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 HQC project work plan as part of your response to the HQC Award Submission task in your new HQC 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 HQC project work plan, in addition to the HQC 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 PHCs’ needs, in alignment with the purpose of this funding and commensurate with your award.
- Activities must be consistent with the purpose of HQC funding, and align with the terms of your HQC award and your HCCN operational grant (H2Q) goals (PDF - 100 KB):
- Goal A: Enhance the patient and provider experience,
- Goal B: Advance interoperability,
- Goal C: Use data to enhance value.
- Only include activities supported with federal HQC 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 to support PHCs to leverage health IT and data to enhance the impact of their activities 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 or 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 preventive 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 HQC 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
Activity Category: COVID-19 Vaccination Capacity
| Activity Name and Description | Link to H2Q Goals (PDF - 100 KB) | Person Responsible | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|---|
| COVID-19 Vaccine Workflow Enhancement: Develop an interview guide and conduct in-depth analysis of best practices and barriers across all PHCs on new vaccine administration workflows. The goal of this activity is to assist with patient portal redesigns necessary to incorporate new vaccine administration workflows and embed current and evolving public health guidance.
We will also develop and conduct quarterly virtual training sessions, per PHC needs, to address vaccine administration workflow best practices and top barriers, and offer accompanying virtual office hours. |
This activity supports Goal A: Enhance the patient and provider experience. Supporting PHCs to incorporate the most recent vaccination guidance will minimize provider burden by standardizing workflows and helping to ensure seamless access to the most up-to-date guidance. | Dr. Jane Smith, quality improvement team lead | May 2021 to April 2023 |
| COVID-19 Vaccine Outreach Toolkit: Develop a toolkit of innovative patient engagement and outreach vaccination strategies, particularly targeted to vulnerable populations, in a digital environment. Include key considerations and resources for health centers to embed current public health guidance related to vaccination programs into electronic health record (EHR) clinical decision support tools.
We will conduct an evaluation across all PHCs who adopt the strategies after one year from when they started. |
This activity supports Goal A: Enhance the patient and provider experience. The toolkit will help PHCs to increase vaccination uptake and implement clinical decision support tools to improve provider decision-making and meet the ongoing and emerging vaccination needs of the patient population. | Dr. Jane Smith, quality improvement team lead | September 2020 to August 2022 |
Activity Category: COVID-19 Response and Treatment Capacity
| Activity Name and Description | Link to H2Q Goals (PDF - 100 KB) | Person Responsible | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|---|
| COVID-19 HIE Assessment: Conduct a standardized assessment across all PHCs on the health information exchange functionalities currently used for communicating with public health partners, emergency response teams, centralized assessment locations, reporting entities and registries, and/or other health care providers.
We will determine what solutions may be required (e.g., a different form of health information exchange, Application Programming Interfaces) and support group purchasing power accordingly. |
This activity supports Goal B: Advance interoperability. The assessment will support PHCs to determine the optimal form of health information exchange to quickly and securely share with key partners rapidly changing, high priority information, including data related to mitigating the spread of COVID-19 and other emergency preparedness and response events. | John Jones, project coordinator | May 2021 to November 2022 |
Activity Category: Maintaining and Increasing Capacity
| Activity Name and Description | Link to H2Q Goals (PDF - 100 KB) | Person Responsible | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|---|
| COVID-19 SDOH Assessment: Conduct a standardized evaluation across all PHCs on current social determinants of health (SDOH) data collection processes to understand the effectiveness of how PHCs are using SDOH data to inform decision-making. The activity will initially focus on COVID-19 vaccine, testing, and treatment activities then we will apply lessons learned to wider patient care.
We will develop and disseminate standardized tools, including dashboards or other reporting mechanisms, to capture SDOH data within EHRs. We will also develop applicable trainings to support PHC in using SDOH data to identify how virtual care, including telehealth capacity, can be expanded to reach patients in their homes, community settings, and other locations including patients with unstable or no housing, or other barriers to accessing care. |
This activity supports Goal C: Use data to enhance value. The assessment and tools will assist PHCs in determining the impact of SDOH on their patients and communities, including vulnerability to COVID-19 and vaccine acceptance. | Dr. Mike Doe, senior data analyst | June 2021 to May 2023 |
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.