Resource Search Results

Optimizing Physical Safety and Cyber Security for Health Centers Offering Gender-Affirming Care (2024). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: Presented by Dr. Alex Keuroghlian, Dr. Chris Roby, and Bonnie Michelman, this webinar will focus on the current risks to those providing gender-affirming care and provide strategies for safeguarding facilities and employees from threats, violence, and unsafe behavior. The faculty will discuss emergency preparedness as part of addressing the complex needs of health centers when ensuring physical safety and cyber security. More Details...

Using Community Referral Technology Platforms to Safely Connect Health Center Patients with Community-based Domestic Violence Services (2024). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This memo provides recommendations for health center (HC) staff as they implement, tailor, and use electronic tools to connect their patients to community-based domestic violence (DV) and human trafficking (HT) services, including how to protect patient/survivor confidentiality. HCs increasingly play an important role in addressing the health-related social needs of their patients, including housing, food insecurity, and domestic violence. Today, referrals are often facilitated through online platforms, sometimes known as community referral networks or community referral technology platforms, to assist providers in connecting patients with necessary services and providing a mechanism for follow-up. However, concerns about privacy and confidentiality exist, particularly regarding sensitive health information such as experiences of violence. This memo addresses key questions and considerations for HC staff, emphasizing survivors’ rights and control over their health information. More Details...

Clinical Quality Measures for Eligible Professionals: 2024 Update: A crosswalk of Clinical Quality Measures for UDS and other reporting from The HITEQ Center (2024). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: This spreadsheet developed by the HITEQ Center provides a crosswalk of Clinical Quality Measures and their electronic specifications as defined in the 2024 update for Eligible Professionals (Clinicians). More Details...

Financial and Operational Benchmarking Trends and Techniques (2024). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: Webinar providing an aggregate financial and operational profile of health centers nationally and a framework for identifying financial strengths and challenges for health center performance improvement and reviews the key target benchmarks that support long-term financial sustainability.​ More Details...

HITEQ On the Horizon: Environmental Preparedness for Health Centers : Roundtable Series (2024). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: Climate change-induced weather events such as heat waves, poor air quality, and flooding are increasing in frequency and intensity. Health centers are challenged to maintain their own operations and ensure continuity of care for their patients, particularly individuals who are more likely to be impacted by climate change-related disasters. In this session, health center participants and HITEQ facilitators discussed how health IT and EHRs can be used to identify and protect impacted populations. The discussion will be focused around three strategies: 1) developing a health center emergency response plan; 2) utilizing patient data to support patient resilience; and 3) developing communication outreach systems for weather emergencies. More Details...

Health Center Resilience in the Face of Cyber Adversity: A Case Study of the Family Health Center of Worcester's Ransomware Incident, February 2024 (2024). Resource Type: Publication. Description: The use of ransomware -- malicious software that restricts access to computer systems with financial demands -- has escalated, targeting health centers and putting countless lives at risk. This dire reality came to the forefront during the alarming ransomware attack on the Family Health Center of Worcester, Inc. (FHCW), where the personal health information and care continuity for thousands of patients were compromised. This resource uses FHCW's experience as a case study to demonstrate the imperative of preparedness and the strength of a community-centered response in ensuring the continuity of healthcare services amidst the ever-growing tide of cyber vulnerabilities. More Details...

Advancing the use of SDOH Data to Support Value Based Care: National Training for Health Centers (2024). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: Is your health center interested in learning about how collection of social needs data can support your performance in providing value based care? This one-hour webinar, presented by Washington Association for Community Health, CHAS Health, and the HITEQ Center taught about best practices in SDOH screening and how health centers have used SDOH data for patient care, population health, and value based care. Participants had the opportunity to ask questions and share the specific challenges they face regarding SDOH screening and use of data. All health center staff, particularly those involved in screening clients for social needs, connecting them to resources and using data to inform care, were welcome to attend. More Details...

Cyber Insurance & HIPAA Breaches Tip Sheet (2024). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This Tip Sheet specifically addresses how cyber insurance coverage can support health centers in meeting their obligations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) to respond to security incidents and to report breaches. More Details...

HITEQ Highlights: What to Do About Health IT Hazards Associated with Copy and Paste in the EHR: HITEQ Highlights Webinar (2023). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: Copy and paste functionality can support efficiency during clinical documentation, but may promote inaccurate documentation with risks for patient safety. This webinar discussed three key areas where health centers can consider implementing safe practice recommendations: Define copy and paste as a health IT safety issue by identifying the potential patient safety risks Review safe practice recommendations and implementation strategies to mitigate health IT-related hazards and safety issues Disseminate evidence, tools and practices for implementation More Details...

HITEQ Highlights: Crossing The Chasm of Innovation - One FQHC's Journey to Operationalize its Telehealth Strategy: HITEQ Highlights Webinar (2023). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: In this HITEQ Highlights webinar, we focused on the intersection of telehealth strategy and operations. One health center\'s experience of leveraging telehealth as a tool for expanding service delivery and patient access will be a jumping off point from which to consider the benefits (and challenges) of dedicated telehealth resources within an organization. Participants learned how telehealth might benefit recruitment efforts and review relevant resources for ongoing telehealth support. More Details...

