Quick Finds: Clinical Issues

Medical Respite Care & Alternate Care Sites (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This issue brief is intended to provide health centers, public health authorities, emergency response systems, and Alternate Care Site program administrators with an operational framework that will improve the quality of care at ACS programs and promote longer-term stability for vulnerable people. Ideally, communities can retain this increased capacity for medical respite care after the pandemic subsides given the high level of need for these programs prior to COVID-19. More Details...

MSAW/Housing Playbook and Risk Mitigation: Samples from Family Health La Clinica, Wisconsin (2020). Resource Type: Template. Description: Three documents from Family Health La Clinica, shared by the Wisconsin PCA. Resources include a Playbook, Risk Mitigation Strategy, and Housing & Workplace Best Practices. More Details...

Delivering Telelegal Services During COVID-19 (2020). Resource Type: n.a.. Description: This town hall featured teams from Los Angeles, Montana, and Alaska who have experience delivering remote medical-legal partnership services in urban, rural, and frontier settings More Details...

Building Resilience in the Midst of a Pandemic: What Health Care Workers and Leaders Can Do During the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: A lot of energy has been devoted to the critical need for PPE, the lack of respirators, tests, and the pressure on health centers to help “flatten the curve.” This crisis has left little time to address the impact of workplace and personal stressors on providers and other staff as they try to balance the fear of contracting the virus while carrying a heavy, complex workload. This webinar provided tips and recommendations for leadership, health center staff working at clinical sites on how to create a healthy environment and cope with anxiety, depression and other behavioral disorders caused by COVID-19. More Details...

PrEP at Home (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: In this webinar, Dr. Ken Mayer and Julian Dormitzer, NP, address telePrEP and the PrEP at home model for LGBTQIA+ patients. The webinar covers the basics of starting and monitoring PrEP with an at-home start, and also address specific needs and concerns for sexual and gender minority people around PrEP and telePrEP. There is also a focus on PrEP at home in the time of COVID-19. More Details...

Medicare FQHC Updates: Calendar Year 2020 (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Every year the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issues an annual rule, the Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule, which provides details on new policies for Medicare providers. This update provides a summary of the latest changes, including any specific provisions in the CY2020 Physician Fee Schedule directly impacting FQHCs. More Details...

HITEQ Highlights: HIV Prevention and Treatment for patients with SUD in an Integrated Behavioral Health Setting (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: Join the HITEQ Center, in collaboration with the National Council for Behavioral Health, for a webinar on understanding from a beginner perspective, how to integrate HIV prevention, screening into integrated behavioral health services, including how to identify patients at risk for HIV with a focus on SUD, facilitate screening, and prompting for re-screening at appropriate intervals. More Details...

No Two People Are the Same: Respecting Cultural Diversity when Delivering Healthcare (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: This webinar defines health equity disparities and literacy, as well as the cultural competence that affect delivery of services. It focuses on barriers to culture, linguistic competency and cross-cultural communication in framework that allows organizations to plan and develop an equitable environment. REGISTRATION required to view this free webinar. More Details...

Clinical Quality Measures for Eligible Professionals for 2020: A Crosswalk Comparison from The HITEQ Center (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This spreadsheet provides a crosswalk of Clinical Quality Measures and their electronic specifications as defined in the 2020 update for Eligible Professionals (Clinicians). More Details...

Network Resource Guide for Health Center Controlled Networks (HCCNs) (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: For more information on the 49 HCCNs funded by HRSA, please visit the Network Resource Guide (NRG). https://networkresourceguide.org/. The NRG provides up-to-date information about HCCNs across the country that are working together to leverage health IT for health centers in ways to improve access to care, enhance quality of care, and achieve cost efficiencies. More Details...

Getting a New Workflow and Process Started during COVID-19 Pandemic: Moving to Telehealth during Coronavirus Public Health Emergency (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Health centers are having to dramatically change approaches to patient care as the COVID-19 public health emergency keeps patients at home and ramps up the demands of telehealth and other remote care modalities. Many health centers are moving primary care, care for chronic conditions, behavioral health, and other important care that patients need to telehealth, but the changing landscape and quick turnaround is tricky for organizations to navigate successfully. This resource is a quick start guide for health centers making this change. More Details...

