The COVID-19 pandemic continues to create challenging situations across the country, changing the way patients get their care and exacerbating disparities in health care. Unequal access to health care and the wellbeing that comes with it is not new. Policies impacting access to care for marginalized populations result in health disparities–preventable differences in the burden …
Notes from the Hot Zone: Health Centers Launch Testing Sites at Food Processing Plants
Here’s what’s remarkable: 60 percent of Community Health Centers nationwide have drive-through or walk-up testing for COVID-19, according to a new NACHC infographic. This massive pivot to address an unprecedented pandemic has happened in a matter of weeks, a testament to the nimble powers and innovation of health centers. They can sense a need and …
Leveraging Medicaid Administrative Claiming for Health Centers
Guest post contributed by Lisa Chan-Sawin, MHA, and Gretchen Schroeder, MPH, Transform Health Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, critical safety net providers such as Community Health Centers are experiencing significant drops in patient revenue as a result of stay-at-home orders across the nation. During this global public health crisis it is critical to explore innovative …
What COVID-19 Has Laid Bare
Ravi Kavasery, MD, is the Medical Director of Quality and Population Health, AltaMed Health Services, Los Angeles, CA, Associate Faculty, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School Recently in the midst of closing out patient charts after a busy day in the medical clinic, I received a call …
The Hurdles and Barriers to Medicaid Coverage
In February, just as the COVID-19 crisis hit the United States, a federal appeals court struck down the Trump Administration’s latest effort to enable states to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients. At the time, advocates celebrated the outcome as validation of Medicaid’s longstanding role to improve health for vulnerable people without placing unnecessary obstacles …
Telehealth in the States During COVID-19
Blog contributed by Mei Kwong, Executive Director of The Center for Connected Health Policy The highly infectious COVID-19 has people quarantining because they are infected or staying at home to reduce their risk of infection. However, many people still need to access health services not related to the treatment of COVID-19. Telehealth has emerged as …
Look For The Helpers
When the world feels like a different place, and there are scary headlines in the news, Mister Rogers urged us to “look for the helpers.” You don’t need to search very hard to find them at Community Health Centers. They are the providers at the drive-thru testing sites in parking lots; the Community Health Workers …
Telehealth, COVID-19 & Health Centers
CMS Announces Guidance for FQHCS on CARES Distant Site Provision (Updated April 17, 2020) Today the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid announced its guidance allowing Community Health Centers and Rural Health Clinics (RACs) to receive enhanced Medicare reimbursement for telehealth services, per the provision in the CARES Act. Retroactive to January 27, 2020 and continuing …
“Resilience Comes with Purpose”A Health Center Doctor Recovers from COVID-19
As a Family Physician, I knew that at some point I would become infected with COVID-19. For me, it was never a question of if I’d get sick, rather how soon and how sick I would get. Of course, there was also the added fear of bringing this home and infecting my husband; I’d worry …
Taking Care of Each Other in This Time of Crisis
This guest blog post is by Kimberly Becher, M.D. Dr. Becher practices at Community Care of West Virginia, Inc., a rural federally qualified health center in Clay County, W.Va. , This article was originally posted in the AAFP’s Fresh Perspectives blog”. You know that feeling When a huge storm is coming? If you live on …