This webinar focuses on strategies to reach and serve special and vulnerable populations using telehealth. Special and vulnerable populations include Migratory, Seasonal, and Agricultural Workers (MSAW), Older Adults, people experiencing homelessness, people with limited english proficiency, and rural communities with limited access to broadband. We discuss building the awareness, knowledge, and ability of both patients and health center staff to successfully use telehealth to meet the needs of these important groups. Wealso share how telehealth promotes health equity and increases overall access to quality healthcare for special and vulnerable populations.

Origins and Ongoing Refinement of this Guide: The content in this resource is drawn from and builds on widely used CDS/QI tools and strategies that have evolved over the past decade. The HITEQ Center plans to continue refining this Guide based on input from users like you, so please consider sharing your feedback through the comment form.

Successful health IT/QI efforts require a firm foundation of people, process, and technology elements.

The outline depicted in the Approach to Health IT-enabled Quality Improvement graphic provides a step-by-step approach to analyzing and enhancing care processes targeted for outcome improvement. Section III provides guidance and tools on addressing each of these steps.

New guidelines from SAMHSA released in July 2020 are designed to improve coordination of care for patients in treatment for substance disorder, while protecting confidentiality against unauthorized disclosure and use of patient information. View this HITEQ webinar on changes to SAMHSA’s 42 CFR Part 2 rule (Part 2) which protects individuals receiving substance use disorder treatment by defining privacy and security requirements for written, electronic and verbal information. This webinar features expert presenters from the University of New Hampshire Institute for Health Policy and Practice and the Center of Excellence for Protected Health Information who present on the new final Part 2 rule and future changes in the CARES Act, including what has changed, what has not changed, what this means for health centers in regard to consents and disclosures, and the implications for care coordination. This presentation also addresses privacy considerations for tele-behavioral health and exceptions during the state of emergency waiver.