Bridging the Digital Divide: Using Technology to Improve Access to Health Care for Public Housing Residents (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: The purpose of this report is to outline the digital needs and challenges of public housing residents, the risks and benefits of using technology to improve patient care, and recommendations on how to prepare health centers and patients to optimize digital tools, improve access to care, and enhance efforts through partnerships to bridge the digital divide. More Details...

Triage & Tele-Health Support Plan for Isolation Units: Strategies for engaging clients for telehealth in COVID19 environment (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This step-by-step support plan is applicable to Supportive Housing Providers, Managed Care Organizations (MCOs), Health Centers, and Case Management services across the country in the early stages for addressing infectious disease. The support plan includes Triage Interview Questions and Immediate Intervention Steps for front line staff. More Details...

Navigating Emergency Food Resources in Times of Crisis & Beyond: Three Step Approach to Understanding food resources in your community (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This brief is intended to help supportive and affordable housing and health and human service partners understand and more effectively assess resident and client access to emergency food. This navigation is especially important during unforeseen disruptions to local economies such as natural disasters, public health emergencies, or civic unrest. More Details...

Advance Care Planning During COVID-19 (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: This town hall conversation explores the legal, policy, operational, and capacity issues related to advance care planning. More Details...

Reducing Harm for People Using Drugs & Alcohol During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Guide for Alternative Care Sites (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: People experiencing homelessness cannot recover or protect themselves from COVID-19 at home. Therefore, Alternative Care Sites are being developed to accommodate such clients. This issue brief is intended to provide managers of alternative care sites, including health centers, with a framework for serving individuals with SUD in isolation and quarantine, and reducing possible harmful consequences. More Details...

Cyber Security Risks — COVID-19: Best Practices for Health Center Staff Working Remotely (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: The number of COVID-19 cases continue to increase throughout the United States, requiring more and more of our health systems to rely on employees working from home at times. While some of us are required to "shelter-in-place," unfortunately that shelter can create increased risks such as cyber security breaches. With good planning, policies, and employee and family education, health centers can minimize risk and support their employees while working remotely. This presentation will inform your Health Center remote workers on best practices for increasing cybersecurity at home. More Details...

Care Coordination: Planning for COVID-19 Hospitalizations: Strategies for partners pre- and post - COVID 19 Hospitalizations (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This document summarizes care team roles and key recommendations for COVID-19 protocols specific to supportive housing residents whose symptoms are severe enough to require hospitalization. More Details...

Brief: Leveraging legal services on the Homeless Patient Aligned Care Team (H-PACT) (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This brief highlights the potential for partnership between the legal community and H-PACTs at VAMCs, and profiles MLPs that are successfully tackling the unmet legal needs of Veterans experiencing and at-risk of homelessness through this approach More Details...

Addressing the Opioid Crisis: Innovative State Responses: Companion paper to Opioid Crisis webinar series highlights strategies states and local providers have developed to service the hardest hit populations (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: The recent increase in federal funding to address the opioid crisis presents health centers the opportunity to expand partnerships with supportive housing and substance use disorder providers. This brief for health center partners summarizes promising practices in three states; explores a managed care organization’s work with its members to address the opioid epidemic; and ways for health centers to incorporate these practices into their OUD services. More Details...

Managing Crisis through Resilient Leadership Resource Packet (English/Spanish) (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Health centers are serving on the frontline, providing critical health care services in communities dealing with the coronavirus and COVID-19. During challenging and stressful times, it is normal for leaders to feel off balance. This resource contains six steps designed to access and be a Resilient Leader during turbulent times. More Details...

Community Health Workers and COVID-19 (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. It has been impacting countries around the world, including the United States. Most people infected will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment, however, older people, and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness. More Details...

Toolkit on Response to Racism and Xenophobia — COVID-19 (2020). Resource Type: Toolkit. Description: The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA), in collaboration with the Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations, developed a COVID-19 Response Toolkit to address incidents of xenophobia, racism, and hate in the Asian American (AA) and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) community. More Details...

