CHAD Connection June 16, 2023

In service of CHAD’s ongoing support of Medicaid expansion in South Dakota, we hosted a Medicaid Partners Summit in Sioux Falls on June 15. The purpose of the event was to celebrate the start of expanded access to health coverage in South Dakota and to share tested and effective communications tools and strategies to help get out the word. More than 100 people joined us in person or virtually to network, learn more about the expansion process starting July 1, and share their experiences.

We started the event with a presentation on the Affordable Care Act, health insurance, and Medicaid. Penny Kelley, our outreach and enrollment services program manager, and Cat Anthony, one of our Get Covered South Dakota navigators, gave a brief history of health insurance and Medicaid and explained how the expanded Medicaid qualifications will differ from what we have now. Specifically, individuals with incomes up to about $20,000 per year and families of 4 with an income up to about $40,000 per year will now be able to access great, affordable health insurance through the Medicaid program. And, as a reminder, those with higher incomes may be able to get affordable private insurance through subsidies on the Marketplace.

Department of Social Services Cabinet Secretary Matt Althoff spoke about the agency’s role in Medicaid expansion. He shared some of the successes and trials with the process so far and how they plan to learn and refine operations as the qualifications change on July 1. He did take time to emphasize the fact that DSS is taking Medicaid expansion applications starting June 1 and that those deemed eligible will be automatically enrolled starting July 1. At the same time, those “successful” applicants will receive a notice that they were deemed not eligible based on their status in June, which may be confusing. He emphasized that if potential beneficiaries have questions, the DSS staff is eager and willing to help.

One of the keys to the successful implementation of Medicaid expansion across the country has been a coordinated and effective communications effort. CHAD hired Fresh Produce to create a statewide communications and outreach campaign to spread the word that more people will be eligible for Medicaid this summer. Using research, interviews, and testimonials, its team crafted the message “Medicaid changes everything.” With a combination of print materials, digital and radio advertising, video, and a host of other tactics, their work will continue to be a crucial tool to make sure people are aware of the benefits of Medicaid and that more people are now eligible, even if they’ve been turned down in the past. We are grateful to our partners: AARP, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Health Association, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, for supporting this communications work. Fellow Medicaid expansion advocates can access the social media materials here.

We finished the day by talking about each of our “why.” Listening to participants share personal stories of neighbors, friends, and family members impacted by lack of health coverage was really inspiring. While we know there will be a few bumps in the road as we cross into July, it’s important to remember how far we’ve come and celebrate the life-changing and life-saving impact of having access to affordable health coverage and health care when we need it.

Last week, CHAD hosted the Lakota Lands & Identities Workshop on Wheels for health center staff and partner organizations. In this three-day traveling seminar created and delivered by the Center for American Indian Research & Native Studies (CAIRNS), 35 attendees engaged in on-the-ground immersive activities at prominent Lakota sites, including Mato Paha (Bear Butte), Cankpe Opi (Wounded Knee), Wasun Niya (Wind Cave), and more. Participants also enjoyed time at the 55th Annual Red Cloud Indian Art Show (check out their online gallery here). Between stops, the learning continued with live presentations on the bus and meaningful conversations between rotating seat partners.

Dr. Craig Howe of CAIRNS walked participants through the systemic and unfair policies that have created such significant health inequities in our region. By better understanding both the root causes and cultural strengths, the health center movement and allies can collaborate more effectively toward a vision of healthy communities. As a follow-up to the workshop, attendees will reconvene via Zoom to discuss strategies for applying this foundational learning to the health care environment. People interested in learning more about CHAD’s efforts to advance health equity can contact Shannon Bacon.

Join CHAD in celebrating Shannon Bacon’s promotion to the director level. In her new role as the director of equity & external affairs, Shannon provides leadership in the development, implementation, and management of external affairs, including policy, advocacy, external partnerships, and communication and marketing for CHAD. She is charged with helping to identify and promote the system changes needed to advance justice and equity as it relates to health and health care and with collaborating with all CHAD departments on a coordinated diversity, equity, inclusion & belonging (DEIB) approach.

Shannon holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor with a community organization concentration and a Bachelor of Social Work and Bachelor of Arts in women’s studies from Minnesota State University Moorhead. She lives in Fargo with her partner and two children. In her free time, she enjoys the outdoors, reading, meditation, and being involved in the community. Shannon has been with CHAD since 2021.

