Compliance Corner August 2023
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Compliance Corner August 2023
Every August, the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) sponsors National Health Center Week (NHCW) to celebrate and increase awareness of America’s 1,400 Community Health Centers (CHCs). National Health Center Week is an opportunity to highlight the commitment and passion of Community Health Center staff, board members, and supporters who make it possible to provide quality, comprehensive healthcare services to more than 30 million patients across 14,500 communities annually.
2023 Theme: The Roadmap to a Stronger America
Community Health Centers serve as the beacon of strength, service, and care in their communities. In moments of pain and loss, they offer support and love. In moments of triumph, they offer hope and a vision for the future. This year’s National Health Center Week theme takes us on a virtual road trip across America, highlighting the achievements and amazing work being done at Community Health Centers in every state and territory. Celebrate the uniqueness of your community and get to know others as we journey across the U.S. together!
Source: NACHC
HRSA has awarded approximately $23.5 million in fiscal year (FY) 2023 National Training and Technical Assistance Partner (NTTAP) Cooperative Agreements funding.
This funding will support 22 NTTAPs in developing and delivering training and technical assistance (T/TA) to health centers on specific topics, such as a population or an aspect of health center operations. Examples of topics include:
Visit the NTTAP webpage to read more about the awardees or to request T/TA.
Source: HRSA
July 7: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced actions to protect consumers from junk health plans, surprise medical bills, and excess costs that lead to medical debt. These actions build on the Biden-Harris Administration’s effort to eliminate hidden fees in every sector of the economy and lower health care costs for American seniors and families.
Coinciding with the actions taken that day, HHS also released a new report projecting that nearly 19 million seniors will save approximately $400 per year on prescription drug costs when the $2,000 out-of-pocket prescription drug spending cap from the Inflation Reduction Act – President Biden’s historic lower cost prescription drug law – goes into effect in 2025.
Read the fact sheet HERE.
July 20: NACHC announced that Kyu Rhee, MD, MPP has been named President and CEO of the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC). Dr. Rhee will lead NACHC in advancing health equity and supporting the mission of community health centers, which provide high-quality, affordable, transdisciplinary primary care services to more than 30 million people at over 14,000 sites across the nation.
As a purpose-driven physician executive, scientist, teacher, and entrepreneur, Dr. Rhee has a reputation that is synonymous with leadership, innovation, and transformation across and within the nonprofit, public, and private sectors. Dr. Rhee looks forward to “building on NACHC’s history, vision and mission, and to partnering for an even brighter future for the more than a quarter of a million people who serve and the more than 30 million people they serve.”
Dr. Rhee will officially join NACHC on August 16, 2023, and will be attending Community Health Institute Conference (CHI) in San Diego, August 27-29, 2023.
For more information on Dr. Rhee’s background and accomplishments, refer to Latest News.
Source: NACHC
HRSA released findings from the 2022 Health Center Patient Survey (HCPS), which show overwhelmingly positive feedback from patients of HRSA-funded health centers. For example:
HRSA conducts this survey about every five years to gain patient insights about the care and services delivered by HRSA-funded health centers. More than 4,400 patients from 318 HRSA-funded health center sites participated in one-on-one interviews from January 2021 to March 2022 for this latest survey, which was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Addressing the country’s behavioral health crisis is a key priority for CMS. Medicaid and CHIP are the largest national payers for behavioral health services, paying for more than a quarter of the country’s behavioral health services. And behavioral health conditions affect people of all ages: About one in five people over age 65 lives with a mental health condition such as depression, anxiety, dementia, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. About 8 percent of people with Medicare younger than 65 and 2 percent of those 65 and older have a substance use disorder (SUD).
Read the updated Behavioral Health Cross Cutting Initiative fact sheet to learn about recent accomplishments and proposals.
Source: CMS
In support of the HHS Bridge Access Program for COVID-19 Vaccines and Treatments, and in coordination with CDC’s Bridge Access Program, HRSA will provide more than $81 million in one-time Bridge funding to active Expanding COVID-19 Vaccination (ECV/H8G) award recipients. These funds will help health centers continue providing essential COVID-19-related services (including support for equitable access to vaccines, therapeutics, and testing) to patients and residents of their community, including those who are uninsured or underinsured.
HRSA plans to make awards using a formula-based supplement to the current H8G awards by Friday, September 1, 2023. These health centers will then have 30 days to submit information about their planned activities and costs related to this funding.
HRSA will host a TA webinar soon after the release of funds. We will update the ECV TA webpage with the webinar details and Bridge funding guidance when the awards are released. Please submit questions using the BPHC Contact Form (COVID-19 Funding > ECV).
Source: HRSA
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