Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The Board of Directors of the West Virginia Primary Care Association (WVPCA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Sherri Ferrell as its next Chief Executive Officer. Sherri will assume the role of CEO on April 1, 2018, following Louise Reese's retirement.

Sherri has been with the WVPCA for 13 years, serving simultaneously as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer.  In both roles, Sherri has worked side-by-side with Louise to develop the Association's strategic course and organizational capacity.  As the Chief Operating Officer, she fulfills leadership roles with federal and state agencies, assists in the development and execution of the organization's strategic initiatives, and has staff and resource management responsibilities for the WVPCA.  As the Chief Financial Officer, Sherri connects strategy with performance and assures that the financial sustainability and integrity of our resources are appropriately maintained. Sherri's knowledge of the challenges facing Community Health Centers and her deep relationships with our members and key stakeholders at the federal and state level made her the perfect choice to lead WVPCA into the future.

As we welcome Sherri as CEO, we also want to recognize Louise for her leadership at WVPCA. Since becoming CEO in March of 2008, Louise has played a significant role in strategically leading the members to expand access to primary care, expanding and developing new partnerships throughout the state, and positioning health centers to be the major provider of primary care throughout the state.  Under Louise's guidance, the WVPCA has increased its organizational capacity and expertise, and now offers a robust training and technical assistance program to health centers and helps West Virginia's Community Health Centers achieve operational, financial, clinical, and governance excellence.

As we reflect on our past and anticipate our future, we feel blessed to have individuals like Louise and Sherri leading our Association, and we look forward to collectively continuing our strong legacy of serving the healthcare needs of West Virginians.

Please join me in congratulating Sherri on her new role and in honoring Louise as she enters retirement!

Sincerely,

 

Nancy Vandergrift, President

Board of Directors

The West Virginia Primary Care Association (WVPCA) invites you and all staff that come into contact with protected health information (PHI) to participate in a two-hour HIPAA Privacy and Security Training Webinar on January 11, 2018. The webinar will begin at 1:00 PM and will meet the annual requirements in HIPAA for the Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification rules.

 

As part of the training, participants will have the opportunity to discuss the requirements of the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification rules, as well as when incidents should be reported. Additionally, participants will learn tips on how to secure electronic devices and detect phishing scams. Following the webinar, participants will take a short quiz and receive a certificate of completion. 

 

The webinar will be presented by Dustin Stilwell from OCHIN.

 

For more information, and to register, please click here. 

The 2018 Spring Patient Experience survey sampling period is about to begin. In preparation, the WVPCA will host a 30 minute webinar to review the survey layout, the sampling process and answer questions related to sample size, random sampling and survey submission.  The webinar will be focusing on the importance of meaningful calculation of sample size and adhering to that number.  In order to accommodate any potential scheduling conflicts, the same webinar will be held twice (Tuesday January 16th at 11:00 and Thursday January 18th at 11:00).  We encourage you to ask staff from each of your surveying sites to participate in the webinar, and ask that you please forward this information to them.   

 

The following modifications have been made this year to the survey:

If you are interested in additional information or in attending one of these webinars, please contact the WVPCA at 304-346-0032 or at [email protected] for the WebEx information.

 

Please find the following message from Quality Insights.

To prepare for the January 2, 2018 opening of the data submission period for the 2017 performance year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has launched an early login of the Quality Payment Program (QPP) website. This early login launch will allow users to sign in to the QPP portal using their established Enterprise Identity Management (EIDM) credentials to verify their authorized roles. CMS will be able to verify that the import of EIDM credentials and roles was completed correctly and, address any users' issues or questions. If needed, EIDM account information can be updated in the CMS Enterprise Portal.

 

NOTE: The submission window does not open for groups using the CMS Web Interface until January 22, 2018.

 

For questions or problems signing in to the Quality Payment Program, please email the Quality Payment Program Service Center or call 1.866.288.8292; TTY: 1.877.715.6222

 

For assistance regarding EIDM accounts , contact the QualityNet Help Desk at 1.866.288.8912 (TTY 1.877.715.6222) from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Central Time, Monday through Friday, or via email at [email protected].

Communication between healthcare professionals and patients is essential to improving medical care, safety and overall health. Considering a patient's health literacy skills can help improve interpersonal relationships and the exchange of health information.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Measures of Individuals' Health Literacy section of their website offers research and tools for measuring health literacy skills.

According to the 2016 UDS, health centers nationally served more than 330,000 veterans; in West Virginia, more than 10,300 received care at an FQHC.  Here are some resources that can assist health centers in caring for veterans.