The policy and partnership manager at CHAD will serve as the lead staff member on matters related to policy and the development of statewide partnerships in South Dakota. With experience in state and/or national advocacy and policy, this position promotes systemic change in support of our vision of “Access to a high-quality system of health care for all Dakotans.”

The ideal candidate enjoys creative problem-solving and variety in their work. They build strong relationships with stakeholders, are proactive, and are knowledgeable about health care policy and health equity. They will develop policy positions in collaboration with CHAD members and contractors, utilize and stay abreast of the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) policy efforts, and educate health center members as needed. This position will also represent CHAD in meetings with state officials and other partners and promote community and patient engagement through health center collaborations. This is a full-time remote position with a physical location in South Dakota. Learn more here and apply today!

CHAD and statewide partners, including the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, and AARP, hosted a press conference on Thursday, June 1, at Falls Community Health in Sioux Falls. Health care providers, partners, and community members spoke about the importance of Medicaid expansion and highlighted the opportunity to start enrollments ahead of the July 1 implementation date. After the media event, a Mitchell woman met with Get Covered South Dakota navigators to enroll in Medicaid. For more information on Medicaid expansion implementation, visit www.GetCoveredSouthDakota.org and the state expansion website for frequent updates.

The Energize! Exploring Innovative Rural Communities conference is designed to energize South Dakota’s rural communities by inviting them to network with community leaders from across the state to share success stories, get new ideas, and take action to improve their communities. This year’s keynote speaker was Danna Larson, the founder and podcast host of “Rural Revival,” showcasing the next generation of entrepreneurs in rural communities and bringing life back to small towns. Get Covered SD navigators were onsite with a vendor booth to network and spread awareness about navigator services, Medicaid unwinding, and expansion.

August 6-12 is National Health Center Week (NHCW), and health centers in North Dakota and South Dakota have many exciting activities and promotions planned to showcase their centers, recognize their staff, and engage their communities. This year’s NHCW theme is Road Trippin’: Health Centers – the Road to Better Health. The CHAD team will once again be hitting the road to visit all 66 delivery sites in 52 communities across the Dakotas. NHCW is a great opportunity to meet providers and ask questions about health center programs and services. For more information about health centers in the Dakotas and their plans for NHCW, visit their websites by clicking here.

The CHAD road trip-style visits aim to raise awareness about the important role that health centers play in promoting health equity and providing access to health care for all. Sponsorships are available to cover the costs associated with marketing and promotional materials and travel expenses. Sponsors will be recognized for their contributions via the CHAD website, social media, and NHCW promotional materials. Those interested in supporting CHAD's NHCW activities and joining us in celebrating the vital work of health centers in improving the health of our communities should contact Darci Bultje.

Another way to support CHAD’s work and participate in the NHCW celebration is to shop at the new CHAD store! The store is a great way to support CHAD's work and get some sweet new swag at the same time. It's a win-win situation - supporters get cool stuff and help make a difference in the Dakotas. Plus, it's a great conversation starter - people will always ask about a health center shirt or bag. Show your health center love today!

Join CHAD, the Dakotas AIDS Education and Training Center (DAETC), and the American Cancer Society for the final two sessions in this webinar series to explore a variety of topics essential to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) individuals. Speakers will discuss current barriers to cancer screenings and preventative health care and how to create inclusive and welcoming environments to improve data collection and health outcomes. Participants are welcome for every session or may choose the sessions that make the most sense for them. Continuing medical education (CME) credits will be offered at no cost for certain sessions.* This series will benefit health care providers, nursing staff, social workers, community health workers, and front office staff.

Session Two - Predictors and Emotional Experiences of Cancer Screening for LGBTQ+ Groups
Thursday, June 22 | 12:00 pm CT/ 11:00 am MT
Register here

Session Three - Creating Inclusive Environments to Improve LGBTQ+ Health Outcomes
Wednesday, June 28 | 12:00 pm CT/ 11:00 am MT
*Register here

Join CHAD and the Great Plains Health Data Network (GPHDN) for a comprehensive overview of the 2022 Data Books. The CHAD team has prepared these books for member health centers and the GPHDN using the most current Uniform Data System (UDS) data. These publications were created for use within the CHAD and GPHDN networks and are not publicly shared.

