management tools including disease/condition registries; EHR tools to enhance ordering, documentation and data review; and SMS texting with patients in this QI work. The drivers noted above, however, require increasingly sophisticated and effective approaches to health IT-enabled Quality Improvement health IT/QI. Other closely related terms include eCQI used by ONC and CMS and CDS-enabled QI CDS/QI, so those are terms referenced in some materials in this Guide as well.   The framework, strategies, and tools in this Guide can help your organization enhance its health IT/QI approach and results. In addition to the benefits this delivers in addressing payment drivers noted above, it can also improve staff satisfaction by streamlining care workflows, improve health center business strength by avoiding duplicated efforts and decreasing costs, and improve patient satisfaction by meeting their care needs more efficiently and effectively. How to Use this Guide The next main section of this resource, Health IT-Enabled QI Guide Details provides a step-by-step approach and tools for analyzing and enhancing care processes targeted for outcome improvement. The steps are outlined in the pathway under the first heading in that section, Approach to health IT-enabled QI. Read More... The Essential CDS/QI Worksheet is a core resource for analyzing and improving target-focused care. A preliminary workflow analysis and enhancement brainstorming exercise can be accomplished in as little as an hour by one or more health center staff reviewing the tutorial and using this worksheet. More comprehensive QI projects addressing all the steps in the pathway typically take up to a year or longer. In any case, the QI work should be a collaborative process involving all stakeholders within the health center, and ideally key partners as well such as the HCCN or PCA working with the health center, and their EHR and population health software vendors. Scanning these evidence-based strategies and tools will give health centers and their partners a sense for whether/how they can augment your current QI work. Users can then apply these approaches and resources with their team to the depth that would be most valuable and feasible given available time and resources. For a “quick win” exercise to identify potential high-yield, target-focused care process improvement opportunities, see this presentation Health IT Enabled QI: A Guide to Improvement. For additional ideas on introductory QI exercises, see the brief slide set, Five Minutes of Quality Improvement: Tackling Small QI Tasks. Contact the HITEQ Center for support on implementing the QI approach in this Guide.   Strategies and tools from this Guide in action:   CDS Learning Session ‘Quick Win’ Exercise: Sixteen community health centers in New Orleans conducted a valuable ‘Quick Win’ exercise using an earlier version of the Essential CDS/QI worksheet see here for further details about this exercise and results. In this activity, small teams from each health center e.g., a clinician and administrator were given a 20-minute overview of several key health IT/QI concepts and tools outlined in this Guide the broad CDS definition, CDS 5 Rights framework, and an earlier version of the CDS/QI Worksheet, each of which is explained later in this guide.   Immediately following, for just 20 minutes, each team independently used an enlarged version of the Essential CDS/QI Worksheet on a flip chart to document key workflows and information flows for their improvement target e.g., lipid or diabetes control. During this time, they also brainstormed refinements to one or more of the CDS 5 Rights “who, what, when, where, how” dimensions.   During the report-out following this brainstorming, health centers noted excitement about trying these enhancements to improve care processes and outcomes related to their target.   Using the Guide for Yearlong, Target Focused QI: Other QI projects have used the strategies and tools outlined in this Guide in yearlong, target focused QI efforts and have realized benefits for quality improvement and care processes, and increasingly in outcomes. In many cases these efforts involved collaboration with HCCNs and/or HIE/EHR/population management software vendors. These initiatives include:   A network of health centers in CA working on blood pressure control. The lead health center in this project, Petaluma Health Center, is a 2015 Million Hearts Hypertension Control Champion. View project report slides.   Improving blood pressure and diabetes in control in Trenton, NJ that included a health center among the participants. View project report slides .   Health centers in several states working on hypertension diagnosis and management several of which are achieving aggressive blood pressure improvement targets. Link to project overview.   Health IT-Enabled QI Guide Details Approach to Health IT-enabled QI The outline depicted in the figure below provides a step-by-step approach to analyzing and enhancing care processes targeted for outcome improvement. The sections below provide guidance and tools on addressing each of these steps. Read More...   Check/ Reinforce Foundations Successful health IT/QI efforts require a firm foundation of people, process, and technology elements. Read More... Cultivate a shared commitment within your team to improving care delivery and results, including fully leveraging health IT capabilities. Successful QI efforts deliver a ‘win-win-win’ for patients and their care teams, as well as broader organizational goals. This infographic and report examines characteristics of health centers that have achieved high clinical, financial and operational performance.     Ensure that key foundations for successful QI efforts are in place. For example, leadership and team support; stable well-utilized health IT systems such as EHR, population management software; bandwidth and capacity for the QI work; and shared understanding about QI goals and processes.  For some specific resources around ensuring key foundations, see here for Motivating Factors for Engaging in Health IT-enabled QI, and Engaging the Data Creators.  Also, see here for A Buyer’s Guide to Business Intelligence Tools.  Here is a tool to assess analytics capability in health centers, that also provides insights into the nuance of working with data and building a data-driven culture. A brief video introduction to using this tool is here.   Ensure access to and validate data that will underpin the QI efforts. For example, ensure that EHR and/or population management software can deliver needed data and reports, and produce the same values for targeted performance measures and related data as manual review/calculation. See here for questions to consider to help determine if you are fully utilizing your EHR capabilities for population management, and if additional tools are needed. This checklist can help with data validation and interpretation a webinar that includes an introduction to this checklist is here, and the pertinent discussion is between these times/markers on the recording: 8:15- 43:45. See here for a basic auditing tool Excel Template for data reports, and a case study on data validation.   Identify and address barriers to collaboration on effective process improvement such as stakeholder conflicts or conflicting goals among all concerned, including providers, care delivery and quality staff, partners e.g., health IT vendors, and patients.   Layer the approach and tools outlined below onto your general QI methodology, as well as any current target-focused QI activities. If no QI framework is in place, consider using the approach outlined in this Guide as a starting point, and build that out further through options such as those provided in the primer, Continuous Quality Improvement CQI Strategies to Optimize your Practice. Understand Health IT-enabled QI Everyone participating in the QI work should have a shared understanding of key definitions e.g., CDS, frameworks e.g., CDS 5 Rights, strategies e.g., the QI process outlined under the Implement and Evaluate Changes heading., tools e.g., Essential CDS/QI Worksheet, and key QI project success factors.   Read More... ‘Clinical Decision Support’ CDS is a key underpinning for the QI approach outlined in this Guide, but its meaning here might be different than what you have in mind especially if ‘alert’ figures prominently in your definition. In this Guide, CDS is defined as a process for improving health-related decisions and actions with pertinent knowledge and patient information to enhance health and care delivery. Under this definition, CDS is about supporting care decisions and actions, ideally in a manner that makes the appropriate decisions and actions the easy ones to execute. That is, facilitating workflow not interrupting it – as alerts often do. There are many different ways to provide this support e.g., CDS intervention types. See the CMS CDS tipsheet page for more details, including example CDS intervention types e.g., order sets, focused patient data summaries, documentation templates.   The CDS 5 Rights framework is a best practice QI approach recommended by CMS in the tipsheet above to support decisions and actions that drive performance targeted for improvement. It asserts that optimizing care processes and outcomes requires getting the right information to the right people in the right formats through the right channels at the right times see figure below. The tools and approaches outlined in this Guide help organizations implement this framework and enhance the contributions, experience and results for those involved in care delivery.   The Essential CDS/QI Worksheet see excerpt images below is a core health IT/ QI tool best used for initial efforts to map care processes and reveal potential enhancements. That is, to document and analyze target-focused information flows and workflows, and to brainstorm improvement opportunities see figure with excerpts from this worksheet below. The tutorial that follows provides guidance and examples on how the worksheet can be used. to streamline and enhance care processes. The Enhanced CDS/QI Worksheet,  pointed to below under the bullet titled 'For a deeper dive into health IT/ QI Foundations', is a more robust but more complicated tool for those already skilled in using the Essential CDS/QI Worksheet View the Tutorial on how to use the Essential CDS/QI Worksheet   See a completed Outpatient Essential CDS/QI Worksheet Example that uses this tool to illustrate the workflows and information flows that produced very high levels of blood pressure control in a small practice: Ellsworth Hypertension QI Case Study Note: this example used an earlier version of the Essential CDS/QI Worksheet that did not contain the ‘Foundational Activities’ section. This case study was originally developed for ONC and is also posted on here on healthit.gov. Attend to key QI project success factors:   Focus on People, Process, and Technology in that order, recognizing that engaging everyone involved is critical for success.     Focus on ‘the most important things’ when selecting improvement targets, opportunities to enhance care processes for the target, and activities to ensure successful implementation of those process changes.     QI activities involve a chain of stakeholders including health center QI leads, clinicians and staff, and ultimately patients. As the QI project unfolds and each of these groups is touched by the effort, seek to escalate engagement, insights, and momentum toward goals. For a deeper dive into health IT/QI foundations, consider these resources:   Tasks and Key Lessons from each chapter in “Improving Outcomes with Clinical Decision Support, and Implementer’s Guide, 2nd Edition.” These bulleted lists provide detailed guidance on successful CDS-enabled QI programs and interventions.   Enhanced CDS/QI Worksheet: Similar in concept to Essential version, but with additional space to document/review optimal care activities for the target, and the individual CDS 5 Rights dimensions for the current state. Consider using only after you are comfortable with the Essential CDS/QI Worksheet version Note: this example used an earlier version of the Enhanced CDS/QI Worksheet that did not contain the 'Foundational Activities' section.   View the Tutorial on how to use this Enhanced Worksheet [download the PDF and run locally for best results].   