CHCACT has gathered the following resources to help FQHCs provide high quality care and services to their patients.
General Resources
- Nurse-Managed Protocols Can Improve Chronic Disease Management, Study Shows. Relying more heavily on registered nurses and other members of the care team may help mitigate the shortage of primary care providers and enhance the quality of chronic disease care in the United States, concludes a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine (July 15, 2014).
- Guidance on New Rule Requiring Laboratories to Release Test Results to Patients. Clinicians may be interested in a viewpoint article in the Journal of the American Medical Association that offers guidance to help providers and organizations comply with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ new rule requiring laboratories to provide patients with test results upon request. The new rule means that patients may receive test results before they have discussed them with a clinician, potentially leading to confusion or anxiety. Providers may choose to proactively counsel patients about common outcomes of a test, including the normative values and the potential for false positives, in order to prevent patients from misunderstanding their results (July 9, 2014).
- The American College of Physicians (ACP) has launched a High Value Care Coordination Toolkit intended to improve communication about referrals between primary care and subspecialist providers. The toolkit includes a checklist of information that must be provided in a generic referral to a subspecialist, a checklist of information that must be provided in a subspecialist’s response to a referral request, model care coordination agreement templates between several providers and care settings, and an outline of recommendations to providers that can help them prepare patients for referral using a patient- and family-centered approach.
Chronic Disease Resources
- Working Together to Manage Diabetes Toolkit – The National Diabetes Education Program released the updated Working Together to Manage Diabetes Toolkit, designed to empower pharmacists, podiatrists, optometrists, dentists, and other providers to deliver more integrated care for patients with, or at risk for, diabetes. The Toolkit features a comprehensive, easy-to-use guide, a customizable PowerPoint presentation, and user-friendly patient fact sheets and checklists for providers and consumers. View the toolkit here.
- Quality in Action: Increasing Access to HIV Testing, Care, and Treatment. Patients and other members of your community may not know that they are living with HIV infection. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1 in 6 people living with HIV are unaware of their infection. People who do not know they are HIV positive will not receive the care and treatment they need to stay healthy. They also may unknowingly pass HIV to others. Knowledge of their HIV status allows people to make informed decisions about lifestyle choices and high-risk behaviors that may result in HIV transmission. You can review this Special Edition Quality in Action newsletter with your board, providers, and staff.
Pediatric Resources
- The National Institute for Children’s Health Quality has developed a free, interactive Collaborative Action Now to Defeat Obesity (CAN DO) Playbook. Details are available here.
- Birth to 5: Watch Me Thrive! – HHS and the Administration for Children and Families has launched Birth to 5: Watch Me Thrive! to encourage healthy child development, universal development and behavioral screening for children, and support for the families and providers who care for them.
- ECRI has developed Asthma Care for the Pediatric Patient. Asthma is a challenging, common, chronic childhood illness associated with significant school absenteeism, emergency department visits, and hospital admissions. Racial and ethnic disparities in both asthma management and outcomes put safety net populations at particular risk. This self-assessment checklist will help healthcare providers assess and develop a patient-focused asthma treatment plan.
Behavioral Health Resources
- The SAMHSA-HRSA Center for Integrated Health Solutions Telebehavioral Health Training and Technical Assistance Series is designed to help safety net providers and rural health clinics understand and adopt telebehavioral health services. The implementation of telehealth services for mental health and substance abuse allows for increased access to these services, particularly in rural or underserved areas. The 6-session training will provide health centers with the tools/resources necessary to identify and implement a telebehavioral health program. Learn more here.
- New Rural Mental Health and Substance Abuse Toolkit Launched. The Rural Assistance Center, University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center, and the NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis launched this toolkit, designed to help rural communities and organizations develop and implement programs that meet the targeted mental health needs of communities based on proven approaches and strategies.
- SAMHSA has released a helpful Behavioral Health Barometer. It contains data that you may find useful for grants and reports. It is available on their website here.
