Written in collaboration with Subject-Matter Experts Roger Schwartz, Esq. and Mary Cieslicki, MHS Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) are the largest primary care network in the country, providing medical, dental, behavioral, and enabling services to over 29 million patients, including 1 in 5 Medicaid beneficiaries. Medicaid is the largest payer for mental health services in …
Looking Back to Move Forward: Understanding the Underlying Authorities to Help FQHCs Survive the COVID-19 Crisis
Guest Post by Susannah Vance Gopalan, Esq., Partner at Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP in Washington, DC with editorial contributions from Bethany Hamilton, Esq. of NACHC State Affairs Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) have experienced rapid declines in patient encounters and revenues since the onset of the pandemic, being forced to lay off employees or …
Reimagining Oral Health Care in Health Centers Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic
Don Weaver, MD, Senior Advisor for Clinical Workforce, NACHC, co-authored the following blog post. The 2000 Surgeon General’s Report on Oral Health in America reminded the nation that “oral health is a critical component of health and must be included in the provision of health care and design of community programs.” This critical report …
Ensuring the Access to Health Care During COVID-19
One of the starkest daily reminders of the COVID-19 public health emergency has been less traffic on the road. As the public follows stay-at-home orders, road-rage inducing traffic jams have suddenly become a non-issue. With many – but not all – able to work from home, public transportation buses and trains have become hollowed vessels, …
Celebrating Mothers Means Ensuring Access to Care
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 …