See a completed Outpatient Example: CHC Inc. hypertension QI case study   White papers and guides on HIT-CDS/QI:   Qualis Health: Integrating Clinical Decision Support Tools into Ambulatory Care Workflows for Improved Outcomes and Patient Safety   AHRQ: Using Health Information Technology to Support Quality Improvement in Primary Care   ONC: How-To Guides for Clinical Decision Support CDS Implementation Select Targets; Initiate QI Project   Successful QI efforts typically require significant time, energy and resources, so it is important to choose targets where the return will warrant the investment. This requires a clear and accurate understanding of baseline performance on the target.   Read More... Consider targets associated with business imperatives, such as UDS reporting especially for conditions where the health center is under-performing, and value-based payment initiatives from the private sector and CMS e.g., the Quality Payment Program which is radically overhauling Medicare payments to clinicians, and related value/risk-based payment models for Medicaid. Seek QI synergies with pertinent health center initiatives such as PCMH recognition and HRSA Health Center Quality Improvement Grant Awards.   Examine local performance gaps and improvement opportunities when reviewing payment drivers noted above and selecting targets. See the figure below from the HIMSS guidebook on improving outcomes for examples of local factors to consider in selecting targets for quality improvement intervention. Image Reference: Osheroff JA, Teich JM, Levick D, et. al. Improving Outcomes with Clinical Decision Support: An Implementer’s Guide, 2nd ed. Chicago: HIMSS. 2012.   Measure and understand your baseline performance on your targets. The CMS/ONC eCQI Resource Center has information about quality measure specifications for providers. The Checklist for Analyzing Performance Measure Data has detailed information about validating and interpreting these data. Document/Analyze Flows; Identify Improvements   A helpful QI adage is that “systems are perfectly designed to produce the results they deliver.” This truism highlights the importance of understanding current care processes that are driving sub-optimal performance on the targeted measure e.g., diabetes control, preventive care, use of expensive tests so they can be refined to deliver better results. The CDS/QI worksheet supports this analysis through a structured, broadly applicable framework for documenting, analyzing, sharing and improving target-focused care activities. Read More... Use the CDS/QI worksheet to help examine patient-specific and population management information flows and workflows, as well as foundational activities such as EHR configuration, policies, staff training, etc., that are producing sub-optimal performance on the target. For example, if the QI target is hypertension control, consider the current status of staff competency and training on measuring blood pressure appropriately foundational activities; registry use to identify and recall patients with poorly controlled blood pressure population management activities; and optimizing pre-visit huddles, order set use, and patient engagement/care plan adherence tools patient-specific supports.   Walk through the care process with special attention to the patient experience and document results in the Essential CDS/QI Worksheet.   Engage all care team members in the workflow/information flow and improvement analysis– including the patient, if possible.   If you are comfortable with the Essential CDS/QI Worksheet, consider using the Enhanced CDS/QI Worksheet instead of, or in addition to, the Essential Worksheet for a deeper dive into the ‘optimal state’ and the details of each CDS 5 Rights dimension.   Analyze this current state “what is?” to identify opportunities to improve target-focused information flow, workflow and results; i.e., to better address the CDS 5 Rights for the target. Document these potential enhancements in the CDS/QI Worksheet. Review the tutorial for the worksheet you are using i.e., essential vs. enhanced for guidance. For example, consider enhancements such as:   documentation templates, and related workflows for completing them, that make it easier to identify patient barriers to adherence with the care plan foundational activity;   text messages and/or personal calls to patients to decrease no-show rates patient-specific support, and   performance dashboards and related conversations to share target measure results with teams and clinicians as a springboard for brainstorming strategies to accelerate improvement population management activities.   Review evidence-based best care practices for the target “what should be”   Consider available best practice ‘change packages’ for the target:   For hypertension management, the CDC Hypertension Control Change Package presents change concepts, change ideas, and proven tools that outline ‘what should be’ best practices in categories that correspond to the categories on the CDS/QI Worksheets i.e., Foundation Activities, Population Management, and Patient-specific Supports and its subcomponents.   For detecting hypertension that may be ‘Hiding in Plain Sight’ in health centers and diagnosing hypertension so it can be managed appropriately to reduce heart attacks and strokes, see this similarly-structured “HIPS” change package.   For improving colorectal cancer screen rates as called for in the national "80% by 2018" campaign, see this similarly-structured change package   Examine other case examples and best practices for successful target-focused care strategies e.g., QI case studies published by ONC, and other resources:   Case examples on hypertension control:   Ellsworth Medical Clinic hypertension QI case study: narrative discussion and details presented in an earlier version of the Essential CDS/ QI Worksheet.   CHC, Inc.2 hypertension QI case study: narrative discussion and details presented in an earlier version of the Enhanced CDS/QI Worksheet. This study was originally developed for ONC and is also posted here on healthit.gov.   EHR Innovations for HTN Challenge results   Colorectal cancer screening recommendations for community health centers from the Oregon Primary Care Association and the National Colorectal Cancer Screening Roundtable    Case example on tobacco use screening and smoking cessation support at Miramont Family Medicine. This case study was originally developed for ONC and is also posted here on healthit.gov   Define potential workflow and information flow enhancements for the target “what could be here?” by combining ‘top down’ approaches i.e., starting from ‘what should be?’ best practices and ‘bottom up’ approaches i.e., improvement opportunities that emerge from the “what is?” analysis with stakeholders.   Prioritize identified enhancements to implement: Identify several enhancements that are most likely to deliver the greatest benefit in the shortest time with the least effort for initial implementation that is, use the “low hanging fruit” approach – see prioritization tools such as this Prioritization Matrix. Give special attention to changes that could yield strong benefits across multiple targets, or that appear especially promising for strengthening critical workflows and information flows e.g., related to patient engagement, registry use to identify and close care gaps, pre-visit planning, and efficiently executing evidence-based care plans. Implement & Evaluate Changes Implementing enhanced care processes requires that people e.g., health center clinicians, other staff, and patients do things differently. Formal change management approaches can help ensure that these changes are successful and that they produce desired results.   Read More... Use a QI methodology e.g., PDSA cycles to engage frontline staff and other key stakeholders in care processes and results to design, implement and evaluate the prioritized changes. Be sure to do this work with all the stakeholders and not to them i.e., seek and act on team members’ and patients’ input and feedback throughout the process. Be ready to modify patient care and quality improvement activities, CDS intervention details across any of the CDS 5 Rights dimensions, and other parameters if needed as improvement cycles unfold. Monitor implementation activities with structured tools that help you document and manage who’s doing what when, as well as the results. Sample monitoring tools:   Worksheets from Chapter 8: Putting Interventions into Action and Chapter 9: Measuring Results and Continuously Refining the Program in “Improving Outcomes with Clinical Decision Support: An Implementer’s Guide. Second Edition” provided with permission from HIMSS   IHI PDSA Worksheet: http://www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/Tools/PlanDoStudyActWorksheet.aspx   Validate and analyze performance measure data to make sure that the results are accurate, and that the team understands what they mean and what to do about them. This checklist can support this process. Harvest/Spread Results Ongoing attention to performance on key targets beyond ‘focused QI projects’ is generally warranted e.g. because performance may backslide for various reasons. In addition, there is a growing list of targets on which improvement is imperative. It is therefore important to ‘harvest’ learning, strategies and tools from each project that can be applied in an ongoing way to the target, and spread to other targets. The CDS/QI Worksheet’s structure can facilitate such cross fertilization among QI targets.   Read More... As the scheduled initiative concludes, review the QI project with stakeholders to better understand what worked well, what could have been done better, and what useful tools were created.   Apply this learning and these results to strengthen ongoing ‘maintenance’ efforts on the current target and other target-focused QI initiatives.   Transition target-related QI efforts from ‘project-focused’ to ‘this is how we do business.’ Build in ability to detect the need for, and implement, tweaks to target-related processes when required because of changes to people/processes/technology.   Incorporate proactively the insights and results from each QI project into subsequent QI initiatives. Although a particular target-focused QI project may be time-limited, the QI and clinical teams should remain alert for ways to continually improve care across all targets. For example, learning from a QI project might indicate opportunities to more broadly modify clinical and quality work and roles, as well as health IT configurations with this latter triggering feedback to developers about broadly needed enhancements.   Contact the HITEQ Center if you are interested in sharing results further with your peers, and opportunities for health IT/QI peer learning.   Acknowledgements Origins and Ongoing Refinement of this Guide: The content in this resource is drawn from and builds on widely used CDS/QI tools and strategies that have evolved over the past decade. The HITEQ Center plans to continue refining this Guide based on input from users like you, so please consider sharing your feedback through the comment form. Read More... The content in this Guide is an adapted and expanded version of care process improvement guidance posted here on healthit.gov. That original material was developed by Jerome Osheroff, MD, TMIT Consulting, LLC in collaboration with ONC and Deloitte, and this version on HITEQ was also developed by Osheroff/TMIT in collaboration with JSI and others.   Guide Reviewers Individuals below each provided helpful feedback on an earlier draft of this guide; those marked with * provided particularly detailed feedback that led to substantial enhancements: Sheila Allen, MPH; Chief Compliance and Quality Officer, HealthNet, Inc. *Daren Anderson, MD; Director of the Weitzman Institute and VP/Chief Quality Officer of Community Health Center, Inc Sasha East, MD; Internal Medicine Resident, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Renu George, MD; Internal Medicine Resident, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital *Meg Meador, MPH, C-PHI;  NACHC Director of Clinical Integration and Education *Jillian Maccini, MBA; Consultant, JSI Laura Methvin, MD; Internal Medicine Resident, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Alan Mitchell; Program Director, Performance Improvement, Primary Care Development Corporation PCDC * Nivedita Mohanty, MD; Director of Evidence-based Practice, Alliance of Chicago Rick Reifenberg MD, FAAP, FACP, Associate Medical Director, HealthNet Inc.   Refinements to material on this page to enhance its use and usefulness are planned based on user feedback HITEQinfo@jsi.com.   Recommended citation for this Guide: Osheroff, Jerome A. "Improving Care Processes and Outcomes in Health Centers. HRSA Health Information Technology, Evaluation and Quality Center. JSI. 9 Sept. 2016. Web. 21 Nov. 2016 More Details...

