Registration is OPEN for our Oct. 5 Annual Conference!

Applications open: Demographic Data Collection Pilot Project

CTC-RI, together with RIDOH/EOHHS and the CDC, are pleased to offer up to 15 primary care practices the opportunity to participate in a new Demographic Data Collection Pilot Project, and receive a stipend of up to $4,100 per practice site. Improving demographic data collection is a foundational activity for promoting health equity and addressing COVID-19 health disparities. The goal of this project is to increase capacity of primary care provider organizations to collect high-quality data and report it effectively, with a focus on populations experiencing a disproportionate burden of COVID-19 infection including medically underserved, BIPOC community members, and people living in rural communities, groups that are more effectively served in a language other than English, veterans, people who are unhoused or housing insecure, the LGBTG+ community and people living with disability. Applications are due by July 28. Learn more and apply.

Last call! Fall 2023 NCM/CC Standardized Core Curriculum GLearn Program

Now in its sixth year, the program was developed in partnership with Geisinger to meet the primary care community’s requests for more care management training in Rhode Island. The 12–15-week program supports Nurse Care Managers / Care Coordinators (NCM/CC) to apply key care management concepts in their RI primary care practices. The program will run from September to January 2024. Program participants will be able to earn up to 18.5 CEUs for their participation. This program is offered at no charge to RI NCM/CCs through generous support from UnitedHealthcare and RIDOH. Applications are due by July 24. 

MLPB Aging and Health-Related Social Needs Learning and Action Lab Phase II Participant Recruitment

CTC-RI and MLPB invite primary care practices serving older adults to participate in a Health-Related Social Needs (HRSN) Learning-and-Action Lab series. This is a two-phased initiative designed to inform and improve clinic-based HRSN screening, referral, and problem-solving strategies impacting older adults who live in RI. Through generous funding from the Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, the Lab explores how the screening experience of RI-based older adults (age 55 and over) can be enhanced, and how care teams and insurers can be more responsive to patients’ goals. Phase 1 centered the perspectives of people with lived experience and non-medical professional expertise to inform Phase 2 learning, which will integrate clinical practice members with programmatic support from CTC-RI. Learn more and complete the interest form by July 21.

DULCE and ECCS Quarterly Learning Collaborative

In July, the Developmental Understanding and Legal Collaboration for Everyone (DULCE) and Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS) learning collaborative, funded by RIDOH and UnitedHealthcare, met to deepen their understanding of the DULCE approach. The participating practices, Family Care Center and Toll Gate Pediatrics, shared progress updates on their ongoing efforts to engage families and implement the DULCE approach. Both practices have been successful in engaging 64 families thus far and established efficient workflows aimed at improving care coordination. They also continue to maintain a regular schedule of interdisciplinary team meetings to enhance communication and collaboration among staff. The family specialists at each practice continue to actively participate in well-child visits, ensuring comprehensive care for the families involved and coordination with the care team.

Additionally, two guest DULCE network medical providers joined the meeting to provide insights into DULCE implementation at their respective practices. Read more.

Recap: Improving Child Health in RI meeting

CTC-RI and PCMH Kids welcomed pediatric practices and stakeholders to the quarterly "Improving Child Health in RI" meeting this month with the purpose of providing updates on the Medicaid Pediatric Healthcare Recovery Program. Of note, 100% of the practices participating in this program are eligible to receive incentive payments based on meeting the behavioral health ECHO requirements. As of June 15, 70% of practices are meeting the July immunization / lead screening performance targets.  

In response to practices requesting more information on anxiety and young children, speakers Liz Cantor, PhD, and Sarah Hagin, PhD, delivered an overview on various aspects of anxiety in young children, including prevention, screening, assessment, and interventions. Additionally, they shared valuable resources specifically for providers and practices. (Meeting recording here and PPT here).

Register Today! Team-Based Care Meeting on sexually transmitted infection screening and best practices

CTC-RI is excited to host the STD/HIV Prevention Training Center of New England for a presentation discussing STI screening, including best practices and updated screening guidelines for common STIs, RI data on STI screening and prevalence, and discussion of how STI screening is tailored to specific populations at Women and Infants Hospital and Open Door Health. Presenters will be Philip A. Chan, M.D., M.S. and Erica Hardy, MD, MMSc. CEU credits will be available for this training. The meeting will be held on August 15 at 8am. Details and registration here.

Launching soon: Initiative to increasing access to care for children with restrictive eating disorders

With funding provided by UnitedHealthcare, CTC-RI is excited to announce a funding and training opportunity to increase pediatric integrated behavioral health (IBH) capacity in up to five RI-based practices. This project aims to increase the capacity of pediatric IBH Care Teams to support children with restrictive eating disorders by training in the gold standard for treatment – Family Based Treatment (FBT). Selected practices will participate in a 12-month ECHO® program that will include didactic training and case-based learning. This project is geared for practices with an established IBH program and IBH clinician on staff. The ECHO® program will begin in September and run through August 2024. A call for applications will be launched on July 25 and will be due on August 21.

Team-Based Care meeting addresses equitable access to contraceptive care

Thank you to Upstream USA, Wood River Health, and Providence Community Health Center for an informative June Team-Based Care meeting addressing equitable access to contraceptive care. According to Upstream, approximately 40% of pregnancies in RI are unplanned. Upstream works with primary care practices to increase access to contraception by providing technical assistance in the form of provider and staff training, patient-centered educational materials, and improvements to coding and billing and EHR systems. Presenters from Upstream outlined their innovative program and early work with RI primary care practices. Representatives from two practices currently partnering with Upstream, Wood River Health and Providence Community Health Center, spoke to their staff training and EHR updates, including pregnancy intent screening questions, and improved clinical workflows. Link to PPT here and recording here.

Clinical Strategy meeting on MassHealth Primary Care Health Reform and Social Risk Adjustment  

In June, CTC-RI’s Clinical Strategy Committee (CSC) hosted a session, MassHealth Primary Care Health Reform & Social Risk Adjustment, a collaborative effort featuring experts who shared their invaluable insights on transforming primary care and addressing social risk adjustment in the healthcare landscape.

The presentations addressed critical topics in healthcare reform, focusing on enhancing primary care services and developing strategies to mitigate social risk factors. Read more details here on the lively session, and access the recording and claim CME credits here.

Join us via Zoom on July 21 at 7:30am for our next CSC meeting focused on the primary care workforce. More details.