Registration is open for the upcoming virtual Training for New Clinical Directors. Join the next training March 8-10 to boost your career and elevate your leadership development. This training provides the core knowledge and addresses the core competencies that all health center Clinical Directors need to function as effective managers, leaders, and advocates for their health centers and communities. The comprehensive course package includes interactive learning, small group case study discussions, peer networking, follow-up resources, and a coaching program. Receive up to 11.5 elective CMECs from the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) or CDECs from the National Network for Oral Health Access (NNOHA). For more information contact Katja Laepke at klaepke@nachc.com.
Keynote Speaker Confirmed for PA Rural Recruitment Summit
David Schmitz, MD, the director of the University of North Dakota Family Medicine Residency and one of the creators of the Community Apgar Project, will be the keynote speaker for the Pennsylvania Rural Recruitment Summit. Co-sponsored by PACHC, the summit is happening April 20, 2022, at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel in State College. Dr. Schmitz will speak about how communities can identify strengths and challenges related to recruiting critical healthcare professionals like family medicine physicians. The summit will bring together healthcare entities, clinicians, statewide organizations, and community leaders to listen and learn, together finding a path forward to ensure access to high quality and high value health care for rural Pennsylvanians. Registration is now open. Cost is $100 per person. You are encouraged to bring along leaders from your community. Contact Judd Mellinger-Blouch to find out about how you can encourage community leaders to attend, including a special discount arrangement.
Union Community Care’s COVID-19 Story Spotlighted
HRSA’s new Health Center Stories webpage provides examples of health centers’ creative and inspiring efforts to boost vaccine confidence and connect with their communities. HRSA chooses stories to highlight in its Digest publication. Union Community Care’s work to get COVID-19 tests to people experiencing homelessness and residents of public housing was spotlighted in the COVID-19 section of the Feb. 22 edition of the Digest. Read the full story on the Health Center Stories webpage, as the first story under the COVID-19 Response Efforts section.
Hamilton Health Center Chief Medical Officer Serves as Role Model
PennLive is following up their report on the historic increase in Black students in medical school and why that’s important with a series of profiles of Black health care professionals in central Pennsylvania who have paved the way and now serve as role models for future doctors and nurses. Dr. Bolanle Limann, chief medical officer for Harrisburg-based Hamilton Health Center, is the subject of the first profile in the series. Dr. Limann oversees clinical operations for the health center’s six locations in Dauphin and Perry counties, bringing to bear both her skills as a physician and her knowledge of business. Read more.
Mask Mandates Dropped in Every State but One
As COVID-19 cases continue to decline across the country, all states but one — Hawaii — have dropped their mask mandates or have made plans to do so in the coming weeks. This week, Target and Apple stores joined other retailers in pulling back their own mandates. In recent days, some cruise lines said they are relaxing mask requirements for vaccinated passengers after putting stricter rules in place during the omicron surge. But how to handle masks in schools remains a point of contention in many districts.
Pennsylvania COVID-19 Death Rate Plummets
Pennsylvania’s seven-day average of daily COVID-19 deaths fell to 84 as of Sunday, about half the level of late January, according to tracking by SpotlightPA. Sunday’s level is the lowest since early December. The commonwealth’s all-time peak average of 222 daily deaths came in mid-January of 2021. Based on data from the Department of Health, Pennsylvania’s COVID-19 death toll stood at 42,789 as of Monday. Data indicate the level of new infections also has plunged, with Pennsylvania averaging 2,478 new infections per day as of Monday, down from an average of about 28,000 new infections per day in mid-January. Across the country, new cases have plummeted 90% from five weeks ago, although it’s important to note that the data generally doesn’t capture positive home test results
Child Care Costs Exceed College Tuition in 34 States
The annual expense of child care for an infant exceeds the annual cost of in-state tuition at a public four-year university in 34 states, according to the most recent data from the Economic Policy Institute. The cost of child care can be a key influencer in decisions about entering or leaving the workforce, and especially in health care where women make up the majority of the front-line workforce (66%) and managers (59%), according to research from McKinsey. In Pennsylvania, infant care costs as a share of public college tuition are 81.5%. Average annual cost of infant care is $11,842, while Pennsylvania’s in-state tuition for four-year public college is $14,534, one of the highest tuition rates in the country. Infant care costs as a share of median family income is 17.5% with a median family income: $67,828.
Centers of Excellence Changes and Impact on Federally Qualified Health Centers
Ten Pennsylvania FQHCs are substance use disorder Centers of Excellence (COE). Recent changes to the program have raised some questions, including the question PACHC posed to Department of Human Services (DHS) on whether, under the state plan amendment DHS is submitting to CMS, case managers will be considered as eligible FQHC providers. We want to ensure that, due to the uniqueness of FQHCs and FQHC billing methodology, our health centers are being compensated fairly for the services they are providing to patients.
Per DHS: In short, the answer is that, because the FQHC-COEs bill for the G9012 procedure code under the 13-digit MPI associated with their 232 Opioid Center of Excellence provider specialty enrollment, rather than their MPI associated with the FQHC enrollment, and they are paid the $277.22 PMPM rather than their PPS for G9012 code services, case managers may perform the G9012 service that is billed under the 232 provider number, regardless of whether those case managers are considered eligible FQHC providers for PPS purposes.
You either bill as an FQHC or a COE, which are two different entities. For enrollment purposes, the provider specialty codes are different, and you are not “an FQHC that is also a COE.” If acting and billing as an FQHC, then the eligible practitioner SPA page and Appendix E handbook/PPS rules apply. If acting and billing as a COE, then the case manager policies and G9012 payment methodology apply.
PACHC is hosting a call on March 2 for FQHC-COEs to meet with DHS on the changes to COE payment methodology and have the opportunity to ask any additional questions. Please contact Amy Williams, PACHC’s Program Specialist for Behavioral Health and Substance Use Disorder, with questions.
Looking for Vendor Resources and Savings?
As an extension of PACHC’s benefits to health centers, we partner with Commonwealth Group Purchasing (CPG), a group purchasing organization developed by and for Community Health Centers. CPG provides vetted vendors and cost savings leveraged through group purchasing. There is a no-obligation service to help you assess your current purchasing from medical and business suppliers to current needs in telehealth and recruitment solutions. To learn more, click here or contact Julie Korick, PACHC Chief Operations and Finance Officer
Registration Open for NACHC Financial Operations Training
NACHC’s training workshop, Financial Operations Management 2 (FOM2), is an intermediate-level workshop that provides insight and understanding of the core qualities needed to approach the business aspects of financial operations, management, and service delivery. This is an intermediate-level seminar approved for up to 11.4 CPE credits. The FOM2 training agenda is packed with the essential financial management tools and techniques to help empower health center CFOs, CEOs, COOs and managers to maximize financial performance, engage in contract negotiations and leverage technology for better decision-making. Learn more and register for this May 25-26 virtual training. Early bird registration ends May 11, 2022.