An Introduction to “Continuous HRSA Compliance”

For the past few years, HRSA has challenged community health centers to move toward a state of “continuous compliance”. But what does this mean? To us, “continuous compliance” means having a plan in place that divides up HRSA’s Program Requirements into “bite-sized” portions that can be distributed evenly throughout a health center’s three-year project period. It involves small, incremental steps and periodic checkpoints that evaluate compliance frequently and intentionally. It also means that health center teams stay current and up-to-date on any periodic changes in Program Requirements released from HRSA, as they are released. When all of these things are practiced, the months leading up to a health center’s Operational Site Visit (OSV) can be controlled and well-paced.

Theoretically, health centers are incredibly supportive of this mentality. But in reality, life gets busy and many health centers struggle to rise above episodic compliance. Our team has literally seen this play out across hundreds of health centers over the years. So, we developed a “Road Map to Continuous HRSA Compliance”. If you would like us to create an individualized map for your health center (for free), please contact us or schedule a 15-minute call with our team today. We’ll ask a few questions about your last site visit and where you are in the compliance journey. Then we will turn this discussion into a personalized plan that you can take and immediately turn it into action!

Now once you get into the rhythm of continuous compliance, we suggest that each month is organized to take small steps to evaluate your health center’s compliance and work to close any gaps you might find.

Over the coming year, we will be writing blog posts that spell out compliance evaluations and activities that will be designed to turn your team into a continuous compliance health center! Each post will highlight a suggested list of things to do, based on how many months out the health center is from their OSV. We will begin with “The Day After Your HRSA Reviewers Leave”…all the way up to what to do the week of your next OSV…and everything in between!

So, the first thing you will need to do is to figure out where you are in your project period. To estimate this, determine the month and year of your last OSV. Then count forward 36 months and you will get a rough estimate of when your next OSV will likely be. It’s not exact and there are many variables, but it will be a good start. Then, count how many months away you are from your next projected OSV. After that, look at our table below and figure out what your focus should be.

Continuous HRSA Compliance Road Map

No matter where you find yourself in the “Continuous HRSA Compliance Road Map”, we’re here to help you. Over the coming blog posts, we will be diving into each of these sections and spelling out details of what to do and how to do it! Stay tuned and let us know how our team can help you.