4 Updates to Facebook and More Social Media News for Nonprofits and HIV Programs

After talking with different HIV programs about social media, I've heard quite a few themes.  One of them is that people don't know where to start.  I addressed that in my presentation at the Prevention and Outreach Summit,  and I'll talk about that more in the future.  Another problem: everything keeps changing, and providers can't keep up.  As a way of reducing barriers (see what I did there?), I'm starting a new series with updates on social media news. 

And now, the biggest news from the past week:

Facebook is changing, yet again.  Surprise, surprise.

• Facebook has hashtags now, joining the ranks of Instagram and Twitter.  Right now they're being grossly overused and are already slightly obnoxious, but they'll be useful once Facebook users calm down a little bit.  The key to using hashtags on your fan page is to stick to one or two that are directly relevant to your post.  That way, people who are searching for those words will be able to find your content. 
• People are Talking About This (PTAT) is going away, but it's being replaced by something bigger and better.  Facebook Insights were already pretty powerful for a free analytics tool for your fan page, but now they'll be breaking PTAT out to be more specific - so you'll get a better gauge on what actions your fans are taking.  (The 2013 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study talks about this - pohtos get more likes, shares, and comments, but links, share, and video posts get more clicks.  Now you'll get to see this clearly in your insights.)  My favorite new feature is the detailed information you'll get on actions from your fans, by demographic.  Fantastic way to see if you're reaching your target, especially for public health organizations.  Get the full story over at Mashable.
• You can now leave photos in comments.  This will probably have some practical applications, but I'm mostly thinking of the fun ones.  Like public health memes.
• Some fan pages are now able to change the thumbnail photo posted alongside links placed in status updates.  You might have this on your fan page already - it's still rolling out.  If you do, you'll have an "upload photo" link under the thumbnail.  This is great if the one photo on the page you're posting a link to is an ad or something else you know your fans won't want to look at.

Facebook rolls updates out almost constantly, so you can expect lots more in the future.

Instagram gets video

Yesterday, to much anticipation, Facebook made a huge announcement for Instagram.  (In case you didn't know, Facebook bought Instagram a couple of years ago.)  The new feature will allow for 15-second videos, and a choice of thirteen different filters.  It will also have video stabilization, which sounds handy.  It's a pretty obvious bid to stay competitive with Twitter's popular 6-second video-sharing app, Vine.  Read more about it on Instagram's blog.

Social media posts from around the web

I comb through quite a few of these regularly.  These are the most useful posts I found for nonprofits, public health organizations, and HIV programs this week.

• AIDS.gov has a post specifically on using social media to promote HIV testing, providing examples from three different programs.  Featuring Philly's own Do One Thing project. 
• Buffer wrote a helpful, clear, and actionable post on how to write headlines for Twitter, Facebook, and blogs that get people to actually look at your content.  Fantastic cheat sheet.
• Jim Garrow talked about why you should talk like a normal person on his blog, The Face of the Matter. 
• I'm all about using whatever tools you can to make your job easier.  In my recent presentation on getting started on social media for HIV programs, I suggested using a content calendar to organize yourself.  Here, Network for Good gives the basics on how to make an editorial calendar. 
• My favorite thing I've come across this week is this 2013 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study.  See how you stack up against other nonprofit organizations on social media and email newsletters.  It's a beaitiful document (for layout, copy, and content), so take note if you publish a lot of documents for public use.   
• If you liked that report, here are loads more. I like to give my eyes a break from the monitor every so often, so I keep a stack of reports like these on my desk for a little afternoon reading time.  

Have you learned anything new and exciting about social media this week?  Comment below.

Health Reform and HIV Providers: Part 2

The presentation below was given by Ann Ricksecker (Planning Council member and PA/MidAtlantic AETC staff) and myself at the PA HIV Provider Capacity Building Training on June 18, 2013. The purpose of the presentation is to provide some basic background on the ACA and  practical steps for organizations to prepare for the future of the Ryan White Program. Thanks to the  TARGET Center for providing some great materials to work from, especially the 6 steps.

If this is your first visit to our blog, you may want to check out my previous posts on some of the important issues covered in this presentation like: payer of last resort, providers' roles in health reform, and health reform resources. You need to have a background in health reform in order to get the most from this slides.  I will be creating a web-based presentation with audio for these steps as well, so stay tuned.





During this presentation a few questions came up that I needed to do some more research before I could answer. I decided to share those questions and my answers here. If you have questions, let me know in the comments and I'll post a follow up ASAP.