This members-only presentation will walk attendees through the contents and layout of the 2022 CHAD and GPHDN Data Books. Presenters will provide an overview of the data and graphs demonstrating trends and comparisons in patient demographics, payor mixes, clinical measures, financial measures, provider productivity, and economic impact. The session will wrap up with a glance at individual health center data snapshots. This meeting will provide an excellent opportunity for members to ask questions and share the background story behind the data. This one-hour presentation will be held on Thursday, July 13, at 12:00 pm CT/ 11:00 am MT. The CHAD and GPHDN Data Books will be shared with participants prior to the training. Registration information is coming soon via email. Contact Melissa Craig at CHAD with questions.

Looking for your next great read? Join CHAD’s annual summer read-along featuring Out in the Rural: A Mississippi Health Center & Its War on Poverty by historian Thomas J. Ward Jr. In this powerful book, readers will learn the story of the nation’s first rural community health center, which opened in 1966. Its founders worked upstream to address what we now understand to be the social drivers of health – factors like education, poverty, nutrition, and the environment. Through two interactive, virtual book discussions, we will reflect on the legacy and future of the health center movement. The summer read-along is intended for all health center staff who want to learn more about our shared history and its implications for health today. Partner organizations are welcome to attend.

Two book discussions will be co-facilitated via Zoom by CHAD CEO Shelly Ten Napel, MSW, MPP, and Shannon Bacon, MSW, LSW, director of equity and external affairs.

Session 1: Thursday, July 20 | 12:00 pm CT/ 11:00 am MT
Session 2: Thursday, August 17 | 12:00 pm CT/ 11:00 am MT

Participation includes:

A digital download link of the book (Books are provided for health center staff only. Partners are encouraged to purchase their own copy. If you require a physical copy of the book, please denote that in the registration form.); and,
Two guided one-hour Zoom book discussions.

Register here. To receive the book on time, participants must register by Friday, June 21. Participants who register after that date will be responsible for purchasing their own book.

Managers and supervisors have witnessed a dramatically changing workforce in health care in the past several years. Many of these changes created new challenges to people management that require a new mindset and approach to building engaged teams.

This uniquely designed, one-day workshop was created by FutureSYNC in partnership with CHAD in response to needs expressed in an HR and leadership focus group to help answer the needs of managers and supervisors in community health center organizations today. This highly interactive event is designed to encourage personal growth, peer-to-peer learning, and idea sharing. Participants will explore the dynamics of current management challenges, such as building trust within teams, holding people accountable, aligning teams to goals and achieving outcomes, and improving communication across teams and locations.

This workshop is intended for health center people managers at every level. Please mark your calendars for one of these in-person dates and watch for registration coming soon.

August 22 – Sioux Falls
August 24 – Pierre
September 12 – Fargo
September 13 – Bismarck

Primary care is any health care delivered with the patient and community in mind. Oral health and good dental hygiene are essential components of primary care and overall health. In this sense, dental teams serve as members of the larger body of primary care providers in North Dakota. This teleECHO™ series is focused on providing local training and case presentations to assist dental teams in providing comprehensive care to members of our community.

Hear from local dental providers and members of the state Oral Health Program as they share lectures and case presentations to illustrate how dental teams in North Dakota serve as primary care providers. These sessions carry free continuing education (CE) credits for dental providers. Some sessions also have CE for medical professionals, dietitians, and nutritionists. Access a promotional flyer here.

I Have New Staff Now What!?
Staff turnover can present a challenge for many health centers. Learn to leverage DRVS to its fullest capacity when bringing on new staff. During this webinar, Azara Healthcare will share tips and tricks to help ensure team members feel confident navigating DRVS and empowered to use it to deliver quality care.

Thursday, June 22
1:00 pm CT/ 12:00 pm MT
Register here.

Patient Portals & Right of Access: Compliance with the Information Blocking Rule and HIPAA
There are many questions about patient portals and the related requirements under the Information Blocking Rule. In this session, presented by the HITEQ Center in collaboration with the New Mexico PCA, the speaker will review the impact of the Information Blocking Rule on the implementation and use of the patient portal.

Over the last few years, the Office of Civil Rights has focused much of its enforcement efforts on ensuring patients are afforded their HIPAA right to access their protected health information (PHI). The Information Blocking Rule has added another layer of complexity to this already-tricky compliance topic. While the Office of National Coordinator made an effort to synchronize these new requirements with HIPAA, there are important distinctions that organizations need to understand if they are both a HIPAA-covered entity for purposes of HIPAA and an Actor for purposes of the Information Blocking Rule and need to comply with both sets of rules.

Thursday, June 22
2:00 pm CT/ 1:00 pm MT
Register here.

