According to the Community Preventive Services Task Force, Community Health Workers (CHWs) may address a broad range of health issues and include interventions that focus on diabetes among members of their community. Interventions are delivered to community groups or individuals at increased risk of type 2 diabetes, primarily through information on improvements in diet, physical activity, and weight. This training, hosted by the National Center for Health in Public Housing, will address diabetes resources for CHWs, explain the roles and competencies of CHWs in diabetes prevention and how CHWs can help patients with diabetes with food insecurity and other social determinants of health via community resources. Learn more and register.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is celebrating American Heart Month this year by launching a quarterly Heart Health Office Hours. It is a web-based learning series highlighting evidence-based interventions to improve heart health. The inaugural session–Are Hypertension Control Innovations that Maximize Team-Based Care Effective?–on Thursday, Feb. 25 at 3:00 pm, will feature two health centers sharing their experiences implementing team-based care to improve hypertension control. Registration is required. You can also access a suite of resources from NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, hypertension toolkits from the CDC, and The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Control Hypertension that outlines goals and strategies to improve hypertension control. The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) has also provided the following resources: Roadmap Quality Improvement Tool to Improve Blood Pressure Control for African Americans, NACHC SMBP Implementation Toolkit, Million Hearts® national SMBP Forum, and their Hypertension Screening and Control Action Guide.

The Federation of State Medical Boards has launched Provider Bridge, a license-portability initiative that will allow certain clinicians to work across state lines. Clinicians can register and receive a digital Provider Bridge Passport, which collects their active licenses, disciplinary history, specialty certifications and DEA registration and NPI numbers. The clinicians can then submit that passport to a health system, hospital or other care provider in need of help. It’s currently limited to physicians and physician assistants, but the Federation plans to expand the program to other healthcare professionals. Read more.

On his first day in office, President Biden fulfilled his promise to extend forbearance on federal student loans. That means those with Federal student loans do not need to make payments until October 2021. Interest on these loans remains at zero percent during this time. This applies to:

• All Direct Loans (including those in default)
• All FFEL Program loans (including those in default)
• All Federal Perkins Loans (including those in default)
• Defaulted HEAL loans

President Biden has also indicated that he wants to reform and expand certain elements of federal loans, including parts of Public Service Loan Forgiveness, but those actions will come later.