Page Comparison

PCAs

Primary Care Associations (PCAs) provided training and technical assistance to federally qualified health centers, look-alikes, and similar community-based safety net providers in their state or region. The T/TA is based on statewide and regional needs assessment conducted by the PCAs. T/TA help health centers improve clinical outcomes, operations, financial performance. Also, PCAs can help health centers and look-alikes plan develop and grow health centers in their state, as well as develop strategies to recruit and retain staff.

PCAs work closely with partners such as NACHC and HCCNs to provide T/TA that will enable health centers and their patients to improve health outcomes.

Collaborative Work with HCCNs and PCAs from KM 868-05

NACHC will continue to partner with, and will add more, health center controlled networks (HCCNs) and primary care associations (PCAs) and standalone health centers for adult immunization implementation and scale activities.

According to HRSA, health center fundamentals include: 

·        Delivery of high quality, culturally competent, comprehensive primary care, as well as supportive services such as health education, translation, and transportation that promote access to health care. 

·        Provide services regardless of patients’ ability to pay and charge for services on a sliding fee scale. 

·        Operate under the direction of patient-majority governing boards. 

·        These include public and private non-profit organizations and tribal and faith-based organizations. 

·        Develop systems of patient-centered and integrated care that respond to the unique needs of diverse medically underserved areas and populations. 

·        Meet specific federal requirements regarding administrative, clinical, and financial operations. 

HCCNs were established to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of health centers. The formation of networks enabled groups of health centers to collaborate, share, and/or integrate functions that are critical to health center operations (e.g., clinical, fiscal, information management, managed care, human resources).  

The HRSA definition of a HCCN is “a network controlled by and acting on behalf of the health centers, as defined and funded under Section 330(e)(1)(C) of the Public Health Service Act, as amended.” The term “controlled” means that health centers are required to collectively appoint a minimum of 51 percent of the network’s board members.  

HCCN Core Roles are: 

Support for Electronic Health Records (EHRs): A core capacity/competency of many HCCNs/PCAs is the support and assistance they provide their member health centers in the adoption, implementation, and utilization of EHRs.  

Support for Practice Management Systems (PMSs): In addition to supporting member health centers with an EHR product, many HCCNs/PCAs have the capacity to support the “back-office” function of their centers, including the support of practice management systems. This table summarizes PMS vendors supported by HCCNs/PCAs and the major support functions provided to member centers. 

Support for Electronic Dental Records (EDRs): For those HCCNs/PCAs with members who operate oral health programs, support is also available for the adoption, implementation, and utilization of EDRs. 

Support for Data Aggregation, Analytics, and Reporting Tools: Collection and use of clinical data can be a complex task that may be beyond the scope of individual health centers. Data aggregation, analytics, and reporting tools play an important role in using data for a range of purposes. This table summarizes the variety of ways that HCCNs/PCAs are using these tools to support their members. 

Practice Transformation, Quality Improvement, and Health Information Exchange (HIE) Activities: As delivery system transformation continues to evolve and as payment reform moves from “volume to value,” many HCCNs/PCAs are well positioned to support their member health centers in these transformations.  

Support of Quality Reporting and Clinical/Performance Measures: To encourage providers to undertake delivery system transformation efforts and guide the process, a number of incentive programs and clinical/performance measures have been developed. This table summarizes the quality reporting programs, incentive programs, and clinical/performance measure sets that are supported by HCCNs/PCAs. 

Managed Care Activities: As managed care becomes increasingly prevalent, HCCNs/PCAs are frequently engaged in efforts to support their members in managed care activities.  

Support for Administrative and Financial Functions: Beyond their capacity/competency in the areas of Health Information Technology (HIT) and Delivery System Transformation, some HCCNs/PCAs have developed the capacity to support their health center members with a range of administrative and financial functions, including accounting, human resource (HR), and group purchasing.  

PCAs serve as technical assistance leads for the health centers within their state and have been proving valuable in the linkage between community health and public health.  Their ability to convene, outreach to, and collect lessons from health centers within their purview make them a strong collaborator in this work.

Contractual Work from KM 868-05

NACHC has a long history of establishing contracts with vetted expert consultants and vendors to complement staff expertise to support strong program implementation and results. NACHC uses an extensive vetting process including cost/price analysis, contract tracking and approval, sole source justification if sole source is used, and checking contractor’s debarment/suspension status in www.sam.gov. In addition, with the large network of professionals in the field, we check for references regarding consultants’ or contractors’ performance, work ethic, and commitment. The rates charged by consultants and contractors are also compared with other services to make sure they are competitive and reasonable. The average contract can be executed and implemented within 30 days or more rapidly when a need is critical.

For this phase of the work, it is planned that NACHC will continue to work with:

·        Up to 25 health centers

·        At least 4 networks and organizations, including

o   AllianceChicago,

o   Migrant Clinicians Network, 

o   HealthChoice,

o   Alaska Primary Care Association,

·        Curlew Consulting

·        Clinovations Gov+Health

NACHC uses the following criteria for vetting potential contractors: 

·        Strong organization 

·        Leadership intact (no turnover in the previous year or expected turnover) 

·        Reputation for delivering high quality products on time 

·        Strong health IT, informatics, and data analytics capacity to include access to patient-level population data that would enable tracking and reporting on de-identified individual patients over time to assess outcomes 

·        Data aggregation capacity, either in-house or through 3^rd parties such as Azara Healthcare, Arcadia, or i2i Systems 

·        Ability to ensure data integrity and validity 

·        Access to multiple data sets desired (e.g., claims) 

·        Willingness and ability to share data for evaluation, publication, and informing future directions, as well as for others to query for research purposes