Question 1: Contracting with an insurance company is sometimes difficult and time consuming. What steps can an organization take to make it easier/more efficient?

Here's a good example from Kevin Moore of the AIDS Care Group about the difficulties some will face in dealing with health insurance companies. Here are some ways you may get some help if you run into a dead end:

1. Call your state insurance department and see what assistance they can provide. (PA, NJ)

2. Call your state's insurance marketplace to get some help facilitating the relationship with the insurer. At this time I couldn't find any contacts for either NJ or PA's marketplaces.  (Both PA and NJ will have federally-facilitated Marketplaces.)

3. Call a provider who is on the insurance plan and ask for a contact person in that agency's contract office. Then ask for a contact with the insurer who will actually help. 

I'm sure there are other options. Anybody have another option that worked?

Question 2:  Will case managers be expected to help consumers pick a health plan? Do case managers have a role in the state insurance marketplaces?

Short answer: Yes! 

Case managers already help people get enrolled in health insurance. Enrolling in a Marketplace plan is just another option. HRSA has been very clear that Ryan White providers are expected and encouraged to help consumers with eligibility and enrollment, including consumer education about health insurance and health reform. In the end, consumers are responsible for picking the appropriate health plan for their individual needs, but case managers and other providers will need to be available to help with those decisions. If the Ryan White provider is not staffed or resourced to provide this assistance, then a referral should be made to a local resource that can provide the required level of support and guidance.

The 4 E's are the latest buzzwords: education (about health reform), eligibility (for public and private insurance options), enrollment (in public and private insurance) and engagement (in care). Consumers will be looking to their case managers and medical providers for answers about insurance and eligibility. To learn more about consumer outreach and enrollment check out the resources at Enroll, America.

Question 3: What opportunities are there for community-based organizations in the era of coordinated care and health homes? 

There are opportunities for CBOs in this new world. CBOs have skills and services that support and promote whole-person care like cultural competency and care coordination (case management).  You can become a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) or form a cooperative agreement with a FQHC. Either option would allow for the possibility of either becoming a Primary Care Medical Home or a Medicaid Health Home (which are essentially the same thing. Primary Care Medical Home (PCMH) is the general term and the Medicaid Health Home is a type of PCMH.).  

Here is a great step-by-step guide for CBOs to integrate with health homes.

You can download the slides from the hivhealthreform.org webinar for much more detail on how (and why) to integrate with a clinical provider: Pathways to Collaboration. 

Integrating with a clinical site is just one option for sustainability. We will explore other options in future posts.

What on earth is HIV planning, anyway?

We do it, the health department does it, the community does it, and providers do it.  HIV planning is pretty much our bread and butter around here - we are, after all, the Office of HIV Planning.  But what does that mean?  (Hint: no, we don't plan HIV.)

Ok, give me the details.

Every year, our area gets money directly from the federal government to help with the cost of HIV care and prevention in the Philadelphia area.  (For care, this money covers Philly and eight surrounding counties.  Prevention money is just for Philly.)  The feds know that each city has different needs, so they ask every city to come up with its own plan for how they'll spend the money.  That's where community planning comes in.  We have one group that works on the care side (the Ryan White Planning Council, or RWPC), and one group that deals with prevention (soon to be the HIV Prevention Planning Group, or HPG).  Both groups meet here at the Office of HIV Planning.

Great, but what do they do?

For starters, they have a lot of meetings in our office.  Each planning body has its own monthly meetings, plus committees to deal with specific issues or processes.  Who comes to these meetings, you ask? At least two of our own staff, plus planning body members, HIV service providers, health department staff, and community members (including people living with HIV/AIDS).  What's the point of all these meetings? To plan HIV services in our area.

The topics covered in each meeting vary, but they all have the ultimate goal of making HIV services better and more effective.  We talk about the needs of the community, and sometimes we do surveys or focus groups to get more information.  Other times we talk about the services and how they work.  We also try to stay up to date on the latest news on funding, federal and local policy, and more.  Our office takes the discussion from the meetings and works along with the health department to work some magic.  We document the meetings, do research, and otherwise get a lot of the legwork done so the planning bodies can focus on making educated decisions.  Then we bring our work back to whichever group requested it, so they can use that information as they plan the services.

Sounds like you've got this under control.  Why do you need me?

Ah, thank you.  Here's the thing:  we can do research until the end of time, but it's not the same as getting real input from people that live and work in our community.  There aren't too many opportunities for you to have an impact on the way an entire system works, but this is one of them.  You get to work with other dedicated individuals to make HIV care and prevention work better. 

You sold me.  How do I get involved?