Social Determinants of Health for Public Housing Residents: Access to Healthy Food (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Using data and maps created by National Center for Health in Public Housing (NCHPH) and other national data sources, this publication is one in a series that identifies the prevalence of social factors and population health indicators that affect public housing residents. It is intended for non-clinical health center staff, decision makers, and public housing stakeholders. More Details...

Mi salud es mi tesoro: Un guía para vivir bien con diabetes: My Health Is My Treasure: A Guide to Living Well With Diabetes (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Migrant Clinicians Network’s groundbreaking new Spanish-language comic book, “Mi salud es mi tesoro: Un guía para vivir bien con diabetes,” or “My Health Is My Treasure: A Guide to Living Well With Diabetes,” tells the relatable story of Goyo, an agricultural worker with a new diabetes diagnosis. Illustrated by artist and frequent MCN collaborator Salvador Saenz, the colorful, low-literacy comic book allows clinicians to share how to live with diabetes, with content tailored specifically for agricultural workers. More Details...

Guidance on Team-Based Care for Older Adults With Multiple Chronic Diseases: Focus on Oral and Behavioral Health Management of the Older Adult Patient With Diabetes (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This publication provides guidance to health center providers to establish a team-based care approach to health care delivery to older adult patients with diabetes. The resource explores the roles of oral health, behavioral health, and social determinants of health in managing older adults with diabetes. More Details...

Developing Cross-Sector Partnerships (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This guide provides health center staff with tools and strategies to initiate, develop, and sustain community partnerships to better serve older adult residents of public housing. Content of this publication was developed through a 4-session learning collaborative launched by the SDOH academy with a small cohort of HRSA-funded health centers, HCCNs, and PCAs. More Details...

Telehealth to Support Primary Care during COVID-19 (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: Sanjeev Arora, MD, discusses how the Project ECHO model is being applied to support primary care providers during this pandemic. Bob Phillips, MD reports on how primary care practitioners are applying emerging telehealth policies and the tough choices practices are making to maintain financial viability with dramatically reduced in-person visits. More Details...

Diabetes Continuum of Care: Understanding Health Literacy to Improve Diabetes Outcomes (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: In session 2 of the four-part National Learning Series, we explored the importance of health literacy for successful self-management of chronic conditions; described the impact of low health literacy has on diabetes prevention and outcomes among patients from special and vulnerable populations; and developed practical strategies to communicate health information and help patients build health literacy skills over time. More Details...

Pharmacy and Finance for PrEP (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: In this webinar Dr. Rupa Patel discusses pharmacy and financing considerations for initiating and managing PrEP. Dr. Patel, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Director of the PrEP for HIV Program at the Washington University of Medicine in St. Louis, will explore these topics and provide guidance for health centers providing PrEP to their patients. More Details...

Digest of Resources for Medical-Legal Partnerships — COVID-19 (2020). Resource Type: Other. Description: A digest of resources to tackle the urgent, overlapping health and legal needs exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Includes a townhall webinar highlighting remote legal practices, COVID-19-related legal needs such as eviction prevention, and practical advice from New York and Austin MLP programs. More Details...

Using Non-Traditional Technology for Telehealth During COVID-19 Pandemic: Issue Brief for implementing commercial applications for telehealth consistent with March 2020 OCR Guidance (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights (OCR), the entity responsible for enforcing regulations under HIPAA, stated, effective immediately, it will exercise enforcement discretion and will not impose penalties for HIPAA violations against covered healthcare providers if patients are served on a good faith basis during the COVID-19 nationwide public health emergency. OCR has clarified that, during this public health emergency, these technologies can be used for any services, not only those specific to COVID-19. More Details...

Enhancing Social Connectedness in times of Physical Distance: Highlight promising practices for keeping connected with clients (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: The current need for physical distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19 means that many people may become more isolated. Here are suggestions for how to encourage social connectedness while practicing physical distancing and following critically important CDC guidance regarding how to not spread the virus. More Details...

Telehealth Policy during Coronavirus/COVID-19 Pandemic (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: The HITEQ Center is adding additional telehealth information, including policy and regulatory developments, relevant to coronavirus/ COVID-19 pandemic as it impacts health centers as it becomes available. More Details...

