Operational Site Visits 101: Lessons Learned and Promising Practices From the Field

Aug 28, 2017 7:00am ‐ Aug 28, 2017 8:30am

Identification: CML1

The Health Center Program Requirements provide Federally Qualified Community Health Centers - both 330-funded grantees and Look-Alikes - with a valuable framework and floor on which they can build and enhance their operations. HRSA conducts regular oversight of health centers through Operational Site Visits (OSVs). The OSV provides health centers with an important opportunity to strategically examine and assess their delivery of services, management and finance, governance structure, and how they conduct needs assessments.

This session will provide participants with an overview of how health centers can utilize the OSV preparation process to significantly improve clinical and operational performance. Speakers include leaders from health centers that engaged in a robust internal review process ahead of their OSV. Speakers will share lessons learned from engaging in this process and promising practices for using this process to strategically assess areas in need of greater oversight or improvement. Learn about key trends and patterns that emerge in OSVs and how these can translate into becoming higher performing, innovative providers of comprehensive primary health care services.
  • - Describe how health center leaders prepared for their OSVs.
  • - Identify best practices for having no or minimal unmet conditions during an OSV.
  • - Discuss key trends that reviewers see and areas of concern to address during an OSV.

FQHC from the Financial Perspective

Aug 28, 2017 12:30pm ‐ Aug 28, 2017 2:00pm

Identification: CMA2

The FQHC Prospective Payment System, which is cost-based and volume-driven, does not appear to be consistent with the Quadruple Aim and national health care goals. Health centers in several states are looking at new models of payment that focus on population health and outcomes. This session will discuss the goals, structures, and implementation considerations of FQHC alternative payment methodologies (APMs) around the country, as well as other innovative payment systems.
  • - Understand the relationship between current health center reimbursement and market trends.
  • - Identify inputs for a cost benefit analysis of pay for performance.
  • - Perform a high-level calculation of an APM PMPM.

Operational Site Visits 201- LEARNING LAB

Aug 28, 2017 12:30pm ‐ Aug 28, 2017 3:30pm

Identification: CMB2

Limited to 50 participants.

HRSA's Operational Site Visits (OSVs) are conducted to assess a Federally Qualified Health Center's compliance with the 19 Health Center Program requirements. While these program requirements are critical to a health center's success, they ultimately provide health centers with a foundation on which they can build high-performing, operationally excellent organizations.

This learning lab provides an in-depth look into the HRSA Operational Site Visit. OSV reviewers and a legal expert will offer their perspectives and insights on performance improvement as a result of OSV trends. Each presenter will describe how high-performing health centers prepare and execute the OSV, and how the preparation process provides a strategic opportunity for health centers to strengthen and improve their overall operations. Presenters include a clinical reviewer, fiscal reviewer, governance and administrative reviewer, and legal expert. The presenters will address the four major areas under review during OSVs - services, management and finance, governance, and need - and discuss promising practices observed at high-performing centers. Time will be reserved for table discussions with both the reviewers and peers from other health centers.

All NACHC Learning Labs are limited in participant space and require special registration. Learning labs are open ONLY to full-paying attendees.

The $25 fee for lab participation partially subsidizes the light refreshments included in all labs. Preregistration and $25 fee required by August 16, 2017. No on-site registration available.
  • - Acquire an in-depth look into how OSVs are structured, flow, and executed.
  • - Gain direct access to OSV reviewers who can answer health center-specific questions related to OSVs.
  • - Identify concrete strategies for having a successful OSV.

Refugee, Immigrant, and Migrant Health: Shared Public Health and Primary Care Priorities

Aug 28, 2017 12:30pm ‐ Aug 28, 2017 2:00pm

Identification: CMC2

This session will address both clinical and policy issues involved in caring for immigrant, refugee, and migrant patients in health centers. Learn from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) experts about how primary care clinicians in the U.S. can access overseas vaccination records for their refugee patients and about CDC resources aimed at improving the health of refugees and preventing disease. An attorney with the National Immigration Law Center will highlight important policy developments that health center providers and their patients should be aware of. There will be ample time for discussion.
  • - Describe emerging policies that impact the health of immigrants, migrants, and refugees.
  • - Identify resources available from the CDC to improve refugee health and prevent disease.
  • - Describe how to access refugee vaccination records.

The FTCA Program: The Future Is Now

Aug 28, 2017 12:30pm ‐ Aug 28, 2017 2:00pm

Identification: CMD2

From deeming to claims, ensuring that your health center maintains its Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) coverage has never been more challenging. Maintaining FTCA coverage is not easy. The new deeming requirements, involvement of various agencies including HRSA, Office of General Counsel and the Department of Justice, and the increased accountability and responsibility mean that health centers need to pay the closest attention ever to the elements of their FTCA program and claims. In this session, trusted and experienced health center attorneys will discuss the complex multitude of risks in FTCA coverage for health centers. The risks range from being related to their applications and participation, either deeming or redeeming, in the FTCA program, including the new possibility that 330 grant conditions may preclude health centers from receiving their FTCA deeming, to common concerns around the complex set of rules on which FTCA coverage is based. The speakers also will provide information and answer questions about the most up-to-date FTCA "hot topics" that health centers across the country face in the ever-changing healthcare environment, including adding volunteers to your FTCA coverage.
  • - Understand the statutory and regulatory basis of the immunity created by the Federally Supported Health Centers Assistance Act.
  • - Learn about the significant changes to the FTCA Deeming Application process and corresponding changes to health center FTCA program guidelines.
  • - Apply the information to reduce the risk of non-FTCA covered events in their health centers.