That depends on how much time you have to give.  The HIV Prevention Planning Group (HPG) is taking applications for new members through Tuesday, June 18 at 5 p.m.  You can apply here, and then send your resume and personal statement to HPG@hivphilly.org.  You can also learn more about the Ryan White Planning Council (RWPC) on our website.  (They accept applications on a rolling basis - their next round will be in the fall.) Can't make a commitment right now?  Register as a community expert and we'll call on you when we need your expertise.  You can also attend a meeting, call us at 215.574.6760, or email me at briana@hivphilly.org.

#socialnetworkingproblems: How to get started, be strategic, and avoid the pitfalls of social media

On Wednesday morning, I had the pleasure of presenting at the 14th Annual Prevention and Outreach Summit presented by Philadelphia FIGHT.  It was an expanded version of a much briefer presentation on social media strategy for HIV programs that I had done for the SMART4Life provider forum a couple of weeks ago.  I'm passionate about using social media to spread information, change social norms, and generally do good things, so I was excited to share what I know with some local programs and organizations.

Here's my full slide deck, complete with links:



That first slide is something that we refer to around the office as simply, "The Slide."  It drives a lot of what we do here.  See, if things don't change, half of today's young Black men who have sex with men (MSM) will be HIV-positive by the time they hit the age of 35.  Half.

Half.

This is completely appalling and totally unacceptable.  What we've been doing hasn't been working.  I know there are a lot of barriers to social media for public health organizations (like outdated policies and not being allowed to bill for the time spent online), but we can't afford to keep doing the same tired things when they're clearly not having the effect we need them to. 

So, social media.  I gave participants in my session this handout to help get them started.  My presentation was really geared toward spending as little money on social media as possible.  It's difficult enough to get a good grasp on social media for a small business, but for small nonprofits and public health organizations, it can feel almost impossible.  Luckily I both love to learn and to share, so I'll be writing more posts on this subject in the future.  In the meantime, here are some of my favorite resources.
 

• CDC's National Prevention Information Network (NPIN) ran a series of webinars on social media for public health.  The first series is over, but you can get the recordings and slide sets here.
• Social media for public health (#SM4PH) Twitter chats.  These are on a variety of topics, and they can be a great opportunity to network with others in your field.  Follow @sm4ph on Twitter for updates.
• Net Tuesday Meetups.  Held the first Tuesday of every month in Center City Philly, with the theme "social web for social change."  A friendly group of people that know how to make things happen with little to no funding.
• If you like books as much as I do, I'd recommend the new Social Change Anytime Everywhere from Allyson Kapin and Amy Sample Ward.
• And my favorite social media blogs/websites:
• Dialogue Consulting.   They're Australian, so keep this in mind when looking at webinar times.
• John Haydon.  Discussing social media for nonprofits.
• Nonprofit Tech 2.0.  A social media guide for nonprofits.
• Seth Godin.  Neither nonprofit nor social media-specific, but generally good, helpful advice.  Short, sweet, and published daily.
• The Face of the Matter.  Health communications blog from Philadelphia-based Jim Garrow.
• Buffer.  A more general interest blog about productivity, social media, and more.
• Mashable's Social Media section.  All the most up-to-date news on social media.  Easy to get information overload here - take what you need, and ignore the rest.
• Public Health Memes.  Great for a field-specific laugh.

There's the roundup.  If you're already on social media, what are some of your favorite resources?  If you're not, what's stopping you?

The Team: Noel Ramirez

This post is part of a series that features a member of the community planning team - one of the devoted members of the Ryan White Planning Council or the Prevention Planning Group that volunteers his or her time to improve HIV services in our area.

This month, we feature Noel Ramirez.  Noel is now a Planning Council member, but until recently he served on the Prevention Planning Group. I asked him the following questions.



What made you decide to get involved in community planning?

I wanted to bring a youth/young person perspective to the table to shake things up a bit.  I was also tired of hearing people say that young people are apathetic.  We’re not.

 

You previously served on the Prevention Planning Group, and now you're on the Ryan White Planning Council, which is a pretty unique situation.  How do you think your time on the PPG will help you as an RWPC member?

I got to sample the great snacks and fruit flavored teas!

 

On the real, my time with the PPG was helpful in initially understanding the planning process.  I also got to meet people in the planning council through a variety of ad-hoc meetings.

 What is your favorite part about community planning?

My favorite part of community planning is learning the mechanics of policy and practice.  As a direct service provider, I never quite understood how and why things are. Community Planning really gives me an opportunity to really see what goes on behind the scenes.

