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H H S Department of Health and Human Services
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Special Populations

 Information and tools that will assist health centers in meeting the needs of special population groups such as migrant and seasonal farmworkers and homeless populations.


Clinical Care


A joint EPA-CDC-ATSDR initiative for community initiatives to improve environmental health at a local level. This resource contains mapping tools, data, and many other resources related to environmental health.

ATSDR offers environmental health and medicine education products for health professionals, community members, and interested members of the public. These materials are designed to increase awareness and knowledge of how the environment interacts with human health and includes tools to promote the positive health aspects and prevent and/or minimize the known adverse health impacts of these interactions.

A free, illustrated easy-to-read monthly column that compares drugs for preventing heart attacks, heart failure or strokes in people with stable coronary heart disease is one of six new Spanish-language publications from HHS’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality that help patients compare treatments for common illnesses.

Healthcare providers fully comprehend the impact of tobacco use on health. However, expanding scope of services to include smoking cessation can seem burdensome. This webinar outlines the importance of tobacco control strategies in integrated care settings, as well as provide practical strategies for implementation, including evidence-based clinical and administrative solutions.

The Health Center Program incorporates quality-related performance measures that place emphasis on health outcomes and demonstrate the value of care delivered by health centers. This page summarizes the current Community Health Center Performance Measures.

OPA emphasizes the importance of comprehensive pharmacy services being an integral part of primary health care. Comprehensive pharmacy services include patient access to affordable pharmaceuticals, application of "best practices" and efficient pharmacy management and the application of systems that improve patient outcomes through safe and effective medication use.

NGC is a public resource for evidence-based clinical practice guidelines.

HealthcareCommunities.org (HC) is a web-based knowledge management system that provides multiple means for the healthcare quality improvement community to share knowledge and contribute to each others’ QI work.

Download page for apps that allow searches of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendations on your PDA or mobile device.

This page provides many resources related infectious disease transmitted in health care settings.

This page provides many resources related Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, including tools to help providers to better diagnose and treat the disease

This resource guide addresses the quality improvement, clinical research, patient and provider education, and resource development needs of Community Health Center (CHC) clinicians.

This resource contains an extensive program for clinical quality improvement, as well as links to other timely and applicable tools that are useful to primary care providers

MCN has been collecting forms, policies, tools and protocols from health centers across the U.S. in an effort to make them available to others working to provide quality health care to the underserved.

A HRSA tool to provide health care professionals with the knowledge and tools to assess their patient's health literacy and effectively communicate to ensure patient understanding of health related information.

PCDC transforms healthcare in underserved communities through high-impact financing, innovative services, and policy leadership that help providers expand access to high-quality, patient-centered primary care.

This tool kit has direct links, whenever possible, to web-based materials, and contact information for obtaining materials available in other formats (e.g., DVDs, etc.). for about 50+ materials, modules and resources, directed at training medical students and residents, nursing students, and other interdisciplinary trainees, to provide high quality care to patients with disabilities throughout the life course.

Pregnant women who are assaulted by an intimate partner are at increased risk of giving birth to infants of reduced weight, according to a population-level analysis of domestic violence supported by the National Institutes of Health. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has developed a slide presentation for physicians, advising them on how to screen patients for intimate partner violence, how to assess patients’ safety, and where to refer patients for additional help.

This webinar will describe a novel approach to treating chronic pain via an integrated team of providers that includes a primary care physician, mental health professional, and pain medicine specialist.

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a complex disorder characterized by overwhelming fatigue that is not improved by bed rest and that may be worsened by physical or mental activity. Because the cause (or causes) of CFS have not been identified and no specific diagnostic tests are available, diagnosis and management of CFS can be challenging to healthcare providers. CDC is pleased to announce the launch of a free continuing education activity for healthcare providers titled "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: The Challenges in Primary Care." The course is being hosted by Medscape, an accredited CME/CE/CPE education provider. This engaging video roundtable features expert faculty and focuses on diagnosis and management of chronic fatigue syndrome for all healthcare providers with an emphasis in the primary care field.

