Quick Finds: Emerging Issues

Building the Plane While Flying It: Case Studies on COVID-19, Telehealth, and Health Care for the Homeless Centers (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: As is the case for most health centers, the COVID-19 pandemic forced Health Care for the Homeless health centers to rapidly adopt telehealth strategies to sustain client services remotely. But serving patients without homes necessitates additional innovation to reach clients in shelters, quarantine facilities, or even on the street, while attending to complex health and social needs. These case studies profile 17 HCH health centers and 2 consumers, offering a range of pragmatic, insightful perspectives on HCH telehealth in the COVID world. More Details...

Supportive Housing and Health Services for LGBTQIA+ Youth Experiencing Homelessness: Promising Practices (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This publication addresses health disparities that LGBTQIA+ youth experiencing homelessness face and focuses on ways to increase engagement of LGBTQIA+ youth into health and housing programs. More Details...

Testing for COVID-19 in Homeless Shelters & Encampments: Discussing CDC’s New Health Department Guidance & NHCHC’s Newest Issue Brief (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: As capacity for COVID-19 testing grows in most communities, high-risk settings such as homeless shelters and encampments are increasingly being prioritized for universal testing events. New CDC guidance for health departments outlines factors that local and state agencies can use to further inform specific policies being developed for these venues. A new National HCH Council issue brief provides lessons learned and testing strategies that HCHs in five cities have found to work successfully when conducting universal testing. This webinar summarized these new resources and hosted active discussion. More Details...

Finding Healthy Food: The Effects of ‘Food Deserts’ on Public Housing Residents Living with Diabetes (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This blog post by NCHPH highlights the adverse effects of food deserts, and describes how food deserts can impact diabetic residents living in public housing communities. More Details...

Telehealth Strategies and Resources for Serving Patients with Limited English Proficiency (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Telehealth has the power to provide care to people in ways that were not possible before. Telehealth has removed barriers and ensured that people receive care when and where it is most convenient. Telehealth has been especially powerful during the COVID-19 pandemic, when non-emergency services such as primary care, behavioral health, and other in-person visits have been postponed to reduce the spread of the virus. However, while telehealth can remove obstacles, if not used deliberately and thoughtfully, it can exacerbate many inequalities that exist in the United States health system. One factor that is essential is language accessibility. More Details...

Centering Equity in Health and Housing Partnerships in Times of Crisis and Beyond: Supporting front line health providers to understand and incorporate health equity in their policies, programs and delivery of health services. (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This paper addresses how health centers, other health system providers, and housing partners can center considerations of equity in their shared work to address the needs of people most impacted by structural racism and its impact on health and social determinants of health, including Black people, people of color, and Indigenous people. COVID19 has re-focused the inequities that must be addressed in our health care systems. More Details...

Addressing the Opioid Crisis:  Innovative Programs Serving People Experiencing Homelessness: Health center case studies for the Opioid Crisis. (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Health centers are increasingly seeing individuals who are suffering from Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) and other Substance Use Disorders (SUDs), and many of these individuals are also faced with housing instability or are experiencing homelessness. Innovation is being driven at the ground level by providers including health centers, public health departments, harm reduction agencies and supportive housing agencies that are all concerned with the impact of OUD and other SUDs on the health of the people they serve. Essential in any innovative care model are the services needed to ensure people experiencing homelessness have access to evidence-based care, including Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT). More Details...

A Framework for Health and Housing Partnership During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Key partnership elements for successful health and housing partnerships to address crisis (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Community responses to the COVID-19 pandemic like shelter-in-place, quarantine, testing, and management of strained health resources have elevated the necessity and value of effective health and housing partnerships to address the needs of vulnerable populations. This brief highlights strategies for health centers, housing, and community service providers in leveraging partnerships to address a range of health and housing needs both during, and after the COVID-19 crisis subsides. More Details...

The Path Forward: Re-Imagining Primary Care During and Beyond the Pandemic (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: As the nation struggles with the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and racism, the moment is upon us to deeply examine and reshape the primary care delivery system for underserved communities. In this webinar, leadership of the Community Health Center, Inc. and its Weitzman Institute will lay out a road map for the new Path Forward. We invite health center and safety net providers, staff, consumer leaders and others to join the conversation and contribute their expertise, perspective and ideas. More Details...

Informational Guide for Public Housing Residents During COVID-19 – Know the Basics of Seeking Care: Know the Basics of Seeking Care (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This infographic provides general information on how public housing residents can seek care for COVID-19, testing services provided by health centers near public housing agencies and how the Public Charge rule does not apply for these services. More Details...

Informational Guide for Public Housing Residents — COVID-19: Know the Basics (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This infographic provides general information on COVID-19. More Details...

Secondary Traumatic Stress Identification, Mitigation and Improving Work Satisfaction for Health Center Staff During the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: Webinar hosted by NCHPH. Recording slides and handouts available. More Details...

