Health Centers Awarded Emergency Relief Funding
Community health centers in Oklahoma are receiving much-needed emergency relief funding from the American Rescue Plan as they mark one year of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding comes as community health centers, which serve over 265,000 Oklahomans and one in eight uninsured Oklahomans, are engaged in a nationwide effort to vaccinate individuals in underserved rural and urban areas. To date, community health centers have delivered over 75,000 COVID vaccines in hard-to-reach communities in Oklahoma.
On Thursday, over $63 million in funding to expand vaccine delivery and services to vulnerable populations was awarded to Oklahoma health centers.
Read more. The Bureau of Primary Health Care has developed an
overview the rules that apply to health centers receiving H8F funding.
Read more and register for a Q&A session on April 8 at 12:00 PM.
Health Center Open Meeting Act and Payment Bill Passes Oklahoma Senate Committee
On Tuesday, the Oklahoma Senate Judiciary Committee voted to approve
HB1690. The measure would remove the Open Meeting Act requirement of health center boards of directors and codify health center Medicaid prospective payment system (PPS) or an alternative payment method in state law effective immediately upon final approval.
The next stop is consideration by the full Senate. If the bill is approved without changes, the bill would then be sent to the Governor for approval. If any amendments are made, the bill would face the additional step of being approved again by the House with the new wording. Thank you to everyone who is continuing to advocate on this issue!
HHS Delays Insulin and EpiPen Pricing Rule
Last Friday, the Bureau of Primary Health Care
announced in the Federal Register that the effective date of the 340B regulation on community health center insulin and EpiPen pricing will be delayed by another 120 days, until July 20, 2021. The current extension was set to expire on Monday. BPHC received 198 comments on the proposed delay, of which 187 were supportive. Their two main justifications for the extension aligned with the two main points raised in their comments:
- A further delay is consistent with the Biden Administration’s Regulatory Freeze, and
- A further delay is appropriate given the critical role that CHCs have been assigned since January re: vaccinating hard-to-reach populations.
BPHC noted that 175 of the comments requested that the reg be rescinded, and that they will consider all issues related to the regulation during the next 120 days.
U.S. Senate Extends PPS Deadline, Sends Bill to President
Applications for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) are expected to be extended until May 31, 2021. The Senate voted on
March 25, 2021 by a 92-7 margin to extend the deadline. The bill will now be sent to the President’s desk where it is expected to be signed. Additionally, the SBA will have an extra 30 days after the deadline to process applications. Health centers are currently eligible for
First Draw PPP Loans if they have 500 or more employees, but fewer than 500 employees per location. Existing PPP borrowers that did not receive loan forgiveness by December 27, 2020, can reapply for a loan if they previously returned some or all of their loan funds or request to modify their First Draw PPP loan amount if they previously did not accept the full amount for which they were eligible.
Second Draw PPP Loans are only available to entities that received a First Draw PPP loan and will have used the full amount for authorized uses, have no more than 300 employees per location, and can demonstrate at least a 25% reduction in gross receipts between comparable quarters in 2019 and 2020.
Health Centers Encouraged to Report 340B Issues to HRSA
As the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) 340B Administrative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process is held up based on a recent court ruling, health centers are encouraged to report to HRSA about their inability to access 340B-priced drugs at contract pharmacies. This information may be helpful in the future when health centers could potentially be eligible for reparations for this harm. To do this, health centers should:
- Download these three forms for each of the three drug makers (Lilly, Sanofi, and Astra-Zeneca).
- Add their name and 340B ID on page 1, and contact information on page 4 (no additional information—for example, about harm to patients–is required).
- Email to forms to 340Bpricing@hrsa.gov.
Ideally, health centers would submit these forms weekly, so that HRSA has a steady paper trail documenting concerns about their inability to provide these drugs at contract pharmacy.