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HIV/AIDS


The homepage for the National HIV/AIDS Strategy on imporving HIV/AIDS care in health centers.

The clinical guidelines portal for HIV/AIDS treatment.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issues a series of guidelines to help doctors treat people with HIV in the United States. HRSA has developed complementary clinical protocols and practices that provide detailed information on the effective delivery of HIV care.

Grant announcement with details on the ECHPP 12 Cities project which is to facilitate the development and implementation of Enhanced Comprehensive HIV Prevention Plans (ECHPPs) for MSAs most affected by the HIV epidemic in order to reduce HIV risk and incidence in those areas.

The homepage for all current HIV/AIDS Bureau grant opportunities.

TA Resources for Ryan White Care Act Grantees

A source for finding treatment, counseling, and education related to HIV/AIDS closest to you.

The Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) Hotline is a resource for finding treatment for those who may have been recently exposed to HIV.

The National HIV Telephone Consultation Service (Warmline) offers physicians and other health care providers up-to-the-minute HIV clinical information, and individualized expert case consultation across the broad range of clinical HIV/AIDS problems.

Developed for the National Aging Network and others interested in educating older adults, the U.S. Administration on Aging HIV: Know the Risks. Get the Facts. Older Adults and HIV/AIDS Toolkit contains helpful resources and materials specifically designed to inform older adults about the risks of HIV/AIDS and to encourage older adults to know their status.

NASTAD examined the level of collaboration between state health department HIV/AIDS and viral hepatitis programs and community health centers through a two-fold assessment in 2011. A one-day consultation and a national survey of state health departments served as a basis for this report.

The National HIV/AIDS Clinicians' Consultation Center, developed out of the University of California, San Francisco Department of Family and Community Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital, a national resource to obtain timely, expert and appropriate responses to clinical questions related to HIV/AIDS.

Older Adults and HIV/AIDS Toolkit contains helpful resources and materials specifically designed to inform older adults about the risks of HIV/AIDS and to encourage older adults to know their status

HIV/AIDS Bureau's cooperatiave agreement, the National Quality Center has developed an on-line quality tutorials via its Qualitiy Academy. There are 27 tutorials, about 1/3 are HIV specific, the others are not specific to HIV but quality improvement more generally.

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Homeless Service Delivery


This Resource Guide provides a greater understanding to both current and prospective grantees of the clinical components of delivering services to homeless individuals.

The National Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) Council is a home for those who work to improve the health of homeless people and who seek housing, health care, and adequate incomes for everyone. In the National HCH Council, agencies and individuals, clinicians and advocates, homeless people and housed people come together for mutual support and learning opportunities, and to advance the cause of human rights.

This manual, developed by the National Health Care for the Homeless, covers such things as recruitment, meeting management, by-laws/guidelines, and how to make recommendations for changes within your local Health Care for the Homeless program.

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Lesbian - Gay - Bisexual - Transgender Health Care


The Healthcare Equality Index measures how equtably healthcare facilities in the Unider States treat their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender patients and employees.

The National Resource Center on LGBT Aging has a page devoted to behavioral health issues including cultural competency, ageism, and HIV and aging issues.

Resources for health centers seeking to provide LGBT-friendly care

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Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers


The Federal Migrant Health Program provides staff support to the National Advisory Council on Migrant Health (NACMH).

Using the Promotor(a) model, Migrant Health Promotion provides culturally-appropriate health education and outreach and sustainable community development to farmworker, migrant, border, and/or other underserved or isolated communities throughout the nation.

MCN's staff has been collecting forms, policies, tools and protocols from health centers across the United States in an effort to make them available to others working to provide quality health care to the underserved.

These resources were compiled in response to requests by Region VIII CHC staff members striving to provide quality services to migrant and seasonal farmworkers (MSFW) and their families. The resources provide up-to-date news and information, clinician information, continuing education, patient education, and much more.

Tackling such topics as cultural competency, health education, recruitment and retention, needs assessment, planning, and evaluation, HOP’s Outreach Reference Manual is a comprehensive and useful resource.

A large resource for forms, curricula, policies and procedures, and many other topics related to farmworker health.