Million Hearts Factsheet (2015). This factsheet provides and overview of the Million Hearts Campaign's efforts to improve health of patients through concerted quality improvement (QI) efforts. More Details...

Improving Identification and Diagnosis of Hypertensive Patients Hiding in Plain Sight (HIPS) in Health Centers (2018). Hypertension is the most prevalent chronic condition diagnosed among patients served in the safety net in; the United States; however, many safety-net patients with hypertension are not formally diagnosed and may remain untreated and at increased risk for cardiovascular events. Identifying undiagnosed hypertension using algorithmic logic programmed into clinical decision support (CDS) approaches is a promising practice but has not been broadly tested in the safety-net setting. More Details...

Identifying Hypertensive Patients Hiding in Plain Sight (HIPS) Change Package (2016). This document is a compilation of change ideas that health center teams employed along with associated tools and resources that emerged thru work with the Million Hearts project. More Details...

Information for Patients About Dental Amalgam Fillings (2020). Page of FDA website where the FDA recommends patients in some risk factor groups discuss restoration options with their dentist, regarding amalgam fillings that contain mercury. More Details...

Who Are the Undiagnosed? Disparities in Hypertension Diagnoses in Vulnerable Populations (2020). This study builds upon a project that developed clinical criteria to identify undiagnosed hypertension patients “hiding in plain sight” (HIPS) by examining patient characteristics to understand whether there are disparities in hypertension diagnosis. More Details...

Accelerating Use of Self‑measured Blood Pressure Monitoring (SMBP) Through Clinical‑Community Care Models (2020). The project aimed to increase the use of Self-Measured Blood Pressure Monitoring (SMBP) through the coordinated action of health department leaders, community organizations and clinical providers. More Details...

Influenza Vaccination Technical Assistance Materials for Health Centers Curated by the Flu LEAD (Linkages to End Access Disparities) Team (2020). The following HRSA document contains technical assistance resources that may be helpful to health centers and other Health Center Program stakeholders interested in supporting clinical and community efforts to increase seasonal influenza vaccination rates. More Details...

Oral Health Value-Based Care: The Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) Story (2020). NACHC collaborated with the DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement to produce this white paper examining the role of FQHCs as facilitators of oral health value-based care. It also outlines various ways that FQHCs are positioned to respond effectively to the COVID-19 epidemic. More Details...

Social Determinants of Health for Public Housing Residents: Access to Healthy Food (2020). Using data and maps created by National Center for Health in Public Housing (NCHPH) and other national data sources, this publication is one in a series that identifies the prevalence of social factors and population health indicators that affect public housing residents. It is intended for non-clinical health center staff, decision makers, and public housing stakeholders. More Details...

GUIDANCE Sliding Coinsurance for CMS/Medicare Care Management Services (2020). While health centers are required to impose Medicare coinsurance for CMS/Medicare care management services, the coinsurance may be “slid” commensurate with the sliding fee discount program (SFDP) policy of the health center. Federal anti-kickback statutes and beneficiary inducement prohibitions include exceptions allowing health centers to discount coinsurance for patients who are eligible for the health center’s sliding fee discount program without violating Medicare rules. More Details...

Bridging the Digital Divide: Using Technology to Improve Access to Health Care for Public Housing Residents (2020). The purpose of this report is to outline the digital needs and challenges of public housing residents, the risks and benefits of using technology to improve patient care, and recommendations on how to prepare health centers and patients to optimize digital tools, improve access to care, and enhance efforts through partnerships to bridge the digital divide. More Details...

Delivering Telelegal Services During COVID-19 (2020). 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...

Advance Care Planning During COVID-19 (2020). This town hall conversation explores the legal, policy, operational, and capacity issues related to advance care planning. More Details...

Testing for COVID-19 in Homeless Shelters & Encampments: Discussing CDC’s New Health Department Guidance & NHCHC’s Newest Issue Brief (2020). As capacity for COVID-19 testing grows in most communities, high-risk settings such as homeless shelters and encampments are increasingly being prioritized for universal testing events. New CDC guidance for health departments outlines factors that local and state agencies can use to further inform specific policies being developed for these venues. A new National HCH Council issue brief provides lessons learned and testing strategies that HCHs in five cities have found to work successfully when conducting universal testing. This webinar summarized these new resources and hosted active discussion. More Details...

Reimagining Care (7/8/2020): Ensuring Access to Coverage During a Pandemic and Beyond (2020). COVID-19 has fundamentally changed how health centers deliver care. Health centers have also changed the way they provide a diverse range of non-medical enabling services that address patient barriers to care and social determinant of health. More Details...