Simulation Exercise: Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Training (2020). Resource Type: In Person Training. Description: To support countries’ preparedness effort on the COVID-19 outbreak, WHO`s Department of Health Security and Preparedness has developed a generic COVID-19 tabletop exercise package. The exercise aims to examine and strengthen existing plans, procedures and capabilities to manage an imported case of 2019-nCov and targets the health authorities at the national level. More Details...

Operational considerations for case management of COVID-19 in health facility and community: Interim guidance19March 2020 (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This document is intended for health ministers, health system administrators, and other decision-makers. It is meant to guide the care of COVID-19 patients as the response capacity of health systems is challenged; to ensure that COVID-19 patients can access life-saving treatment, without compromising public health objectives and safety of health workers. More Details...

Care for LGBTQIA+ People of Color (2020) (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: In this talk from the 2020 Advancing Excellence in Sexual and Gender Minority Health conference, Dr. Darrell Wheeler identifies challenges and solutions for supporting the health of LGBTQIA+ people of color. More Details...

Telehealth Toolkit — COVID-19 (2020). Resource Type: Toolkit. Description: This toolkit outlines ways in which telehealth can be used in response to COVID-19. More Details...

Oral Health Listening Session Findings — COVID-19 (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: NNOHA hosted three oral health listening sessions on health center dental programs' responses to COVID-19. The listening sessions focused on protecting the community and protecting the dental team. The findings of the three listening sessions are provided in this document in addition the webinar recordings. More Details...

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) (CDC) (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This short document discusses how health center boards are exercising their governance duties related to COVID-19. More Details...

Telehealth and COVID-19 (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: The National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers held a webinar exploring further uses and benefits of telehealth during the COVID-19 outbreak. More Details...

Health Policy Bulletin Spring 2020 (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: The Health Policy Bulletin is a summary of policy developments that affect farmworker health and access to health care. This issue focuses on access to behavioral health services in farmworker communities. More Details...

What Older Adults Need to Know — COVID-19 (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: The CDC has identified older adults and people who have severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung, or kidney disease at higher risk for more serious COVID-19 illness. According to the CDC, early data suggest older people are twice as likely to have serious COVID-19 illness. More Details...

Infectious Disease Toolkit for CoCs (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Health officials are currently taking steps to prevent the introduction and spread of COVID-19 (“Coronavirus”) into communities across the United States. Housing providers, including organizations that run continuums of care and shelters, as well as the general public, can play an important role in this effort. You have access to many resources on the HUD page, including the Community Planning Development’s Toolkit for Homeless Shelters and Continuum of Care Providers. More Details...

HIV by State: Testing, Diagnosis, and Linkage to Care (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: HIV by State: Testing, Diagnosis, & Linkage to Care Data source: HRSA Bureau of Primary Health Care Uniform Data System, January 1, 2018 - December 31, 2018 More Details...

Special COVID-19 Weitzman ECHO Session (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: On Wednesday, March 4, the Weitzman Institute led a special Project ECHO session for clinicians addressing COVID-19. We are making the video recording and slides available free to health centers nationwide. More Details...

The COVID-19 Pandemic Resources and Information: Spanish and English (2020). Resource Type: Other. Description: We at Migrant Clinicians Network have a priority to support both clinicians and the vulnerable patients they serve. MCN continually develops strategies and resources to support health centers, health departments, community groups, and clinicians as they reach out to communities that are often overlooked and give care to patients who might otherwise have nowhere to go. We remain highly concerned for the vulnerable populations that already encounter numerous barriers to health and to care. More Details...

Telehealth Workflows (2020). Resource Type: Other. Description: Suggested diagramed workflows for any organization managing patient caseloads via telemedicine. More Details...

COVID-19 & the HCH Community: Needed Policy Responses for a High-Risk Group (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: As the COVID-19 virus pandemic continues to grow throughout the world and in the United States, state and local public response systems are implementing a number of public health strategies to prevent further exposures and slow the spread of the virus. Infections among people experiencing homelessness will present specific challenges for those individuals, local response structures, and for Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) programs and other homeless service providers. More Details...

Sexual Health and Wellness for LGBTQIA+ Older Adults (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: This two-part webinar series explored the importance of discussing safe sexual practices with LGBTQIA+ older adults and explained the value of connecting at-risk individuals to HIV prevention methods like PrEP. More Details...