September 30: HRSA issued a special bulletin reminding all that Primary Care Associations (PCAs) take the lead in gathering critical health center information and reporting impact data to HRSA on the operational status of delivery sites.
For health centers in the impacted areas (i.e., Puerto Rico, Florida, South Carolina), HRSA asks that you report site-level operational status to your PCA as soon as you are able. Additional states may be added.
Service Area Competition Extensions
Health centers impacted by Hurricanes Fiona and Ian may be eligible for a Service Area Competition extension. HRSA only extends deadlines for competitive applications for limited reasons, including natural disasters. Read more about HRSA’s waiver policy on the Understand Our Policy on Late Submissions webpage.
You may request a Grants.gov waiver via ApplicationWaivers@hrsa.gov or a HRSA Electronic Handbooks (EHBs) deadline waiver via BPHCEHBWaivers@hrsa.gov. To receive more information about deadlines and waiver requests, use the BPHC Contact Form: Category: Funding, Sub-category: Applications for Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs), then select Service Area Competition (SAC).
Supplemental Award Progress Reporting Extensions
Many COVID-19-related supplemental awards (H8C, H8D, H8E, H8F, L1C, L2C) have a report due Friday, October 14. In response to Hurricanes Fiona and Ian, HRSA is waiving Q3-2022 quarterly progress reports (due Friday, October 14) for health centers located within areas with a federal emergency declaration (currently FL, PR, and SC). Affected health centers will instead report on H8F/L2C progress at the next quarterly report (due in January 2023). Health centers should discuss any needed changes to active projects with their Investment Oversight Advisor once they are able.
Source: HRSA
September 30: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), awarded more than $266 million in American Rescue Plan funding to grow the community and public health workforce.
HRSA is awarding $225.5 million to 83 grantees as part of the Community Health Worker Training Program, which is a new multi-year program that will support training and apprenticeship to support an estimated 13,000 new community health workers. Community health workers connect people to care, build trust within communities and facilitate communication between patients and health care providers. They can also be known as promotores de salud, community health advisors, outreach workers, patient navigators and peer counselors.
Read the full release here.
Source: HHS
September 30: HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson joined HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and other HHS leaders to release the HHS Roadmap for Behavioral Health Integration, which outlines the Department’s policy plan for ensuring there is no wrong door to mental health and substance use disorder treatment.
The brief provides a general overview of the approach HHS is taking to drive toward integrated care within the three pillars of the President’s Strategy and highlights selected programs and policy actions to get there. It is not an exhaustive catalog of all of the behavioral health initiatives across the Department; HHS agencies are advancing the HHS Roadmap alongside important efforts already underway such as the HHS Overdose Prevention Strategy and a new three-digit crisis line (9-8-8). HHS is committed to providing the full spectrum of integrated, equitable, evidence-based, culturally appropriate, and person-centered behavioral health care to the populations it serves.
Source: HHS
September 23: In support of The US Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Overdose Prevention Strategy, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced investments of over $104 million to expand treatment and prevention services for substance use in rural communities nationwide as part of the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP), a multi-year initiative aimed at reducing the morbidity and mortality of rural Americans from substance use. Today’s funding also supports the President’s National Drug Control Strategy and delivers on his Unity Agenda priority of beating the overdose epidemic.
This funding will help rural communities address difficulties they face in providing and accessing substance use treatment, as nearly 37 percent of rural counties lack at least one clinician who can prescribe the opioid treatment buprenorphine. Rural communities in particular have experienced a consistent rise in drug overdose deaths, with a nearly five-fold increase from 1999 to 2019. Opioid-involved overdose deaths, especially those involving fentanyl, have increased significantly across the United States since 2019.
Read the full release here.
Source: HRSA
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