Partnership Opportunities for Health Centers, EnVision Centers, and Public Housing Agencies (2020). The recent COVID-19 crisis his highlighted the magnitude of health inequities faced by public housing residents and the need for a coordinated approach in providing health prevention and treatment, as well as the basic goods and services needed to survive, e.g., food, medicine and shelter. More Details...

Secondary Traumatic Stress Identification, Mitigation and Improving Work Satrisfaction for Health Center Staff During the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020). Webinar hosted by NCHPH. Recording slides and handouts available. More Details...

Clinician's Guide to the EPA's Worker Protection Standard (2020). The EPA’s Worker Protection Standard (WPS) protects agricultural workers from the health risks associated with pesticides. This guide, jointly developed by Farmworker Justice and Migrant Clinicians Network, provides information to clinicians about the WPS, including basic protections, reporting and monitoring requirements, and important considerations for migrant health clinicians. More Details...

Building Resilience in the Midst of a Pandemic: What Health Care Workers and Leaders Can Do During the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020). A lot of energy has been devoted to the critical need for PPE, the lack of respirators, tests, and the pressure on health centers to help “flatten the curve.” This crisis has left little time to address the impact of workplace and personal stressors on providers and other staff as they try to balance the fear of contracting the virus while carrying a heavy, complex workload. This webinar provided tips and recommendations for leadership, health center staff working at clinical sites on how to create a healthy environment and cope with anxiety, depression and other behavioral disorders caused by COVID-19. More Details...

The HCH Community & COVID-19: Strategies for Proactive Universal Testing (2020). This issue brief complements the most recent CDC guidance on testing among populations experiencing homelessness and provides public health authorities, emergency response systems, HCH health centers, and other community providers with feedback about these experiences. It also offers lessons learned and strategies for conducting successful universal testing events among homeless populations. More Details...

TelePrEP for Health Centers: Telehealth Resources and Innovations for HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), June 2020 (2020). Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, has long been recognized as an effective treatment in the effort to end the HIV epidemic. Prescribing PrEP should be considered as part comprehensive prevention plan that includes a discussion about adherence to PrEP, condom use, other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and other risk reduction methods. This HITEQ brief presents an overview of how health centers can utilize telehealth for PrEP access, or TelePrEP, for comprehensive care, and includes innovations and resources that health centers can utilize to extend these services to their patient populations. More Details...

Returning to Primary Care: Diabetes Care During a Public Health Crisis (2020). The current public health crises have shown how critical it is for health centers to transform care delivery, especially for the vulnerable and safety-net population. Health centers provide care to individuals disproportionally at risk for, and affected by, diabetes. In this three-part webinar series, NACHC's Quality Center provided applications of evidence-based interventions for diabetes that can be readily and quickly implemented in the context of a changing healthcare environment. More Details...

HITEQ Highlights: Shared Care Planning Optimization Using the EHR (2020). The HITEQ Center, in collaboration with the National Council for Behavioral Health, hosted a webinar on Shared Care Planning Optimization Using the EHR. The webinar provided an overview on the importance of shared care planning and how we can better optimize the electronic health record to make it the most successful and inclusive of the team. Components of shared care planning and different tools that will help with the creation and accessibility of shared care plans were discussed. More Details...

HITEQ Highlights: Hear from your Peers: Using the EHR for Routine HIV Screening (2020). The HITEQ Center, in collaboration with BC3 Technologies, LLC, hosted this webinar that explored key concepts and best practices in utilizing an electronic health record in routine HIV Screening. This webinar sought to motivate and educate the clinical team on how the electronic health record can be used as a tool in the workflow of a primary practice. Aspects of clinical decision support, reminders, and alerts were covered with an emphasis on best practices, challenges, solutions, and lessons learned. More Details...

Health Information Technology support for HIV Screening and Prevention Services: Environmental scan for Ending the HIV Epidemic (2020). In the 2019-2020 contract year, as part of the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative HITEQ conducted an environmental scan to determine the role of EHRs and health IT in health center capacity and ability to expand HIV screening and prevention. HITEQ reviewed existing data and existing literature, and conducted 15 interviews with health centers and health center partners. The results are structured as a SWOT analysis, outlining strengths and weaknesses internal to health center health IT systems as well as opportunities and threats, factors that are external to health centers. More Details...

Secondary Traumatic Stress Identification, Mitigation and Improving Work Satisfaction for Health Center Staff During the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020). This webinar educated health center staff on the concept of traumatic stress. It identified terms, risk factors, and symptoms associated with compassion fatigue/secondary traumatic stress and burnout. The concept of self-care is introduce, and participants learned about building skills that can mitigate traumatic stress responses and improve work satisfaction and reslience. More Details...

Informational Guide for Public Housing Residents During COVID-19 – Know the Basics of Seeking Care: Know the Basics of Seeking Care (2020). This infographic provides general information on how public housing residents can seek care for COVID-19, testing services provided by health centers near public housing agencies and how the Public Charge rule does not apply for these services. More Details...

MSAW/Housing Playbook and Risk Mitigation: Samples from Family Health La Clinica, Wisconsin (2020). Three documents from Family Health La Clinica, shared by the Wisconsin PCA. Resources include a Playbook, Risk Mitigation Strategy, and Housing & Workplace Best Practices. More Details...

Informational Guide for Public Housing Residents — COVID-19: Know the Basics (2020). This infographic provides general information on COVID-19. More Details...

Understanding Your Federal Funding Streams and Appropriate Stewardship (2020). This webinar explores fundamental ways to manage and maximize the impact of federal funds from multiple funding streams for COVID-19. More Details...

PrEP at Home (2020). In this webinar, Dr. Ken Mayer and Julian Dormitzer, NP, address telePrEP and the PrEP at home model for LGBTQIA+ patients. The webinar covers the basics of starting and monitoring PrEP with an at-home start, and also address specific needs and concerns for sexual and gender minority people around PrEP and telePrEP. There is also a focus on PrEP at home in the time of COVID-19. More Details...

PrEP and Informatics (2020). In this webinar experts from Fenway Health and HITEQ discuss using data, electronic health records, and informatics to make informed decisions regarding PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) for HIV prevention. The webinar covers both clinical data usage and administrative staff support in using data and informatics for optimizing PrEP in health centers. More Details...

Pharmacy and Finance for PrEP (2020). In this webinar Dr. Rupa Patel discusses pharmacy and financing considerations for initiating and managing PrEP. Dr. Patel, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Director of the PrEP for HIV Program at the Washington University of Medicine in St. Louis, will explore these topics and provide guidance for health centers providing PrEP to their patients. More Details...

HIV Prevention/PrEP at Health Centers: An Overview and Current Best Practices (2019). Dr. Kevin Ard and Dr. Jennifer Reske-Nielsen discuss HIV and PrEP in primary care and sexual health clinic settings, and the current state of HIV research and treatment in the United States. More Details...

Behavioral Health Care for Transgender and Gender-diverse People (2020). In this webinar, Dr. Alex Keuroghlian discusses behavioral health care for transgender and gender-diverse people at health centers. This session will contextualize mental health inequities across diagnostic categories within a gender minority stress framework, propose culturally responsive tailoring of evidence-based clinical practices, and offer strategies for building inclusive, affirming, and trauma-informed environments within health centers in order to optimize behavioral health outcomes. More Details...

Payment and Delivery Reform: Medicaid in the Time of COVID-19 (2020). NACHC hosted a 3-part virtual peer learning opportunity on “Medicaid in the Time of COVID-19” as a year-end wrap-up to the 2019 Payment and Delivery Reform Summit. More Details...

Snapshot: FQHCs and Oral Health (2020). n.a. More Details...

Supporting Aging in Place Programs: The Role of Community Health Workers (2019). This webinar reviewed the common health needs of older adults as they age in place, and explained the value of implementing Community Health Worker-led Aging in Place programs. More Details...

Sexual Health and Wellness for LGBTQIA+ Older Adults (2020). This two-part webinar series explored the importance of discussing safe sexual practices with LGBTQIA+ older adults and explained the value of connecting at-risk individuals to HIV prevention methods like PrEP. More Details...