What is the biggest challenge facing community planning today?

I’m working with getting some young people into it.  Outreach to youth and creating opportunities for young people seems to be the most obvious challenge. 

What do you wish more people knew about community planning?

The office staff and the community are awesome and fabulous.  (Ed. note: No, I didn't coerce Noel into saying that.)  The refreshments are great. And your voice is actually pretty important.

 

Noel: One of the many faces of community planning

What do you do?  What programs are you involved with?

I am a program manager at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children and manage a program called The Sexuality With Education And Truth (SWEAT) Project.  The SWEAT project is a community-wide program for HIV+ young gay/bisexual men in Philadelphia. I work with different HIV care provider sites and develop/facilitate programming that provides young dudes an opportunity to find their voice, find a friend and find a community that support, loves and honors who they are.

 

I also do consulting work with YHEP’s Prep Program “I AM Men’s Health” and have developed curriculum and programming for HIV- men who are taking Prep.

What do you want Philadelphians to know about PrEP?

It’s an option and new technology for you when deciding how you’re going to engage in sex.  Check it out and talk to a medical provider for more information! 

What is your favorite thing about the Philly area?

I love riding my bike through different neighborhoods in the summer. I have also am currently having a love affair with Fuel…perhaps my favorite food joint so far. Next to Smokeless BBQ in South Philly.

 

Anything you like to do while you're in the neighborhood for meetings?  (No is fine!)

My programming work is usually in the evenings, so I’m usually off to that.

Anything else you'd like to add?

I love, honor and respect the people involved in the fight of HIV.  Planners, affected, infected, medical providers, administrators, government folks, medical case managers and allies, you have all stolen my heart :)

To meet our featured community planners or get involved in the process yourself, we invite you to participate in one of our meetings. You can always view a meeting calendar at http://www.hivphilly.org/calendar.html, or email info@hivphilly.org to learn more.

Policy Update: Federal AIDS Policy Partnership Meeting Notes

On Wednesday, May 15th I traveled down to Washington DC to attend the quarterly Federal AIDS Policy Partnership (FAPP) membership meeting. This partnership is a way for HIV providers, advocacy groups, health departments, and Ryan White grantees to combine efforts to promote national policies that ensure people living with HIV/AIDS have access to quality and affordable services, fight stigma and discrimination, and decrease health disparities. Membership is open to any organization with an interest in HIV policy. Membership is free but requires endorsement/support from two member organizations. 

You can see some of the materials from the meeting, including slide sets and the agenda here.

The meeting focused on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). A few of the highlights are outlined below.  Most of the conversation focused on the funding for the Ryan White program and how organizations can prepare for full implementation of the ACA in 2014.  I will share what I think are the most important points/facts from the 5 hour meeting.

Resources on ACA and Ryan White

HRSA's HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) has developed  and released documents and other tools that will be helpful to Ryan White grantees and providers in preparing the implementation of health reform. Here's the webpage to find them. Sign up for updates on the right side of the page.

TARGET Center is another great resource with tools and best practices from the federal government and Ryan White grantees/providers.

Payer of Last Resort

It was made pretty clear by the end of the meeting from the guest speakers and others in the room that “Ryan White is payer of last resort” is something we are going to be hearing a lot of in the months and years to come. Here’s a paraphrase from the meeting:

If Medicaid or other insurance covers an activity within a visit, then Ryan White CANNOT be billed for that same activity. Generally, third-party payers pay for the activity/service, not the time taken to provide the service. Ryan White funds can ONLY be used for activities that are not covered by any other payer.

For further details, please see this policy clarification from HRSA. 

HRSA and CMS are working closely together to develop policies and guidance to direct Ryan White grantees and providers through this transitional time. Several documents and policies are expected to be officially released in the next several weeks.

Providers should maximize payer options:

• Find out more about Qualified Health Centers
• Contact top three insurers and join their networks
• Essential Community Provider list - get added if your organization is not included
• Contact State Medicaid office to join the networks
• Have flexibility in billing systems for 3rd party billing

Ryan White providers play a key role in enrollment.

Center for Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight (CCIO) is running navigator grant program for federally facilitated marketplaces. Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) and standards are posted at CCIO.  There are wide array of entities that are eligible to apply for navigator grants, focused populations or geographical areas.

All organizations should have staff trained to assist patients/clients with the application and enrollment process for marketplace plans and Medicaid

Funding for FY2013 and FY2014

Take a minute to read this blog post from March to get a feel for the kind of funding challenges we are likely to have this year.

