By Amy Brisson, CLC Partner/Consultant

OSV - The three little letters that bring anxiety levels up a notch and send us scurrying to get organized. Our roadmap to navigating the OSV? It’s the OSV Protocol – the tool the OSV reviewers use to complete their review. So, while an OSV might make us anxious, we have an excellent tool – the protocol - to help prepare, as it lays out every document, procedure, and question the reviews will perform for each chapter.

Take Note! For OSVs starting after May 28, 2021 the OSV Protocol has undergone some major changes. Importantly, while the OSV Protocol has changed, there have been NO changes to the Health Center Program Compliance Manual.

Here is a summary of the changes:

Documents are now required to be consolidated onto one list.
All documents are due 2 weeks prior to the start of the visit.
The Performance Analysis section is completely removed.
In the Contracts and Subawards section, there is an expanded methodology for subrecipient monitoring.
Eligibility requirements for Look-Alike (LAL) initial designee applications have been aligned with the LAL ID Application Instructions.
There were also general updates made, such as minor revisions to methodologies, and questions, clarifications for samples that overlap sections, and other grammatic and formatting updates.

The actual protocol document has not published to date, but if you have an upcoming visit, you can request the draft copy from your HRSA project officer.

To read the summary of changes in detail, visit the HRSA website: https://bphc.hrsa.gov/programrequirements/site-visit-protocol/summary-updates

If you would like support preparing for an upcoming OSV, we can help. Please reach out to amyb@communitylinkconsulting.com.