Improving Diabetes Care Quality in Rural Communities (2020). This webinar explores the role of telehealth delivery to overcome geographic and financial barriers to providing diabetes monitoring and patient lifestyle education. More Details...

Homelessness & COVID-19 Webinar Archives (2020). In the peak of the emergency response to COVID-19 cases among people experiencing homelessness, the National Health Care for the Homeless Council held semiweekly webinars/forums on the most pressing issues facing health centers in April and May. View all recordings of this series now. More Details...

Health Center Strategies for Diabetes Screening and Prevention for Children, Adults and the Elderly (2018). This webinar explores diabetes prevention and care strategies across the lifespan. More Details...

Diabetes Continuum of Care: Using Behavioral Health and Substance Use Disorder Integration to Address Older Adults with Cognitive Impairments and Diabetes (2019). This webinar explores the prevalence of substance abuse among patients with diabetes and describes a collaborative model for treatment in a health center setting. Also addressed is a clinical perspective on behavioral health and substance use disorder integration for patients with diabetes. More Details...

Diabetes Continuum of Care: Understanding Health Literacy to Improve Diabetes Outcomes (2020). In session 2 of the four-part National Learning Series, we explored the importance of health literacy for successful self-management of chronic conditions; described the impact of low health literacy has on diabetes prevention and outcomes among patients from special and vulnerable populations; and developed practical strategies to communicate health information and help patients build health literacy skills over time. More Details...

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

COVID-19 & FTCA Office Hours #3 (2020). NACHC, in collaboration with BPHC’s FTCA Division and Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell (FTLF), is holding a series of Office Hour to answer health center specific COVID-19 FTCA-related questions. Priority topics being covered are telehealth, provider coverage, volunteer providers, particularized determination, deeming applications, and other emerging issues related to available protection from the FTCA Program. Participants are able to pre-submit their burning questions. All questions not addressed will be answered during the following Office Hour. The most up-to-date FAQ is available at HRSA Health Center Program Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions, go to “FTCA Requirements.” This is the third in the four-part series. More Details...

Telehealth.HHS.gov website (2020). 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). Suggested diagramed workflows for any organization managing patient caseloads via telemedicine. More Details...

CCHP Video CMS Telehealth Policy Changes — COVID-19 (2020). In this series of four videos, CCHPCA takes a look at recent CMS telehealth policy changes including the expanded Medicare telehealth services benefit. In the latest of the four videos, CCHP takes a look at what temporary policy changes might remain Post-COVID-19 and which issues policymakers may think merit future action. More Details...

Healing Hands: Harm Reduction (2020). This edition of Healing Hands from the Health Care for the Homeless Clinicians' Network explores how harm reduction principles apply to various clinical settings and explains why the philosophy is so critically important. More Details...

Data Dashboard – COVID-19: Health Care for the Homeless Comparative Data (2020). This new COVID-19 Data Dashboard features comparative data on testing results, testing capacity, clinic closures, telehealth visits, and virus disparity by race and ethnicity from health centers, health centers with only 330(h) funding, and all health centers with 330(h) funding. More national health center data is available on HRSA's website. New health center COVID-19 data is collected weekly, and we will continue to update these figures as new data emerges. More Details...

Care Coordination: Planning for COVID-19 Hospitalizations: Strategies for partners pre- and post - COVID 19 Hospitalizations (2020). This document summarizes care team roles and key recommendations specific to supportive housing residents whose CIVID-19 symptoms are severe enough to require hospitalization. More Details...

Triage & Tele-Health Support Plan for Isolation Units: Strategies for engaging clients for telehealth in COVID19 environment (2020). 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...

Navigating Emergency Food Resources in Times of Crisis & Beyond: Three Step Approach to Understanding food resources in your community (2020). This brief is intended to help supportive and affordable housing and health and human service partners understand and more effectively assess resident and client access to emergency food. This navigation is especially important during unforeseen disruptions to local economies such as natural disasters, public health emergencies, or civic unrest. More Details...

Lessons Learned in Diabetes Care for Homeless Populations: Best practices from peer collaborative of health centers and supportive housing providers (2020). This publication summarizes key barriers and promising practices in the field identified by collaborative participants related to diabetes care for individuals experiencing homelessness or formerly homeless in supportive housing. More Details...

Enhancing Social Connectedness in times of Physical Distance: Highlight promising practices for keeping connected with clients (2020). The current need for physical distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19 means that many people may become more isolated. Here are suggestions for how to encourage social connectedness while practicing physical distancing and following critically important CDC guidance regarding how to not spread the virus. More Details...

Care Coordination: Planning for COVID-19 Hospitalizations: Strategies for partners pre- and post - COVID 19 Hospitalizations (2020). This document summarizes care team roles and key recommendations for COVID-19 protocols specific to supportive housing residents whose symptoms are severe enough to require hospitalization. More Details...

Addressing the Opioid Crisis: Innovative State Responses: Companion paper to Opioid Crisis webinar series highlights strategies states and local providers have developed to service the hardest hit populations (2020). The recent increase in federal funding to address the opioid crisis presents health centers the opportunity to expand partnerships with supportive housing and substance use disorder providers. This brief for health center partners summarizes promising practices in three states; explores a managed care organization’s work with its members to address the opioid epidemic; and ways for health centers to incorporate these practices into their OUD services. More Details...

Addressing the Opioid Crisis: Federal Funding and Opportunities for Health and Housing Collaboration: Focus on Resources and Partnerships (2020). There are a variety of state and federal resources available to aide health centers in providing services and housing connections to patients they treat with Opioid and substance use disorders. This brief describes the role of single state authorities (SSAs) who are responsible for managing the publicly funded substance abuse prevention, treatment and recovery system, new federal funding targeting the opioid crisis and opportunities for collaboration in your community. 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). 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...

The COVID-19 Pandemic: Information and Resources (2020). We at Migrant Clinicians Network have a dual priority to support clinicians and the vulnerable patients that they serve. MCN is presently developing strategies and gathering resources to support 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...

Medical Respite Care & Alternate Care Sites (2020). This issue brief is intended to provide health centers, public health authorities, emergency response systems, and Alternate Care Site program administrators with an operational framework that will improve the quality of care at ACS programs and promote longer-term stability for vulnerable people. Ideally, communities can retain this increased capacity for medical respite care after the pandemic subsides given the high level of need for these programs prior to COVID-19. More Details...

Testing Toolkit COVID - 19 Resources: (2020). Health Centers across Wisconsin are working to expand testing for COVID-19 as critical partners in their community's path to recovery and re-opening. WPHCA assembled the following checklist and toolkit  to assist Health Centers with starting and expanding testing, leveraging experience from Health Centers on the front line in Milwaukee. Please note that several resources are Wisconsin and/or Health Center specific, so you should consult your own local or state authorities when using the toolkit in your organization. More Details...

HITEQ Highlights: HIV Prevention and Treatment for patients with SUD in an Integrated Behavioral Health Setting (2020). Join the HITEQ Center, in collaboration with the National Council for Behavioral Health, for a webinar on understanding from a beginner perspective, how to integrate HIV prevention, screening into integrated behavioral health services, including how to identify patients at risk for HIV with a focus on SUD, facilitate screening, and prompting for re-screening at appropriate intervals. More Details...

Getting a New Workflow and Process Started during COVID-19 Pandemic: Moving to Telehealth during Coronavirus Public Health Emergency (2020). 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...

Cyber Security Risks — COVID-19: Best Practices for Health Center Staff Working Remotely (2020). The number of COVID-19 cases continue to increase throughout the United States, requiring more and more of our health systems to rely on employees working from home at times. While some of us are required to "shelter-in-place," unfortunately that shelter can create increased risks such as cyber security breaches. With good planning, policies, and employee and family education, health centers can minimize risk and support their employees while working remotely. This presentation will inform your Health Center remote workers on best practices for increasing cybersecurity at home. More Details...

Clinical Quality Measures for Eligible Professionals for 2020: A Crosswalk Comparison from The HITEQ Center (2020). This spreadsheet provides a crosswalk of Clinical Quality Measures and their electronic specifications as defined in the 2020 update for Eligible Professionals (Clinicians). More Details...