Improving Health Center Cybersecurity: Risk Assessment, Breach Defense, Mitigation and Response - Session 4: Virtual Learning Collaborative (2023). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: It's time to reconsider your strategy if you still treat cyber risk as an annual project or initiative. Having a thorough ongoing program in place means that even in the worst-case scenario, you'll be ready to demonstrate that you did what was reasonable and appropriate to protect your systems and patient data. Nothing can guarantee that a cyberattack won't become a breach. Health Centers are a domain with a high potential for data breaches, and the risk continues to grow as health centers use new tools and the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI). As a result, it is crucial for health center leadership to adopt breach prevention strategies across their entire organization, as opposed to relegating it to the IT department. To support health centers in their cybersecurity strategy and implementation, the HITEQ Center is offering a free learning collaborative -- Improving Health Center Cybersecurity: Risk Assessment, Breach Defense, Mitigation, and Response. This learning collaborative will involve four structured virtual learning sessions. During the series participants engaged with subject matter experts and their colleagues in peer-to-peer learning and discussion. Topics included: health center breach mitigation tactics, operationalizing cybersecurity to better mitigate risks, cybersecurity implications of generative artificial intelligence in health centers, and incident response planning from a cybersecurity perspective. More Details...

HITEQ Highlights: Enabling a Cyber-Resilient Health Center: HITEQ Highlights Webinar (2023). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: This HITEQ Highlight aimed to strengthen Health Centers' capacity to build their cyber-resiliency. We covered risk management tools, methods for guarding against cybersecurity assaults, operationalizing cybersecurity to mitigate risks, and breach mitigation tactics. Participants focus on safeguarding data across the entire enterprise and examined approaches to implementing cybersecurity infrastructure through risk management frameworks and strategic risk assessment. More Details...

Integrating HIV and STI Prevention into Primary Care: Best Practices and Beyond (2023). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: Join us for our upcoming webinar where experts will discuss strategies for HIV and STI prevention management, addressing substance use, and incorporating injectable Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) medication. Additionally, experts will dive into models for implementing specialty care for key populations in your training programs. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of HIV and STI prevention strategies in primary care and actionable steps to strengthen their PrEP program. More Details...

Increasing Access to Comprehensive Care: The Crucial Role of the Community Health Worker (2023). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: Join us as we explore the crucial role of Community Health Workers (CHWs) and peer navigators within the clinical care team, exploring their impact on increasing access to comprehensive care. Explore case studies, reimbursement models, and the vital contributions of CHWs in improving patient outcomes from addressing social determinants of health and basic needs to fostering patient engagement. Participants will leave with knowledge on enhancing patient care strategies through CHWs and contributing to a skilled, inclusive healthcare workforce. More Details...

Accessing Your Health Center's Digital Health Tools: HITEQ Team Tool Kit (2023). Resource Type: Toolkit. Description: Digital patient engagement investments is a broad category that includes all digital health tools your health center uses to reach and support patients. These include patient portals, messaging and outreach apps, remote patient monitoring tools, and mHealth apps. Despite the hopes and promises of new technologies, implementation of digital tools in health centers can be uneven and siloed, hindering progress on adoption, engagement, and transformation. More Details...

Obtaining FEMA Funding for Damaged or Destroyed Facilities (2023). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This resource, developed with support from HRSA, serves as a guide for health centers in navigating the process of obtaining Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster aid for repairing or replacing buildings and equipment. (Updated in 2023) More Details...

Navigating Compliance Challenges with the Information Blocking Rule: A Collection of Case Studies: HITEQ Center and Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP, September 2023 (2023). Resource Type: Toolkit. Description: The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s (ONC) 21st Century Cures Act Information Blocking Rule (Info Blocking Rule) prohibits covered actors – including health care providers, health IT developers of certified health IT, and health information exchanges/health information networks– from engaging in practices likely to interfere with, prevent, or materially discourage access, exchange, or use of electronic health information (EHI). The Info Blocking Rule includes eight exceptions that provide actors with certainty that, when their practice interferes with the access, exchange, or use of EHI and meets the conditions of one or more exception, such practice will not be considered information blocking.1 More Details...

Telehealth Advancement in Massachusetts 2020-2021: Celebrating successes and insights for sustainability. June 2022. (2023). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Health center utilization of telehealth advanced in leaps and bounds since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. In 2019, fewer than 500,000 visits in health centers nationwide were provided via telehealth, and in 2020, over 28 million visits were conducted virtually as reported in the Uniform Data System (UDS). More Details...

Managed Care Data Checklist: Companion Document to Video Module: Payer Data: The Managed Care Data. Prepared by Starling Advisors for the HITEQ Center in July 2022. (2023). Resource Type: Toolkit. Description: How to Use This Checklist: This is a supplement to our Module 2: The Managed Care Data Set, which uses the HCP-LAN APM Framework as its basis. Review both before using this checklist. There are terms used throughout that may be new to you or may benefit from detailed explanations—please visit our Value Based Payment Glossary for basic definitions for a host of key terms. More Details...

Health Center Guidelines for Implementing FHIR and the Information Blocking Rule: HITEQ Center, September 2023 (2023). Resource Type: Toolkit. Description: The 21st Century Cures Act and the ONC Health IT Certification Program include rules for technical configuration and use of Health Level 7® (HL7) Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® (FHIR) for health data exchange and accessibility. Health centers are directed to enable and publish their healthcare data locations, known as FHIR endpoints,* to and from their electronic health record (EHR). Part of the Cures Act, known as the Information Blocking Rule, mandates that patients have “easy” access to their digital medical information, costs and claims associated with their health record, and whom the data can be shared with. More Details...