MHLA Newsletter – August 2022

MHLA Community Partner Connection Newsletter

Dear Community Partners,

We loved hearing and reading about all your National Health Center Week events and celebrations! Congratulations on all your accomplishments this year serving families throughout Los Angeles County. We are fortunate to count you all as partners.

The new audit season will begin at the end of September and the new tools will be posted in the next few weeks. There were very few changes this year. The changes are:

• The Facility Site and Credentialing Review has five new Critical Elements (CEs). These CEs will be reviewed but not scored for this fiscal year.
• For the Medical Record Review, we updated the instructions for Lipid Screening clarifying that people over 20 who don’t have cardiovascular disease should have a risk assessment every 4-6 years.
• For the Dental Site Review, we updated the tool clarifying the number of X-ray machines for each site.
• Additionally, “Brand new x-ray machines” shall now be identified as registered/operating within five years or less. “Existing x-ray machines” shall now be identified as operating more than five years with the relevant TAGs also updated.

During the FY 21-22 audit season, MHLA audited 51 agencies and 233 sites. For the Facility Site Review, there was only one deficiency among the sites and every clinic site met the timely access standards. There was one Corrective Action Plan (CAP) required. For the Medical Record Review, 25 of the 212 sites audited required a CAP. There were 222 deficiencies, and the most frequent MRR deficiencies were lack of documentation for foot exam/podiatry referral, TB screening, seasonal flu vaccine, immunization and diabetic retinal scan/ophthalmology referral.

There were no CAPs required for Dental Record Reviews or Dental Site Reviews Last fiscal year, 63 clinic sites provided dental services to MHLA participants, and none showed deficiencies in their Dental Record Reviews. MHLA conducted 60 Dental Site Reviews, and only one of the 60 DSRs showed a deficiency.

We will be in touch soon with the final determinations about the MHLA incentive program that was designed to bring MHLA participants into the clinics for in-person care.

Thank you all!  — Anna Gorman