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Oral Health


HHS Assistant Secretary Howard Koh called for the implementation of an HHS-wide effort to improve the nation’s oral health by realigning existing resources and creating new activities. This new effort seeks to improve coordination and integration among programs to maximize outputs.

The CDC Division of Oral Health Resources is responsible for disseminating best practices in oral health care, coordinating with state and local efforts, providing public health data, and conducting training.

Job description templates for oral health providers. (Scroll to Section X: Human Resources Forms)

Covers several major topic areas related to health center oral health program practice management.

OHRC supports health professionals, program administrators, educators, policymakers, and others with the goal of improving oral health services for infants, children, adolescents, and their families. The resource center collaborates with federal, state, and local agencies; national and state organizations and associations; and foundations to gather, develop, and share quality and valued information and materials.

Information and analysis on dental/oral health provider salaries, provider satisfaction, and recruitment and retention strategies at Health Centers.

The manual is presented in an easy-to-use format, and includes tools and resources like clinic policies, efficiency tips, professional standards, supply lists, floor plans, design tips, photos of equipment, customizable budget worksheets, funding strategies, quality improvement plans, fact sheets, and Web sites.

Links to publications, webinars and presentations.

Dental Forms Library, Conference Sessions, Webinar Archive, publications for Health Center Oral Health Programs

Providing oral care to patients with developmental disabilities requires adaptation of the skills you use every day. In fact, most people with mild or moderate developmental disabilities can be treated successfully in the general practice setting. This booklet presents an overview of physical, mental, and behavioral challenges common in these patients and offers strategies for providing oral care.

NNOHA coordinates a job bank to help connect safety-net dental openings with candidates looking for a career in service to underserved patients.

The “Innovations in Oral Health Care for People Living with HIV/AIDS” is a special supplement to Public Health Reports that presents findings from the Special Projects of National Significance Innovations in Oral Health Care Initiative, funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s HIV/AIDS Bureau. The Oral Health Initiative encompassed 15 sites from around the country, about half in urban and half in rural communities. The research presented in this supplement shows that innovative program models can engage and retain people who are living with HIV/AIDS into oral health-care services. The articles in this special issue represent the most comprehensive additions to the body of knowledge about oral health care for people living with HIV/AIDS since the HIV Cost and Services Utilization Study conducted nearly a decade ago.

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Patient Centered Medical Home


This fact sheet highlights enabling services as a critical factor that should be included in the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model. Community health centers have served as PCMHs and are consistent in their utilization of enabling services, which have been shown to improve care and reduce health disparities for medically underserved AA&NHOPI communities.

This document provides jointly developed guidelines for Patient-Centered Medical Home as developed by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American College of Physicians (ACP), and the American Osteopathic Association (AOA).

National Center for Medical Home Implementation. This resource is for health professionals, families, and anyone interested in creating a medical home for all children and youth.

NCQA’s Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) 2011 is an innovative program for improving primary care. In a set of standards that describe clear and specific criteria, the program gives practices information about organizing care around patients, working in teams and coordinating and tracking care over time.

The Commonwealth Fund provides the primary support for NASHP’s work with state Medicaid and CHIP programs to implement policies that advance the medical home.

The Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) is a coalition of major employers, consumer groups, patient quality organizations, health plans, labor unions, hospitals, clinicians and many others who have joined together to develop and advance the patient centered medical home (PCMH).

AHRQ Patient-Centered Medical Home Resource Center

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) supports and encourages all Section 330 funded health centers to become a recognized or accredited PCMH. CHAMPS has gathered the following information and resources to assist CHCs in understanding and becoming PCMHs. This webpage is designed to aid CHCs who are brand new to PCMH, those who have started the process of becoming a PCMH, and those who have already applied to become a recognized/accredited PCMH and require additional tools to successfully complete the process.

The National Center for Medical Home Implementation (NCMHI) is a cooperative agreement between the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) with a mission to ensure that every child and youth has access to a medical home.

Clinica Family Health Service video regarding PCMH.

White paper on how medical practices can become PCMHs.

Study from Califormia PCA: Seven primary care clinics share how they reframed their practices — shifting the focus from physicians to patients, and replacing a one-on-one approach with team-based care.