Guidance on Team-Based Care for Older Adults With Multiple Chronic Diseases: Focus on Oral and Behavioral Health Management of the Older Adult Patient With Diabetes (2020). This publication provides guidance to health center providers to establish a team-based care approach to health care delivery to older adult patients with diabetes. The resource explores the roles of oral health, behavioral health, and social determinants of health in managing older adults with diabetes. More Details...

Diabetes Continuum of Care: Team-Based Care (2020). This webinar is the kick off to the Special and Vulnerable Populations - Diabetes Task Force's 2020 National Learning Series. This session is focused on team-based care and is part one of a four-part webinar series on effective strategies to prevent, treat, and manage diabetes among special and vulnerable health center program patients. More Details...

Medicare FQHC Updates: Calendar Year 2020 (2020). Every year the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issues an annual rule, the Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule, which provides details on new policies for Medicare providers. This update provides a summary of the latest changes, including any specific provisions in the CY2020 Physician Fee Schedule directly impacting FQHCs. More Details...

Developing Cross-Sector Partnerships (2020). This guide provides health center staff with tools and strategies to initiate, develop, and sustain community partnerships to better serve older adult residents of public housing. Content of this publication was developed through a 4-session learning collaborative launched by the SDOH academy with a small cohort of HRSA-funded health centers, HCCNs, and PCAs. More Details...

Webinar Recordings and Slides — COVID-19: Oral Health COVID-19 Webinars (2020). This webpage includes all recordings and slides from NNOHA's live webinars related to COVID-19. The webinars include content on self-care, teledentistry, and oral health workforce. More Details...

Network Resource Guide for Health Center Controlled Networks (HCCNs) (2020). For more information on the 49 HCCNs funded by HRSA, please visit the Network Resource Guide (NRG). https://networkresourceguide.org/. The NRG provides up-to-date information about HCCNs across the country that are working together to leverage health IT for health centers in ways to improve access to care, enhance quality of care, and achieve cost efficiencies. More Details...

Mi salud es mi tesoro: Un guía para vivir bien con diabetes: My Health Is My Treasure: A Guide to Living Well With Diabetes (2020). Migrant Clinicians Network’s groundbreaking new Spanish-language comic book, “Mi salud es mi tesoro: Un guía para vivir bien con diabetes,” or “My Health Is My Treasure: A Guide to Living Well With Diabetes,” tells the relatable story of Goyo, an agricultural worker with a new diabetes diagnosis. Illustrated by artist and frequent MCN collaborator Salvador Saenz, the colorful, low-literacy comic book allows clinicians to share how to live with diabetes, with content tailored specifically for agricultural workers. More Details...

Reducing Harm for People Using Drugs & Alcohol During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Guide for Alternative Care Sites (2020). People experiencing homelessness cannot recover or protect themselves from COVID-19 at home. Therefore, Alternative Care Sites are being developed to accommodate such clients. This issue brief is intended to provide managers of alternative care sites, including health centers, with a framework for serving individuals with SUD in isolation and quarantine, and reducing possible harmful consequences. More Details...

Homelessness Town Hall — COVID-19: Four-Part Series on Priority Topics (2020). People experiencing homelessness are especially susceptible to COVID-19, and the Council is working to keep the Health Care for the Homeless community up to date with the latest information from the field and a continuously updated resources page. The COVID-19 Town Hall series consists of weekly one-hour sessions with presenters from the HCH front lines bringing health care providers and homeless advocates a chance to hear best practices, ask questions, and engage in discussions on this fast-moving pandemic. More Details...

Oral Health Listening Session Findings — COVID-19 (2020). NNOHA hosted three oral health listening sessions on health center dental programs' responses to COVID-19. The listening sessions focused on protecting the community and protecting the dental team. The findings of the three listening sessions are provided in this document in addition the webinar recordings. More Details...

Fraud Schemes Guidance Alert (English/Spanish) (2020). As managing COVID-19 becomes part of the daily operations at health centers, procuring supplies and services related to patient treatment and response will increase. This Alert Notice is meant to bring awareness to potential fraudulent schemes that could arise during this time and assist health centers with the information they need to know to remain vigilant. Categories of scams include, but are not limited to, cyber and telemarketing fraud, high-demand product scams and price gouging, and fraud perpetrated by simulating government or other organizations. More Details...

Community Health Workers and COVID-19 (2020). COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. It has been impacting countries around the world, including the United States. Most people infected will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment, however, older people, and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness. This resource covers how Community Health Workers are uniquely equipped to help the community cope with challenges faced due to COVID-19. More Details...

Why Homeless Populations Are a High-Risk Group — COVID-19 (2020). This shareable infographic explains why people experiencing homelessness are especially vulnerable to to the coronavirus pandemic. 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). 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...

Toolkit on Response to Racism and Xenophobia — COVID-19 (2020). The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA), in collaboration with the Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations, developed a COVID-19 Response Toolkit to address incidents of xenophobia, racism, and hate in the Asian American (AA) and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) community. More Details...

Things to Do During the COVID-19 Crisis if You Have Diabetes (2020). This fact sheet synthesizes the distinct advice people with diabetes who experience homelessness need to know about the COVID-19 pandemic. More Details...

Telehealth Policy during Coronavirus/COVID-19 Pandemic (2020). 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...

Digest of Resources for Medical-Legal Partnerships — COVID-19 (2020). A digest of resources to tackle the urgent, overlapping health and legal needs exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Includes a townhall webinar highlighting remote legal practices, COVID-19-related legal needs such as eviction prevention, and practical advice from New York and Austin MLP programs. More Details...

Reduced Workflows and Staffing Guidance for Non-Clinical Operations COVID-19 Resource Packet (English/Spanish) (2020). n.a. More Details...

Managing Crisis through Resilient Leadership COVID-19 Resource Packet (English/Spanish) (2020). Health centers are serving on the frontline, providing critical health care services in communities dealing with the coronavirus and COVID-19. During challenging and stressful times, it is normal for leaders to feel off balance. This resource contains six steps designed to access and be a Resilient Leader during turbulent times. More Details...

HIV by State: Testing, Diagnosis, and Linkage to Care (2020). HIV by State: Testing, Diagnosis, & Linkage to Care Data source: HRSA Bureau of Primary Health Care Uniform Data System, January 1, 2018 - December 31, 2018 More Details...

Telehealth to Support Primary Care during COVID-19 (2020). 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...

Legal Considerations: Board Meetings During COVID-19 (2020). This short blog focuses on some legal considerations related to board meetings during COVID-19. More Details...

Cashflow and Payroll Options for Health Centers During the Covid-19 Crisis (2020). This document provides an overview of new programs that health centers –as well as PCAs, HCCNs, and NTTAPs-can tap to cover revenue shortfalls and to help their employees make ends meet during this time. The document begins with a chart summarizing all the programs, and is followed by a full-page overview of each program. More Details...

Health Policy Bulletin Spring 2020 (2020). The Health Policy Bulletin is a summary of policy developments that affect farmworker health and access to health care. This issue focuses on access to behavioral health services in farmworker communities. More Details...

Virtual Board Meetings: Tips for Health Center Boards (English/Spanish) (2020). This short blog focuses on tips health centers can use if quickly adopting virtual meetings or increasing their use of such meetings given COVID-19. More Details...

Overview for the Board — COVID-19 (2020). This resource was developed by Lisa Bujno, APRN, Assistant Medical Director, Ammonoosuc Community Health Services, Inc. (ACHS) in New Hampshire. This resource was adapted to share with a broader audience. It is shared with permission and contains segments that can be adapted for use with the board at your health center. More Details...

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

Simulation Exercise: Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Training (2020). To support countries’ preparedness effort on the COVID-19 outbreak, WHO`s Department of Health Security and Preparedness has developed a generic COVID-19 tabletop exercise package. The exercise aims to examine and strengthen existing plans, procedures and capabilities to manage an imported case of 2019-nCov and targets the health authorities at the national level. More Details...

Operational considerations for case management of COVID-19 in health facility and community: Interim guidance19March 2020 (2020). This document is intended for health ministers, health system administrators, and other decision-makers. It is meant to guide the care of COVID-19 patients as the response capacity of health systems is challenged; to ensure that COVID-19 patients can access life-saving treatment, without compromising public health objectives and safety of health workers. More Details...

