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Updates from your ACE team
Expand your practice to achieve financial independence
Practice expansion leads to financial stability. What are your blue sky goals?

Over the past few months, we've focused on expansion, since it's the key to becoming financially independent and reducing your reliance on external funding. In June we explained what we look for when developing growth strategies for our clients and last month we highlighted ways to increase your patient numbers.

This is especially timely since health center funding has only just been extended until November 21, and there is still uncertainty around long-term funding. Kaiser Family Foundation recently published interesting statistics on the reliance health centers have on Section 330 grants, indicating many FQHCs are already considering the impact on operations and putting contingency plans in place. Hopefully you're not one of these.

In our last email, we promised that we'd focus on some core fundamentals and specific trends we're seeing, to make sure you're set up to start 2020 strong. In this issue, we talk about the importance of 340B independent and self audits.

Turning to what's happening in the industry, HRSA recently awarded more than $135 million to help health centers expand their facilities and offer improved access to oral care. This new funding supports the latest UDS data which highlighted the increasing role health centers play for a large percentage of the population. CMS is focusing on patients through its Patients Over Paperwork initiative and reducing Medicare premiums for seniors, and NACHC is seeking applications for 2020 committee positions.

Keep reading for more details.
Come talk to us at the GPCA annual conference!

If you're attending the GPCA annual conference next week, come see us at Booth S1! We'd love to share our latest client success stories and see how we can help you expand your practice.
It's time for FQHCs to become financially independent!
Will your facility be impacted by government funding delays?

The Community Health Center Fund (CBHF) expires on September 30, and last week the Senate passed a short-term bill to fund the government (including the CBHF) until November 21. This still leaves uncertainty about long-term funding.

According to Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) research, the CBHF accounts for 72% of all health center grant funding and represents at least 20% of individual health center revenue across 35 states (and more than 30% in 12 states including MS and GA). Many health centers rely heavily on grants to cover operational costs, which means funding uncertainty can significantly impact their ability to serve patients.

Our goal is to lessen the impact of funding uncertainty at times like this by helping you become financially independent; ensuring core functions like revenue cycle and pharmacy are streamlined and achieving maximum revenue, while identifying growth opportunities to expand your practice.

Contact us today to book your free consultation.
Do you have a 340B audit program in place?

340B pharmacy can be a revenue powerhouse for your facility, but requires significant effort to meet compliance requirements. If you received notice today that HRSA wants to audit your 340B program, would you be ready? That notification can send your compliance and pharmacy teams into a tailspin - but this can be avoided!

In our experience, the smoothest HRSA audits happen when a comprehensive 340B audit procedure is in place and followed. If you have a 340B program, we recommend a:

  1. Monthly self-audit of at least 30 random pharmacy claims to monitor for diversion, duplicate discounts, and auditable records.
  2. Annual self-audit to review accuracy of HRSA database records including eligibility documents, registered child sites and contract pharmacies, contact personnel, and addresses.
  3. Annual independent audit following the HRSA audit structure to gain an objective opinion of the overall compliance of your program.

We have specialty experience participating in HRSA 340B audits, and offer independent 340B Compliance Audits to ensure program integrity and data accuracy. Our services focus on providing audits that are structured similar to HRSA's audit objectives, designed to work directly with your staff, and to provide timely guidance and solutions to assist your organization.
Media watch and other useful info
HRSA UPDATES

Funding awarded to expand patient services
To support the forecast growth in patients served by health centers next year, HHS last week announced new funding across a range of initiatives focused on expanding the services offered to patients including:
  1. More than $50m to establish new health center sites, either for new organizations or for existing health centers to expand.
  2. More than $85m was awarded toward oral health infrastructure, to increase patient access to oral health services.

340B Drug Pricing Program
Stay up to date with HRSA's latest news.
NACHC UPDATES

Interested in being on a committee?
Apply now and get involved. Whether you're already on a committee or interested in participating for the first time, submit your application online.

Note: all current committee members must reapply each term.

2019 FOM/IT Conference
Registration is now open for the 2019 Financial, Operations Management/IT Conference to be held next month in Chicago, IL October 24-25.
CMS UPDATES

Patients Over Paperwork policy to save around $8 billion over 10 years
On September 26, CMS announced a policy to reduce provider administration burden across a range of areas, that is projected to achieve around $800 million annually for the next 10 years. Read the press release and accompanying fact sheet on the website.

Reference