Instructions for Completing the Project Work Plan
You must submit a 2-year ( May 1, 2021 – April 30, 2023) project work plan describing how you will use American Rescue Plan funding to support participating health centers (PHCs) to leverage health information technology (IT) and data to respond to and mitigate the spread of COVID-19, and enhance health care services and infrastructure within 60 days of award. Upload your U3F project work plan as part of your response to the U3F Award Submission task in your new U3F grant folder in HRSA’s Electronic Handbooks (EHBs).
Use the template provided by HRSA via email the week of May 3, 2021. Refer to the following guidance when developing your U3F project work plan, in addition to the U3F Award Submission Requirement Guidance.
- HRSA anticipates that project work plans may average 10 pages, but may be fewer or more than 10 pages, as needed to address health center needs, in alignment with the purpose of this funding and commensurate with your award.
- Activities must be consistent with the purpose of U3F funding, and align with the terms of your U3F award and your NTTAP cooperative agreement award (U30) funding requirements and objectives, specific to your NTTAP type. Refer to Appendix B of the NTTAP Notice of Funding Opportunity (U30) HRSA-20-022 for the list of objectives for each NTTAP type.
- Only include activities supported with federal U3F funding.
- Clearly document any activities that already occurred (back to January 31, 2020) or occurred between the time of award and submission.
Funding must be used for national T/TA activities in your specific area of expertise to support health centers in one or more of the following categories:
- COVID-19 Vaccination Capacity – Plan, prepare for, promote, distribute, administer, and track COVID-19 vaccines, and to carry out other vaccine-related activities, including outreach and education.
- COVID-19 Response and Treatment Capacity – Detect, diagnose, trace, monitor, and treat COVID-19 infections and related activities necessary to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, including outreach and education.
- Maintaining and Increasing Capacity – Establish, modify, enhance, expand, and sustain the accessibility and availability of comprehensive primary care services to meet the ongoing and evolving needs of the service area and vulnerable patient populations.
- Recovery and Stabilization – Ongoing recovery and stabilization, including enhancing and expanding the health care workforce and services to meet pent up demand due to delays in patients seeking preventative and routine care; address the behavioral health, chronic conditions, and other needs of those who have been out of care; and support the well-being of personnel who have been on the front lines of the pandemic.
- Infrastructure – Modify and improve physical infrastructure, including A/R and purchase of mobile units and vehicles, to enhance or expand access to comprehensive primary care services, including costs associated with facilitating access to mobile testing and vaccinations, as well as other primary care activities.
Sample U3F Project Work Plan
The following incomplete example is provided for reference only. Refer to the list of allowable health center uses of funding and example activities when developing your project work plan.
- Identify the category under which you propose to conduct activities.
- Group your activities by category, and include them in separate tables for each proposed category.
OMB No.: 0915-0285. Expiration Date: 3/31/2023
NTTAP Type – Special Population: People Experiencing Homelessness
Activity Category: COVID-19 Vaccination Capacity
| Activity Name and Description | Link to U30 Objectives (PDF - 100 KB) | Person Responsible | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|---|
| COVID-19 Team-Based Workflows Webinar Series: Develop and deliver a three-part webinar series on implementing and modifying health center team-based structures and workflows that support effectively administering COVID-19 vaccines to hard to reach and vulnerable populations, with a focus on people experiencing homelessness. Sessions will cover 1) aligning workflows with public health guidance, 2) enhancing clinical decision support and use of data, and 3) coordination and collaboration with jurisdictions and other community partners.
This work will be a collaborative effort with the other NTTAPs providing T/TA focused on people experience homelessness in order to leverage available expertise and reduce duplication. |
This activity supports Objective 1: Emerging Issues: Emergency Preparedness. This activity will increase the number of health centers that receive T/TA on addressing barriers and promising practices to effectively deliver COVID-19 vaccinations to special and vulnerable populations, with a focus on people experiencing homelessness. | Dr. Jane Smith, quality improvement team lead | May 2021 to September 2021 |
| COVID-19 Enabling Services Workforce Development Toolkit: Create a bundle of resources, including tools, manuals, and checklists, based on promising practices for contracting with and hiring enabling personnel (such as community health workers, translators, and eligibility assistance personnel). Increasing enabling personnel capacity will support addressing social barriers to COVID-19 vaccination among people experiencing homelessness in order to increase vaccination capacity. Resources will address outreach to prospective candidates, screening candidates, and training new community health workers. | This activity supports Objective 7: Improve Population Health. This activity will increase the number of health centers that receive T/TA on promising practices to quickly contract with or hire enabling personnel who will screen for social factors specific to special and vulnerable populations that limit access to COVID-19 vaccinations. | John Jones, project director | September 2020 to July 2021 |
Activity Category: Maintaining and Increasing Capacity
| Activity Name and Description | Link to U30 Objectives (PDF - 100 KB) | Person Responsible | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|---|
| COVID-19 Behavioral Health Workforce Development: Develop and deliver a webinar to share a compilation of tools to support hiring and contracting with behavioral health personnel during the public health emergency. Targeted personnel include psychiatrists, licensed clinical social workers, family therapists, and alcohol and drug abuse counselors, to help health centers meet increased behavioral health service demand due to COVID-19 and the unique needs of people experiencing homeless. Resources will address strategies for hiring qualified behavioral health personnel with expertise working with special and vulnerable populations. | This activity supports Objective 5: Other Health Outcomes: Mental Health. This activity will increase the number of health centers that receive T/TA on addressing COVID-19-related barriers to expanding access to behavioral health screening and treatment among special and vulnerable populations, with a focus on people experiencing homelessness. | John Jones, project director | May 2021 to July 2021 |
Activity Category: Recovery and Stabilization
| Activity Name and Description | Link to U30 Objectives (PDF - 100 KB) | Person Responsible | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|---|
| COVID-19 SDOH Learning Collaborative: Develop a virtual learning collaborative focused on planning and implementing team-based and inter-professional service delivery structures that include social workers, health educators, intake staff, and family physicians, providing care through both in-person and virtual visits. The learning collaborative will address screening for and documenting social determinants of health, as well as linkage to services, among hard to reach and vulnerable populations, with a focus on people experiencing homelessness. The learning collaborative will share promising practices to meet increased demand due to COVID-19.
This collaborative will meet monthly to share in-depth knowledge and skills for improving collaboration among providers screening for and documenting social determinants of health for people experiencing homelessness, to increase continuity and integration of care, as well as strategies to prevent provider burnout. |
This activity supports Objective 6: Social Determinants of Health. This activity will increase the number of health centers that receive T/TA on developing and implementing unified and integrated plans to screen and document social determinants of health among special and vulnerable populations, with a focus on people experiencing homelessness. | Dr. Jane Smith, quality improvement team lead | June 2021 to June 2022 |
Public Burden Statement: Health centers (section 330 grant funded and Federally Qualified Health Center look-alikes) deliver comprehensive, high quality, cost-effective primary health care to patients regardless of their ability to pay. The Health Center Program application forms provide essential information to HRSA staff and objective review committee panels for application evaluation; funding recommendation and approval; designation; and monitoring. The OMB control number for this information collection is 0915-0285 and it is valid until 3/31/2023. This information collection is mandatory under the Health Center Program authorized by section 330 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act (42 U.S.C. 254b). Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to HRSA Reports Clearance Officer, 5600 Fishers Lane, Room 14N136B, Rockville, Maryland, 20857 or paperwork@hrsa.gov.