Information for Homeless Shelters and Homeless Service Providers Community — COVID-19: Needed Policy Responses for a High-Risk Group (2020). As the COVID-19 virus pandemic continues to grow throughout the world and in the United States, state and local public response systems are implementing a number of public health strategies to prevent further exposures and slow the spread of the virus. Infections among people experiencing homelessness will present specific challenges for those individuals, local response structures, and for Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) programs and other homeless service providers. More Details...

Information for Homeless Shelters and Homeless Service Providers Community — COVID-19 (2020). This infographic is meant for clients experiencing homelessness and the people who serve them to learn more about COVID-19 and measures to prevent its spread. More Details...

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

Health Center Boards and Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) (English/Spanish) (2020). This short document discusses how health center boards are exercising their governance duties related to COVID-19. More Details...

What Supportive Housing Providers Need to Know about CoronaVirus Disease 2019: Promising Practices highlighted in March 2020 COVID-19 Guidance for working with populations facing homelessness and other vulnerabilities is still relevant 6 and 12 months later. (2020). The vulnerable populations we serve are most likely to be impacted by COVID-19 based on their histories of homelessness and barriers to care when managing multiple health conditions. CSH has pulled together information from a variety of sources, from the vantage point of supportive housing providers, to help your agency best support your residents, your staff and your community. More Details...

What Older Adults Need to Know — COVID-19 (2020). The CDC has identified older adults and people who have severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung, or kidney disease at higher risk for more serious COVID-19 illness. According to the CDC, early data suggest older people are twice as likely to have serious COVID-19 illness. More Details...

Stigma and Resilience: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) (2020). Public health emergencies, such as the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), are stressful times for people and communities. Fear and anxiety about a disease can lead to social stigma (1) toward people, places, or things. For example, stigma and discrimination can occur when people associate a disease, such as COVID-19, with a population or nationality, even though not everyone in that population or from that region is specifically at risk for the disease. Stigma can also occur after a person has been released from COVID-19 quarantine even though they are not considered a risk for spreading the virus to others. More Details...

Infectious Disease Toolkit for CoCs (2020). Health officials are currently taking steps to prevent the introduction and spread of COVID-19 (“Coronavirus”) into communities across the United States. Housing providers, including organizations that run continuums of care and shelters, as well as the general public, can play an important role in this effort. You have access to many resources on the HUD page, including the Community Planning Development’s Toolkit for Homeless Shelters and Continuum of Care Providers. More Details...

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) (CDC) (2020). This short document discusses how health center boards are exercising their governance duties related to COVID-19. More Details...

ADA Coronavirus FAQs (2020). The American Dental Association (ADA) recognizes the importance of providing the profession with credible information that will protect both patients and dental health care personnel at a time when information is constantly being updated. We will seek to update this information as we learn more details from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other reputable sources. More Details...

HITEQ Highlights: Using Health IT to Facilitate the Development and Administration of a PrEP Program (2020). The HITEQ Center is launching a new webinar series for health centers to learn how their health center peers are using health IT to improve HIV prevention and care. For the first webinar, Using Health IT to Facilitate the Development and Administration of a PrEP Program, Robert Harris from the Community Health Center of Buffalo, Inc. described their whole system approach to develop an IT-supported PrEP program. Robert presented how they developed a viable and sustainable PrEP program maximizing the use of IT resources while minimizing the amount of staff resources needed to administer the program effectively. More Details...

Emergency Preparedness: Tabletop Exercises (2019). The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) requires that health centers test their emergency preparedness plans annually. A tabletop exercise may be acceptable to satisfy this requirement if conducted every 2 years. More Details...

Special COVID-19 Weitzman ECHO Session (2020). On Wednesday, March 4, the Weitzman Institute led a special Project ECHO session for clinicians addressing COVID-19. We are making the video recording and slides available free to health centers nationwide. More Details...

Health and Housing Partnerships: Progress Towards a Tobacco-Free Community (2020). This webinar reviews the requirements of HUD’s smoke-free rule and identifies behavioral health treatment strategies for tobacco use disorder. More Details...

HITEQ Highlights: Documentation Tips when using the Collaborative Care Model for the Treatment of Depression and Anxiety in Primary Care (2020). Join the HITEQ Center, in collaboration with the National Council for Behavioral Health, for a webinar on Documentation Tips when using the Collaborative Care Model for the Treatment of Depression and Anxiety in Primary Care. The webinar provided a brief overview and benefits of the collaborative care model as well as information specific to each of the main staff roles. The role-specific nuances of documentation were highlighted, including considerations for tracking data such as clinical activities accomplished with each patient during the month. More Details...

Back to School: How Health Centers Can Address Diabetes Risk: (2020). This webinar describes evidence-based strategies for reducing diabetes risk among elementary school-aged children while highlighting the role that nurses can play in creating and sustaining those strategies. More Details...

Primary Care for Underserved Populations: Navigating Policy to Incorporate Occupational Therapy Into Federally Qualified Health Centers (2020). Occupational therapy services have the potential to help improve the health and functioning of FQHC patients. Using a FQHC serving American Indian/Alaska Native populations as a case example, we describe how occupational therapy is well suited to help meet the needs of medically underserved populations. We then examine options for integrating occupational therapy into this unique primary care setting, discuss related administrative and policy considerations, and propose possible solutions to identified barriers. More Details...

FTCA for Clinical Leaders Office Hour (2020). A trusted legal expert from the firm Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LPP, joined by two experienced Clinical Leaders, address and answer Clinical Leaders’ burning questions about their role to guide their clinical team in actively identifying and addressing overall FTCA-related issues. More Details...

Root Cause Analysis Training 3 of 3: Prioritizing Root Causes and Creating Action Steps (2020). This webinar focuses on prioritizing root causes, creating action steps, and the importance of using root cause analysis to inform quality improvement. This webinar series was developed to help health centers prepare for the diabetes performance analysis component of their operational site visit. More Details...

Root Cause Analysis Training 2 of 3: The "5 Why's and Fishbone Diagrams" (2020). This webinar focuses on the "5 Why's", Fishbone Diagrams, and the importance of these tools to inform quality improvement. This webinar series was developed to help health centers prepare for the diabetes performance analysis component of their operational site visit. More Details...

Intersection on Homelessness and Human Trafficking: A Case Study on End Slavery Tennessee (2020). The purpose of this case study is to provide an example of quality services for individuals with the experience of both homelessness and human trafficking. It is also intended to share signs providers can use to identify a history of trafficking and additional health considerations. More Details...

HITEQ Highlights: Updates to the HITEQ UDS Clinical Analysis Dashboards (2020). During this HITEQ Highlights webinar, learn about the updated HITEQ Center’s UDS dashboards, available on the HITEQ site for HCCNs, PCAs, and health centers, as well as a nationwide version available to all website visitors. These dashboards show UDS clinical quality measure reporting from calendar year 2018, historical data, and benchmark data from Healthy People 2020 goals. These updated dashboards include a number of new features, to allow users to compare outcomes across various groups to improve the understanding of how certain characteristics correlate with clinical quality outcomes. More Details...

Diabetes Management and Oral Health among Older Adults Experiencing Homelessness: Promising and Evidence-Based Practices for Health Centers in Diabetes Management and Oral Care (2019). This publication highlights the diabetes disease burden and gum (periodontal) disease among older adults (50+) who have experienced or are experiencing homelessness and explores promising and evidence-based practices health centers can adopt, aimed at improving overall oral health among this population. More Details...

Root Cause Analysis Training 1 of 3: HRSA's Expectations (2020). This webinar focuses on HRSA's expectations and the importance of using root cause analysis to inform quality improvement. This webinar series was developed to help health centers prepare for the diabetes performance analysis component of their operational site visit. More Details...

Effective Partnership Guide: Improving Oral Health for MIgrant and Seasonal Head Start Children and their Families (2020). This collaboration between the National MIgrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) programs (ACF/OHS) and the Health Center Program (HRSA/BPHC) provides an overview of oral health care within Head Start programs in conjunction with health centers. It describes effective ways that MSHS can partner with health centers for dental care and outlines payment models and avenues for partnership. More Details...

