Join Community Health  Center, Inc. and its Weitzman Institute through their National Cooperative Agreement as they offer their next FREE 8-month Postgraduate Residency Learning Collaborative. The Learning Collaborative is designed to provide transformational strategies and coaching support to help primary care practices in FQHCs implement a postgraduate residency training program. Teams will go from planning to implementation using a nationally recognized replicable model. Apply today to participate!

On August 30, HRSA updated all automatically designated Health Professional Shortage Area (Auto-HPSA) scores. With the implementation of this update, for the first time Auto-HPSAs are now scored electronically, not manually, streamlining the process and ensuring that all HPSAs nationwide are in a single online system.

All Auto-HPSA organizations have the opportunity to submit rescore requests via the online Auto-HPSA portal.

Updated scores will be used for the FY 2020 National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Loan Repayment Program application cycle, which will open in February 2020.

View the announcement and visit the Shortage Designation Modernization Project for more information about the update.

National Suicide Prevention Week is recognized September 8-14. Approximately 45% of suicide victims had contact with primary care providers within one month of suicide. Visit HRSA's webpage for resources you can trust.

One resource that may be particularly useful for health center staff is Suicide Safe, a suicide prevention app available from SAMHSA. It helps health care providers integrate suicide prevention strategies into their practice and address suicide risk among their patients. It includes patient and provider educational materials, a treatment locator, sample interactive cases, and conversation starters.

3RNet is hosting their 2019 Annual Conference in Wichita, Kansas, from September 24-26, 2019. 3RNet members represent over 5,000 communities across the U.S. that actively recruit physicians and other healthcare providers. Attendees include 3RNet members and representatives from other state-based agencies involved in workforce issues, the federal Office of Rural Health Policy, Health Resources and Services Administration, National Health Service Corps, Veteran's Administration, and Indian Health Service. Are you planning to attend? 

As we close out summer, the STAR ² Center team is looking back to basics to help us get back into the swing of things. We hope you'll join us and take some time to revisit our Workforce Core Components resource that we released earlier this year. From a data informed workforce strategy to a hiring a Chief Workforce Officer , the STAR² Center has trainings and resources to support your health center as you fill your tank for a high functioning workforce strategy.

Hello? It's the STAR² Center! The team is looking forward to checking in with our PCA workforce colleagues on our regional calls next week. Starting on September 16, the STAR² Center will be convening calls for each HHS Region to check in on the workforce efforts nationally. Feel free to reach out if you'd like to check that your team is included on the call!