Puberty Blockers and Hormone Therapy for Gender Diverse Youth and Adolescents (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: This webinar covers behavioral health considerations for gender diverse youth, pubertal blockade as part of a gender affirmation strategy, and a holistic care-team approach to working with gender diverse young people. More Details...

PCA Enabling Services Virtual Summit Podcast Series (2020). Resource Type: Other. Description: The first-ever PCA Enabling Services Virtual Summit and podcast series is co-organized and hosted by the Health Center Association of Nebraska (HCAN) in partnership with Health Outreach Partners (HOP). The seven podcast episodes cover a variety of Enabling Services topics, with a focus towards Primary Care Associations. More Details...

School Mental Health Planning for the 2020-21 School Year During COVID-19 (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: This webinar was intended to help school, district, and state education and behavioral health leaders plan for the mental health needs of the entire school community (including students, school staff, and families) and implement multi-tiered mental health promotion, prevention and intervention supports and services in the 2020-21 school year. More Details...

Tip Sheet: 3 Ways to Help Patients with Evictions and Foreclosures during the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020). Resource Type: Other. Description: This is a tip sheet that outlines 3 ways health care providers and staff can work with legal aid attorneys to help patients facing possible evictions and foreclosures while also working to strengthen long-term housing protections. More Details...

Telehealth.HHS.gov website (2020). Resource Type: Other. Description: The Telehealth.HHS.gov website provides information about the latest federal efforts to support and promote telehealth services. It was built by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). More Details...

Migrant Health Centers & COVID-19 Infographic (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: NCFH's infographic describing the results of the most recently available survey data for Migrant Health Centers conducted by HRSA, updated weekly. More Details...

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...

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...

The FQHC Alternative Payment Methodology (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This factsheet provides a snapshot of the FQHC Alternative Payment Methodology (APM). How it works, the different types of APMs, and an overview of the reimbursement methodologies for each state. 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...

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...

Health Center Workforce Deployment in COVID-19 Response Efforts (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: Health centers are balancing the wellbeing and safety of their workforce with the need to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. While “essential” staff are needed on the frontline, “non-essential” staff are either sent home to wait out the pandemic, or are deployed to perform alternative services to support COVID-19 response efforts. This webinar, hosted on April 14, 2020, covers workforce strategies employed by health center leaders in response to the COVID-19 crisis. 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...

Poblaciones Vulnerables y el COVID-19: Estrategias para apoyar a las comunidades en Puerto Rico: Únase a MCN para este seminario web grabado, donde responderemos sus preguntas sobre COVID-19 y discutiremos estrategias y recursos para ayudar a las comunidades en Puerto Rico a protegerse mejor. (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: Únase a MCN para este seminario web, donde responderemos a sus preguntas sobre COVID-19 y discutiremos estrategias y recursos para ayudar a las comunidades en Puerto Rico a protegerse mejor. 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...

Trabajadores Agrícolas y el COVID-19: Preguntas frecuentes (2020). Resource Type: Other. Description: This MCN blog post serves to provide answers to many of the frequently asked questions we have received concerning Farmworker Health and COVID-19. 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...

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...

Operating a MLP During COVID-19, A Town Hall (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: This town hall conversation explored strategies for coordinating health and legal efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. More Details...

Communications & Outreach Toolkit — COVID-19: Resources & Templates to help Health Centers Communicate information about services and programs during the Coronavirus Outbreak (2020). Resource Type: Toolkit. Description: Resources and templates Health Centers and PCAs can use to communicate information about services and programs to a variety of audiences, including the media, patients, prospective patients, community partners, during the Coronavirus outbreak. Resources include templates and documents like fact sheets, flyers, media relations templates, video animations, and more. More Details...

Patient Confidentiality & COVID-19 (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: In this complimentary webinar, we will review the permitted uses and disclosures of patient information during emergencies under both HIPAA and Part 2 and discuss the most recent updates from OCR and SAMHSA. We will also provide responses to health center’s most frequently asked questions and suggest best practices to ensure on-going compliance during this challenging period. 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...

WEBINAR | Work in the time of COVID-19: Protecting Vulnerable Workers and Their Families (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: In this national webinar, presented by Amy K. Liebman, MPA, MA, and Ed Zuroweste, MD, we respond to many of your questions about COVID-19 and discuss strategies and resources to help workers best protect themselves and their families. 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...

Telehealth Implications for FQHCs — COVID-19 (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: In this complimentary webinar, we will describe the new telehealth flexibilities in the Appropriations Act and PAL 2020-01, discuss the President's recent national emergency declaration, and explain the broader impact of each on health centers. 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...

The Impact of COVID-19 on Health Center Revenue and Jobs: A 50-State Analysis (2020). Resource Type: Publication. Description: View a state-by-state estimate of health center revenue and job loss as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 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...