Team Care Connections: Conversations about Moral Distress and Moral Injury (2020). This issue of Team Care Connections examines moral distress and moral injury-- the emotions and bodily changes that occur when there is a disconnect between what a person believes is right and good and what the person is able to do or sees happening. It highlights the experiences of primary care teams and interviews experts to provide suggestions on how to begin discussing moral distress and moral injury, including potential causes and best practices for care teams. More Details...

The Road to Trauma-Informed Care in Primary Care (2020). During this webinar, we heard from the National Council and Zufall Health Center about this program, lessons learned and resources for Health Centers on how to implement a trauma-informed care program on Trauma-Informed Primary Care: Fostering Resilience and Recovery, to educate health care providers on the importance of trauma-informed approaches and to create a change package for implementation of standardized and scalable trauma-informed care practices in the primary care setting. More Details...

Looking at PACE...An Opportunity for Community Health Centers (2019). Join us to learn more about Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) and how to implement a program at your health center to better serve the growing population of patients aged 55 and older with chronic conditions, while supporting their independent living in the community. More Details...

Looking at PACE....An Opportunity for Community Health Centers (2020). Learn more about Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) and the benefits of implementing the program at your health center from a mission and financial perspective. PACE programs support the growing population of patients aged 55 and older with chronic conditions while supporting their independent living in the community. More Details...

HITEQ Highlights: Enhancing the EHR for Suicide Prevention (2020). This webinar is the second in a series highlighting the intersection between health information technology and behavioral health services. The webinar explored key components to be built into an electronic health record in order to better address suicide prevention in health care. Decision support considerations, documentation and communication enhancements, as well as population health management strategies were discussed. More Details...

Enabling Services Case Study: A Focus on Behavioral Health: Wellspace Health, Sacramento, CA (2019). This publication is part of a series of case studies that highlight innovative models for providing enabling services to help reduce barriers to care and address social determinants of health. This case study features Wellspace Health's (WSH) "Health, Access, Referrals, and Transitions" (HART) program. WSH's HART program utilizes case management services to connect patients to care and to make care transitions to critical clinical and behavioral health services. The HART program provides intensive case management and addresses substance use disorders, suicide prevention, provides street outreach, and respite and recuperative services. More Details...

Improving Diabetes Outcomes: Curated Expert Guidance, Tools, and Resources, Updated September 2019 (2019). As of CDC's 2017 National Diabetes Statistics Report, 30.3 million people, or 9.4% of the total U.S. population, have diabetes. Of these 30.3 million, only 23.1 million are diagnosed—while the other estimated 7.2 million are undiagnosed. This illustrates the need for targeted quality improvement and implementation of promising practices to address diabetes and needs of diabetic patients. This toolkit includes curated expert guidance, tools, and resources for enhancing care processes and outcomes for diabetes control, preventive care, and others targets for improvement. More Details...

Recognizing and Responding to Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking in Health Center Settings (2019). This webinar provides an overview of the public health issues and the programs provided by two health centers in the United States. More Details...

Diabetes Self-Management: Education and Support (2019). Diabetes self-management education and support (DSMES) is a critical element of care for all people with diabetes. DSMES is the ongoing process of facilitating the knowledge, skills, and ability necessary for diabetes self-care, as well as activities that assist a person in implementing and sustaining the behaviors needed to manage his or her condition on an ongoing basis, beyond or outside of formal self-management training. More Details...

Prevent, Assess, and Respond:: A Domestic Violence Toolkit for Health Centers & Domestic Violence Programs (2019). This toolkit can help build a comprehensive and sustainable response to domestic violence and sexual assault (DV/SA) in partnership with DV/SA advocacy programs (social service organizations) to improve how your health center identifies and responds to DV/SA and promotes prevention, and develop proactive partnerships with local DV/SA advocacy programs to address the health needs of patients and connect them to health centers for care. More Details...

Recommendations for the Care of Patients Experiencing Homelessness at Risk for or Diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes: Adapted Clinical Guidelines (2019). Clinicians providing health care to people experiencing homelessness routinely adapt their practice to foster better outcomes for their patients. This document has been developed to serve as a reference for members of multi-disciplinary care teams including administrators, and students serving people experiencing homelessness and are at risk for, diagnosed with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. More Details...

Hypertension Resources in Spanish and English: patient education materials (2012). These Spanish and English hypertension and cholesterol patient education resources were developed by the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health, El Paso Regional Campus. The artwork was done by Salvador Saenz, a well-known and respected public health educator and artist based in El Paso, TX. More Details...

FTCA for Clinical Leaders: CY2020 FTCA Health Center Deeming PAL (2019). A trusted legal expert from the firm Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP joined by two experienced Clinical Leaders address and answer questions about the latest CY2020 FTCA Health Center Deeming PAL released on April 10, 2019 with applications due by or before July 1, 2019. More Details...

Finance & Reimbursement for Clinical Leaders (eLearning) (2019). This self-paced eLearning course discusses the importance of finance and reimbursement as part of a clinical leader’s core competency development. The focus will be on enhancing a clinical leader’s role in using financial tools and systems to effectively manage ongoing clinical operations, developing clinical component of health center grant applications, and ensuring clinical staff awareness of reimbursement mechanisms and issues. More Details...

Working with the HRSA Diabetes Quality Improvement Initiative (2019). The HRSA Diabetes Quality Improvement Initiative is an agency-wide effort to improve diabetes outcomes and lower health care costs. MCN is working in support of the Improvement Initiative by assisting you to access resources and develop performance improvement skills that will enable you to address diabetes care in your mobile and agricultural worker populations. Diabetes care is a complex mix that includes medication, as well as education, self-care behaviors and continuity of care. Adding the factors of mobility, immigration status and culture takes the challenge to another level. More Details...

What's New In PrEP and STIs?: Cases from a Sexual Health Clinic (2019). Dr. Kevin Ard will use clinical cases to explore recent advances in HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and sexually-transmitted infection prevention and treatment for LGBTQ people, discussing implications for primary and specialty care. More Details...

Treating Global Health At Your Doorstep Starts with a Good Patient History (2018). Technology is a vital part of our society. It has been critical in the advancement of medicine; however, in some cases there is an overdependence by clinicians on diagnostic technology which may impede a fuller understanding of the circumstances of patients in the exam room. The most potent, cost-effective, and accurate diagnostic tool that we have even in our advanced age of technology remains an accurate and comprehensive linguistically and culturally appropriate patient history. In this webinar, Dr. Ed Zuroweste and Dr. Laszlo Madaras, who collectively have over 50 years of practice in primary care, ask the question, “Has it become so normal to ask for tests for the most basic assessments that part of the art of medicine is being lost?” The presenters will explore the value of taking a culturally and linguistically appropriate history from the patient together with a thorough – and focused – physical exam. Spending a few minutes with the patient asking open-ended questions may save time and money by: getting the correct diagnosis and treatment plan; preventing expensive, unnecessary, and potentially harmful tests; reducing the number of specialists who may not need to see the patient; and even possibly improving patient satisfaction. The session will look at the impact of global health conditions on primary care practice in the United States and describe what primary care clinics can do to more systematically prepare for emerging diseases. At the conclusion of the webinar, participants will be able to: More Details...

Think Yes to Care Customer Service Training (2019). This customer service training model and related materials will allow providers to standardize the service they provide to clients, community partners, and each other. This model was created in 2016, and was adapted from the Multnomah County Library Think Yes! Customer Service Initiative. More Details...

The Role of Structural Competency in the Treatment and Prevention of Diabetes in a Vulnerable Agricultural Worker Population (2018). Over the last 30 years, considerable attention has been paid in the clinical setting to cultural competency- the ability to mitigate against the effects of the sociocultural differences between clinicians and patients and to take into account how culture affects the symptoms presented or the patients’ attitude about health care. More recently, scholars and clinicians have encouraged those in practice or health professions training to focus not only on the behaviors and beliefs of cultural groups but more importantly to consider the structural determinants, prejudices, injustices and blind spots, the “pathologies of social systems” that affect health outcomes and the stigma experienced by patients. The session will introduce participants to the broad framework of structural competency and the five core str