Health Centers and Family Planning: Now and in the Next Five Years

Aug 28, 2017 12:30pm ‐ Aug 28, 2017 2:00pm

Identification: CME2

Health centers' role in and contributions to preventive women's health and family planning has been significant. This session will spotlight recent vanguard family planning activities, including results of a George Washington University/Kaiser Family Foundation national survey of family planning in health centers; an LGBTQIA Technical Expert Panel convened by the U.S. Office of Population Affairs; a model used in Colorado that reduced teen pregnancy by 40 percent; and new recommendations for the National Qaulity Forum (NQF) and e-measures. A look at practice, policy, provider engagement as well as local issues related to organizational culture and support will be provided.
  • - Describe current health center activities in family planning service delivery.
  • - Identify new recommendations for contraception NQF Measures and their development.
  • - Understand how partnerships between health centers and Title X Programs can reduce teen pregnancy rates.

Hepatitis C – The New Epidemic: Emerging Models and Promising Practices in Combatting a Silent Disease

Aug 28, 2017 12:30pm ‐ Aug 28, 2017 2:00pm

Identification: CMF2

In the United States, deaths caused by hepatitis C have now surpassed most blood-borne infectious diseases, including HIV. With community health centers caring for over 24 million patients, they are at the frontline of this epidemic, carrying the burden of screening, linking, and treating the most vulnerable populations. To make matters worse, the rise of opioid abuse in the U.S. could have catastrophic implications on the spread of the virus. This session will focus on three different topics: Health Information Technology and Moving Patients through the Hepatitis C Care Cascade, Primary Care-Public Health Partnerships, and 340B Utilization in a Community Health Center Setting. Each topic will offer exciting emerging models and practices that address the rise of hepatitis C infections within this country.
  • - Determine how to utilize electronic health records to appropriately capture hepatitis C-related clinical information to address a patient’s need for treatment or re-engagement in care.
  • - Assess current public health-primary care partnerships to determine how to utilize them to the fullest capacity in addressing the hepatitis C epidemic.
  • - Identify different practice models that utilize members of the expanded care team (e.g., pharmacists).

Learning From the Pros: Advocacy Best Practices

Aug 28, 2017 12:30pm ‐ Aug 28, 2017 2:00pm

Identification: CMG2

During this session, panelists will share a diverse set of advocacy best practices, currently working on the ground at the health center and PCA level, to grow the health center advocacy network and drive increased engagement, achieve ACE/HACE status, effectively leverage social media for advocacy, cultivate relationships with key influencers, and more.
  • - Understand how to grow the health center advocacy network and drive increased engagement.
  • - Identify best practices for advocacy recruitment for board members, special populations, and social media.
  • - Develop advocates at the health center level.

Understanding Risk and Attribution

Aug 28, 2017 12:30pm ‐ Aug 28, 2017 2:00pm

Identification: CMH2

The various value-based payment models present a significant opportunity for health centers to increase revenues and demonstrate their value. However, these opportunities increase risk health center leaders need to recognize and understand how to navigate. This session will discuss the legal, financial, and operational aspects of risk; the importance of risk in value-based payment models; and strategies health centers can use when approaching these contracts. As part of this session, panelists will discuss how attribution, the process of assigning patients to a primary care physician in a population health program, is an essential element of risk when considering new care delivery and payment methodologies.
  • - Understand the basics of risk in the context of different payment arrangements.
  • - Evaluate your internal processes and data to determine your health center's strengths and weaknesses.
  • - Identify strategies health centers can use when approaching value-based contracts.

Innovation and Philanthropic Funding: Practical Strategies for Expanding Health Center Funding Streams

Aug 28, 2017 12:30pm ‐ Aug 28, 2017 2:00pm

Identification: CMJ2

Rapid changes in population health and healthcare policy mean that new, flexible and creative ideas are more important than ever before, particularly for vulnerable communities. Yet resources to advance new ideas and experiment with new models of care can be elusive and uncertain. Within this gap between opportunity and uncertainty, private philanthropy plays a key role. Community health centers can benefit from philanthropic funding, including local, regional, and national organizations, foundations, corporations, and other nonprofits with an interest in community health, to build programs that may not qualify for federal reimbursement. Grant funding - private and public - provides opportunities for health centers to increase revenue coming into their organization.

Grants should complement existing resources and not create unnecessary burdens on already-leveraged resources. Presenters will focus on the fact that although grants - private and public - are important to a health center, they may not always be the panacea to save a program or start a new one.

This session will serve as a guide to analyze opportunities to ensure that grants benefit your health center, and do not become burdensome. Attendees will learn proven strategies that work such as mapping health center funding priorities, identifying aligned funding partners, creating internal grant review teams, and establishing 'post-award' policies for tracking and reporting. Finally, attendees should consider the role innovation plays in community health and how outside funders may look at the efforts of health centers.
  • - Understand the role innovation plays in community health and how outside funders may look at the efforts of health centers.
  • - Learn proven strategies that work such as mapping health center funding priorities and identifying aligned funding partners to meet the priorities.
  • - Understand the value of creating internal grant review teams and establishing ‘post-award’ policies for tracking and reporting to ease grants administration.