Announcements

• The Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) has released a draft Health Center Program Compliance Manual and is asking for public comments. The Health Center Compliance Manual will serve as a web-based policy resource to assist in understanding and demonstrating compliance with Health Center Program requirements. Read the manual and learn how to comment here.
• 2015 UDS data have been released, including demographic, employment and clinical quality data!
• The latest version of the CT Statewide Environment Report is here. This report, published 2-4 times each year, provides updated information on HUSKY enrollment, poverty and other demographic data, state budget updates and more!

Trainings, Webinars & Conferences

• Please check our Calendar of Events for upcoming trainings!

Funding Opportunities

• Check out the CHCACT Funding Opportunities page here!
• The CDC offers funding for the development and implementation of high impact HIV prevention projects for young men of color who have sex with men and young transgender persons of color. Learn more!
• The National Institute of Aging offers funding to promote data archiving, dissemination, and consultation with producers and users of data resources for research on aging. Learn more!
• The RGK Foundation awards grants to nonprofit organizations in the general areas of education, community and health/medicine. These grants are not geographically-restricted and are awarded on an ongoing basis. Learn more!

Ask CHCACT!

“Ask CHCACT” features Outreach & Enrollment and other questions from health center staff, answered by your favorite CHCACT staff members! Send your questions to ask@chcact.org!

Deb Polun answers this week's question:

Q: Can you clarify how to collect and report data for the Medicaid Outreach grant?

A: Sure! For the Medicaid Outreach grant, CHCACT is looking for two pieces of information: 1) the number of individuals "screened" for HUSKY, which is the number of applications submitted through the Access Health CT portal + those submitted separately for HUSKY C; and 2) the number of individuals enrolled in a HUSKY plan.

Please note that all individuals for whom an application is being submitted count, even if they are not present. For example, if a mom comes in alone and applies for herself and her two children, that counts as three screenings (and then, hopefully, three enrollments). This is the same methodology used by BPHC for federal reporting. You can learn more about BPHC requirements here.

For reporting on the Medicaid Outreach grant, please remember only to report on HUSKY screenings and enrollments - not QHPs.

CHCACT will have a training to refresh CACs on this guidance this Fall.

Call me at any time with Outreach & Enrollment questions! 860.667.7820!

Upcoming CHCACT Meetings

Chief Financial Officers' Meeting. The FQHC CFOs will meet on Tuesday, August 30th at 2:00 pm at CHCACT, 1484 Highland Avenue, Suite 2, Cheshire.

Practice Transformation Network Summit. Save the dates of September 15th-16th for CHCACT's first PTN Summit! More information to follow.

All CHCACT Staff can be reached by calling 860.667.7820.

This Week in Health Policy News

Here is a sampling of health policy news from around the state. If you see something in your local newspaper that you would like featured here in future weeks, please contact Deb Polun at dpolun@chcact.org. Check out all the Health Policy News from the past month here!

Featured Stories
8.29.16 Political News: Murphy Hosts Mental Health Roundtable at Optimus

State Health News
8.29.16 CT Mirror: EpiPen Lobbying Campaign Targeted Connecticut
8.29.16 CT NewsJunkie: Walk & Rally Highlight Addiction Crisis
8.29.16 Hartford Business Journal: Latest Bankruptcies Highlight Nursing Homes’ Continued Struggles
8.25.16 CT Viewpoints: One CT Mom – Mylan’s EpiPen Olive Branch is Not Enough
8.24.16 CT NewsJunkie: Families Celebrate New CT Law Requiring Screening of Newborns for ALD
8.24.16 Republican-American: Congress Comes to Torrington; Seeks Wish List to Fight Heroin
8.23.16 CT NewsJunkie: Children’s Center in Hamden to Pilot Recovery High School Class

Health Insurance/Health Reform News
8.29.16 NY Times: Obamacare Marketplaces are in Trouble. What Can Be Done?
8.25.16 CT NewsJunkie: Insurers Making Plans for Newly Mandated Coverage of 3D Mammograms

National/Other Health News
8.29.16 Hartford Business Journal: EpiPen to Launch Generic Version for $300, After Outrage
8.29.16 NY Times: Surprisingly Little Evidence for the Usual Wisdom About Teeth
8.29.16 NY Times: Rethinking the Use of Hormones to Ease Menopause Symptoms
8.23.16 Governing: Meningitis Outbreaks Among Gay Men Baffle Health Officials

Resources

CHCACT maintains and regularly updates resources on clinical issues, human resources, HIPAA, SNAP and more! Click here to check out CHCACT’s Resources!*

• The Connecticut Department of Public Health has new information about the Zika Virus on its web site, including symptoms and testing guidelines.
• Scope of Project Webpage: HRSA has released a new “Scope of Project” Page on the BPHC website. This page provides a “one-stop-shop” for Health Center Program Scope of Project and Change-in-Scope policy, process, and resources. View the new Scope of Project webpage.
• Capital Link Publications. As part of their assistance to health centers, Capital Link has developed a collection of resource publications to assist health centers in accomplishing specific tasks related to the capital development process. These publications are provided to Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Primary Care Associations (PCAs) free of charge. Their resources, including publications, reports, and past webinars are available here.

* Some Resources are password-protected. If you would like a password for www.www.chcact.org, please contact Deb Polun.

Events/Educational Opportunities