Over the past 18 months, health centers have had to face once-in-a-lifetime challenges too numerous to list. At the same time, due to a number of signature pieces of legislation, health centers have received unprecedented funding including the long list of “H” funding (H8C, H8D, H8E, H8F), “P” funding (PPP, PRF), and now “C” funding (C8E). This is all “one-time” money designed to jump-start the recovery and mitigate the damage caused by the pandemic, but it will run out and demands for accountability are assured. What is coming next? Our expert panel will discuss lessons learned from ARRA, compliance strategies, and how to be prepared for life after COVID.

This session will focus on how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted blood pressure management and control and how we can move forward to address pandemic-related care disruptions and disparities related to hypertension. Strategies include approaching hypertension control through the lens of health equity, using new hybrid care models, and identifying health care system changes that could better support patients with hypertension in the future.

This session will highlight how different health centers have used PRAPARE social determinants of health (SDOH) data to identify innovative techniques as part of their model of care and population health management strategies, with a focus on racial/ethnic groups and special populations.   The session will also highlight a new publication titled, "Collecting Standardized Data on Social Determinants of Health to Address Structural Racism, Drive Health Equity, and Respond to COVID-19." This publication presents key findings from a national assessment of training and technical assistance (T/TA) strategies for supporting community health centers in systematically implementing patient-level SDOH screening and data standards, documenting findings in clinical records, and developing strategies to address SDOH risk factors and needs at the patient and population levels. Additionally, the publication highlights key findings from interviews between T/TA providers and health centers regarding recommended SDOH screening strategies.