Clinical Series: Enhancing Prediabetes Care
How many health center patients have prediabetes or undiagnosed prediabetes? Prediabetes affects 34.5% of the US adult population, and approximately 80% are undiagnosed. Evidence suggests that identifying patients with prediabetes is an important step in preventing the progression to diabetes. Diabetes prevention significantly impacts health outcomes and resource utilization. During this session, participants will learn strategies for leveraging DRVS to identify and track critical patient populations that should be screened for prediabetes.

Thursday, June 29

1:00 pm CT/ 12:00 pm MT

May 11 marked the end of the federal COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) declaration. The United States sustained a historic response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and this is now at a different point in the pandemic, with tools and resources available to better protect patients and communities. Health centers play a significant role in ensuring equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments.

The end of the PHE raises some concerns about coverage for COVID-19 treatments. Over the last two years, health centers have administered nearly 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Biden-Harris Administration has made lifesaving treatments widely available, with more than 15 million courses administered. Through COVIDTests.gov, more than 750 million free COVID-19 tests have been distributed. Since January 2021, COVID-19 deaths have declined by 95%, and hospitalizations are down nearly 91%. People who are immunocompromised, seniors, and people with disabilities are still at high risk for COVID-19, so access to vaccines and treatments will remain a public health priority. The current federal government supply of COVID-19 vaccines and treatment distribution will not be affected.

Coverage for testing will change, but certain programs, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Increasing Community Access to Testing (ICATT) program, will continue to focus on no-cost testing for uninsured individuals and areas of high social vulnerability through pharmacies and community-based sites. For more information, visit CDC’s ICATT website. Expect the treatment transition to happen in the fourth quarter of this year. Paxlovid is still to be determined, with plenty of government supply still available.

HHS is announcing the HHS Bridge Access Program for COVID-19 Vaccines and Treatments which will be implemented and overseen by the CDC and in coordination with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to continue to provide free COVID-19 vaccines and treatment for uninsured adults. The program will create a unique $1.1 billion public-private partnership to help maintain uninsured individuals’ access to COVID-19 care at local pharmacies and health centers. CHAD will seek additional funding from HRSA to operationalize some activities around the COVID-19 Bridge Program for COVID-19 vaccines. The COVID-19 vaccine is anticipated to be available from the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program in the early fall of this year. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) determines the vaccine formulary for the upcoming season.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) issued a temporary rule to allow all telemedicine flexibilities regarding the prescription of controlled medications as were in place during the COVID-19 PHE through November 11. For more details on prescribing controlled substances via telehealth visit after the PHE visit, Telehealth.HHS.gov.

Additional Resources

Equity Talk: World Refugee Day - Reflections on Health Equity in the Dakotas
Join CHAD for a panelist discussion on World Refugee Day. Pulling from both personal and professional expertise, local speakers will share best practices in multi-lingual health care delivery and health insurance access issues for refugee and immigrant communities. Panelists will also look upstream, reflecting on needs they observe in local communities and opportunities for cross-sector collaborations to advance health equity.

Panelists include Taneeza Islam, Esq., executive director of South Dakota Voices for Peace, Nonna Tumbashev, outreach & enrollment navigator at CHAD, and John Bidogo, health equity community coach at NDSU Extension. Health center staff, partner organizations, and community members are encouraged to attend.

Tuesday, June 20
12:00 pm CT/ 11:00 am MT
Register here.

Aging, Substance Use and Cognitive Health
Please join the National Clinician Consultation Center (NCCC) in partnership with the Health Resources and Services HIV/AIDS Bureau (HRSA HAB) and Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) for this webinar developed for clinicians and other health care providers.

Substance use disorders (SUD) are a significant public health concern for the growing population of older adults. Complications that occur with increasing frequency with age, such as medical comorbidity, cognitive impairment, and frailty, contribute to the potential adverse interactions between substance misuse and an aging brain. Speakers will discuss how aging and cognitive impairment intersect with substance use. They will describe practical strategies for how to adapt screening assessment and treatment for older patients with substance use disorders with the aim of empowering providers to better care for older adults with SUD. Learn more here.

Thursday, July 13
11:00 am CT/ 10:00 am MT
Register here.

South Dakota Infection Control Council Conference October 5-6
Registration for the 2023 South Dakota Infection Control Council Conference is now open. The theme is Spread Knowledge, Not Germs. The conference is intended to provide continuing education in infection prevention to all persons with an interest in or responsibilities related to the infection control field in the state of South Dakota and the surrounding areas.

In-Person in Sioux Falls or online attendance options.
Register here.