Behavioral Health Integrator

The National Health Care for the Homeless Council and the HITEQ Center hosted a free webinar on Tuesday, February 6th, 2024, from 2 – 3 pm Eastern (1 - 2 pm Central) where they taught participants how to screen for housing status and other Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) measures that can be introduced or better integrated into health center clinical workflows. Presenters shared guidance on implementing and systematizing social needs data collection in Electronic Health Records (EHRs), followed by a panel of expert health center representatives who spoke about their programs’ journeys with social needs screening programs. Participants had the opportunity to ask questions, share successes, or discuss specific challenges they faced regarding social needs screening. 

While this webinar focused on health care for the homeless (HCH) health centers, anyone involved directly in social needs screening or interested in improving screening processes was welcome to attend.

Demonstrating the value of health centers is a necessary element of sustainability and measuring benefit. How value is assessed can range from illustrating cost effectiveness and evaluating performance measures to ensuring access to reliable, high-quality, and equitable care.

The purpose of this webinar is to provide a clear, digestible demonstration of the value that Health Care for the Homeless grantees provide and the impact of the HCH integrated care framework on health care. We will provide clear examples of the uniqueness of populations experiencing homelessness and the invaluable work that HCH grantees and those providing direct services give to our communities.
 

This webinar complemented our policy brief and discussed how the ICD-10-CM code for homelessness (Z59.0) was implemented at a Health Care for the Homeless grantee in Colorado, and how a hospital system instituted a housing status screening tool in Pennsylvania. A leading managed care entity shared why Medicaid plans need to have this information, and preliminary results from a pilot project in Texas using the Z59.0 code to identify homelessness among Medicaid beneficiaries were reviewed.

Each year, every community health center program is required to submit data for HRSA’s Uniform Data System (UDS). Technology can help in the process, but with several IT vendors promising fast and easy solutions, it can be an overwhelming decision as well as a frustrating process once we realize that there is no one-size-fits-all product. The tweaking of product and process has become one of trial-and-error for many programs.

This webinar will review UDS reporting software and showcase the experiences of two Health Care for the Homeless grantees. The presenters will describe the products they used, how they took EMR/EHR data and translated it into UDS reporting categories, and ultimately how reporting improved the quality of care for their consumers. Throughout the webinar, presenters will offer tips, suggestions, and other resources. After the presentation, speakers will participate in a live Q&A session with the audience.

Presenters:

• Susan Friedrich, MBA, PMP, Managing Director, JSI (Bow, NH)
• Chuck Amos, MBA, Director of Performance Improvement, Health Care for the Homeless (Baltimore, MD)
• Chris Espersen, MSPH, Independent Contractor, Past President of MWCN (Franklin Park, IL)