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Public Housing Programs


The NCHPH has developed a practical Resident Health Needs Assessment (RHNA) toolkit to assist PHPC health centers with their mission to provide high quality health care to the public housing resident population. A comprehensive resident health needs assessment offers a systematic method for reviewing residents’ health and helps identify priorities and resource allocations for both reducing disparities and improving health care services.

This practical guide provides tools to develop an effective outreach program using trained community health workers to reach public housing residents. It is designed for use by Community Health Workers (CHWs) and their supervisors.

Many community health center staff have expressed the need to develop a better understanding of their Public Housing Authority (PHA) in order to enhance collaborative efforts. This tool kit provides information, resources and references to enable both residents and community health center staff to partner and collaborate more effectively with their local Housing Authority.

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Special Populations


This Supervisor’s Manual was developed to provide basic guidelines to supervisors of Promotor y Promotora de Salud programs.

The School-Based Health Center Continuous Quality Improvement Tool contains instruction and audit forms, and a resource table with links to best practices for each condition.

An extensive archive of webinars related to school-based health care.

The HRSA/BPHC Special Populations web page.

The HRSA web page on cultural competence for health care settings. Effective health communication is as important to health care as clinical skill. To improve individual health and build healthy communities, health care providers need to recognize and address the unique culture, language and health literacy of diverse consumers and communities.

The HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) administers the Ryan White programs, along with several other resources related to HIV treatment and prevention.

This site, sponsored by the Office of Minority Health, offers the latest resources and tools to promote cultural competency in health care. You may access free online courses accredited for continuing education credit as well as supplementary tools to help you and your organization promote respectful, understandable, and effective care to your increasingly diverse patients.

The Office is dedicated to improving the health of racial and ethnic minority populations through the development of health policies and programs that will help eliminate health disparities.

The CLAS standards are primarily directed at health care organizations; however, individual providers are also encouraged to use the standards to make their practices more culturally and linguistically accessible. The principles and activities of culturally and linguistically appropriate services should be integrated throughout an organization and undertaken in partnership with the communities being served.

This grantee enrichment Technical Assistance call is being convened to draw attention to the significance of Maternal and Child Health (MCH) in Public Health Practice; and to emphasize the importance of recognizing and addressing persistent MCH disparities. Improving the well-being of mothers, infants, and children is an important public health goal. During the call, two HRSA grantees will share information and experiences on what they are doing to improve MCH outcomes in their communities through innovative solutions

The mission of the Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health (DRC) is to advance the effective use of public data on the status of children’s health and health-related services for children, youth and families in the United States. The DRC does this by providing hands-on access to national, state, and regional data findings from large population-based surveys. Data are collected from parents and thus contribute a much needed voice in the drive to improve the quality of health care for children and youth.

HRSA Resource page for health centers to assist in the hiring of veterans and transitioning service members to health centers.

Blog from Dr. Ron Valdisarri listing resources for viral hepatitis in the African American community.

Joining Forces is a nationa initiative that mobilizes all sectors of our society to give our service members and their families the opportunities and support they have earned.

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Women's Health


The NIH Vulvodynia Awareness Program provides educational materials to key audiences to help women, their partners, and their health care providers  better understand this complex chronic pain disorder. ORWH has supported a variety of initiatives since 2008 to expand and enhance vulvodynia awareness, including co-sponsorship of trans-NIH vulvodynia research initiatives.

The Office on Women's Health (OWH), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), works to improve the health and sense of well-being of all U.S. women and girls. OWH serves as the focal point for women's health activities within HHS offices and agencies. OWH leads programs to improve women's health and collaborates across HHS and with other partners on women's health activities.

Kaiser Foundation Fact Sheet providing detailed state-level coverage information for the 50 states and the District of Columbia, including data on the share of women who are uninsured between the ages of 18 to 64.

The Heart Truth is a national awareness and prevention campaign about heart disease in women sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Heart Truth campaign includes the following three components: professional education, patient education, and public awareness.

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Content Last Modified: 7/3/2012 12:15:00 PM