This activity focused on medication therapy management protocols and their effects on prescription drug coverage policies. It also considered PrEP access through a health equity lens and  included a review of the drug utilization review process, insurance models, and health impact analysis, assessing the impact of each on patients and care.

While previous PrEP practice guidelines recommended that healthcare providers offer PrEP only to patients whom they considered "at high risk" of acquiring HIV, the most recent guidelines and the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendations are reshaping how providers think about PrEP. Expanded prescription of PrEP to previously overlooked patient populations is a key step towards reducing the spread of HIV. To achieve the maximum benefit of PrEP, compliance with current PrEP guidelines and enforcement of cost coverage for PrEP are important instruments for ending the HIV epidemic. 

This webinar reviewed and provided guidance on the USPSTF FAQs including requirements for:

• Fully-covered PrEP-related ancillary tests and services with zero cost-sharing, as aligned with the CDC Clinical PrEP Guidelines.
• The lack of restrictions on frequency of PrEP initiation or the frequency of services, such as HIV and STI screening.
• Zero cost-sharing for the PrEP medication that is medically appropriate for patients, as determined by their healthcare provider.
• Easily accessible, transparent, and sufficiently expedient exceptions process if using reasonable medical management techniques.

Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) is an HL7® standard for electronic healthcare data exchange. This next generation exchange architecture is advancing interoperability in healthcare. FHIR provides a standard way to express and share information across health centers, providers, and related organizations independent of how local EHRs display or store data. For UDS+ and other information exchange needs, all health centers, PCAs, and HCCNs will want to be familiar with the basics of the HL7 FHIR standard. In this session we will discuss what FHIR is, what it basically does, how it impacts your EHR, and what it might mean to your health center and patients.

3 Takeaways:

1) How everything old is new (to CMS)
2) Learn about the new split-shared update to critical care (another modifier!)
3) How this may affect your tele-critical care services

This webinar provided an overview of findings from a document released by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation titled, “Building the Evidence Base for Social Determinants of Health Interventions”, which was released in September 2021. The webinar conveyed key findings from this report and discussed specific intervention components that improve health, and which interventions might achieve sustained and lasting improvements in population health. Specifically, the webinar covered the following:
• What role do SDOH play in integrated care?
• An overview of the findings of the report, successes, and challenges
• How health centers can screen for risks related to SDOH
• A discussion on intervention components and strategies for improving health

Natalie M. Slaughter, MS, is a Technical Expert Lead with JBS International. Ms. Slaughter has 17 years of experience providing training and technical assistance (T/TA), evaluation, and implementation of a variety of behavioral health, prevention, and population health policies and programs. She has provided T/TA to state health officials to advance primary care and behavioral health integration and workforce development, directed the planning and evaluation of treatment and supportive services for people living with HIV/AIDS in the Baltimore Metropolitan Area, and delivered strategic guidance to national health insurance programs, including commercial, Medicaid, and Medicare. As a JBS Technical Expert Lead, Ms. Slaughter serves as a technical expert lead for the HRSA BHTA SDoH Roundtable Series to support federally qualified health centers in their efforts to identify and address social need and social risk in an integrated care setting. Ms. Slaughter chairs the JBS Health Disparities Work Group and holds a Master of Science degree in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University.
 

This learning collaborative presented by the HITEQ Center, allowed participants to learn about health center promising practices and key considerations to support the successful collection, monitoring, and addressing of social needs data. During the series participants explored the levels of maturity in the social needs screening implementation process. Participants gained information on concrete strategies and IT solutions that will help to improve internal systems, such as EHR utilization and care team workflows, and increase their capacity to advance individual and population-level health.  Health center exemplars were showcased.

This learning collaborative presented by the HITEQ Center allowed participants to learn about health center promising practices and key considerations to support the successful collection, monitoring, and addressing of social needs data. During the series participants explored the levels of maturity in the social needs screening implementation process. Participants gained information on concrete strategies and IT solutions that will help to improve internal systems, such as EHR utilization and care team workflows, and increase their capacity to advance individual and population-level health. Health center exemplars will be showcased.

The HITEQ Center put on this learning collaborative to learn about health center promising practices and key considerations to support the successful collection, monitoring, and addressing of social needs data. During the series participants explored the levels of maturity in the social needs screening implementation process. Participants gained information on concrete strategies and IT solutions that helped to improve internal systems, such as EHR utilization and care team workflows, and increase their capacity to advance individual and population-level health. Health center exemplars were showcased.