There is no real good news about funding for Ryan White or really any other federally funded HIV/AIDS program. The sequester has reduced the amount of money available for non-defense discretionary programs by $25.8 billion (and that was before Congress started to monkey around with it). If President Obama and Congress can make the sequester go away, there's hope that funding for Ryan White and other essential programs can be protected and restored. At this point, good news is unlikely without a "Grand Bargain" between Democrats and Republicans for increases in revenue (taxes) and decreases in spending.

AIDS Budget and Appropriations Coalition - FY2014 Chart

Congress passed a Continuing Resolution in April 2013 for FY 2013. FY2014 budget is still being developed, currently the House and Senate each have their own versions. House bill has $92 billion less than Senate bill.

President’s budget FY2014 restores FY2013 cuts to Ryan White, but this is only a proposal. The House and Senate must agree on a bill, and that bill has to be signed into law by President Obama. We have a long way to go.

But here are some things we do know:

• Operating budgets for CDC and HRSA have been released for FY2013
• Ryan White Program is losing $121 million instead of the $166 million on the ABAC chart, because President Obama found a way to reinstate the $45 million "World AIDS Day funds" that were left out of the continuing resolution for FY2013.

So there you go. These are just the highlights (or is it lowlights?). Stay tuned for more updates on the federal policy and funding news as we move through the summer. Still no word on when we can expect our full FY2013 Part A award, sometime this summer we suspect. But we do still anticipate the 11% decrease, as discussed in this post from March.

The Big Picture - May 2013

This post is part of a monthly series published on the fourth Thursday of every month. It provides an overview of themes and topics from the general meetings and committee meetings of the Ryan White Planning Council and Prevention Planning Group each month. To view meeting materials and presentations, please visit www.hivphilly.org.
 

Ryan White Planning Council (RWPC)


This May, the Ryan White Planning Council (RWPC) received two separate presentations on the latest trends in HIV.  First up, Dr. Helena Kwakwa told RWPC members about the new health system navigators in the City's Health Centers.  This program helps people that just found out that they're HIV-positive into medical care.  It also helps people get back into care if they stopped going to the doctor.  Next, we had Evelyn Torres and Sebastian Branca from AACO give us an update on the Client Services Unit (CSU), the Housing Services Program (HSP), and Quality Management (QM).  You can get the full scoop here.

Treatment Cascade

Meanwhile, the Comprehensive Planning and Finance Committees held another joint meeting.  They talked about the priority setting process that the RWPC has to have at least every three years.  They use this process to organize service categories from highest priority to lowest priority.  There are going to be some major changes this year, so they updated their priority setting tool.  The new tool focuses more on the treatment cascade.  They also started to tackle the idea of cost-effectiveness for services.  The Comprehensive Planning Committee will move forward with priority setting, while the Finance Committee keeps working on allocations-related issues.

Both the Needs Assessment Committee and Points of Integration Workgroup (a joint venture of the RWPC and PPG) are plugging along with their work on linkage to care.  Linkage to care (making sure newly diagnosed HIV-positive people get into medical care) is one of the most challenging parts of the cascade for the Philadelphia area.  The Needs Assessment Committee kept working on specific questions they had for HIV testers about how currently they get their clients to the doctor.  The Points of Integration Workgroup agreed to create a new model for linkage to care for the Philadelphia area.  They're starting off by looking at research on current models.  Both groups talked about navigators, too.

The Positive Committee has also been discussing coming changes from the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  (Nicole is doing a great series on health reform and the average consumer.)  The Philadelphia Eligible Metropolitan Area (EMA) covers nine counties in two states.  Since New Jersey is expanding its Medicaid program but Pennsylvania isn't, we'll have some unique challenges in 2014.  Nicole also talked about Essential Health Benefits and other topics from the ACA. 

Prevention Planning Group (PPG)

Last year, the CDC came out with a new HIV Planning Guidance.  This changed the work required in prevention planning, shifting its focus to broad community engagement.  The PPG has been working to re-imagine itself for several months, in order to stay consistent with this changing landscape.  The PPG as we know it will cease to exist when all of its members' terms expire on June 30.  Its new incarnation, the Philadelphia HIV Prevention Planning Group (HPG), will kick off in July.  Their specific tasks are changing, but their work is just as important.  Apply for HPG membership by June 18, and help shape the future of HIV prevention in Philadelphia.



This is an exciting time to get involved in community planning for the Philadelphia area. To learn more, follow the links in this post, attend one of the meetings listed on our calendar, or email info@hivphilly.org to find out how to get involved. If you have questions, you can also call us at 215-574-6760.