Health center patients come from a wide range of cultural, socioeconomic, and linguistic backgrounds, and health centers have been successful at delivering culturally competent care to all of their patients and successfully bringing community members in for care. During a time of polarizing political issues, health care reform, immigration reform debate, and other policy challenges and opportunities for health centers, it is more important than ever that health center patients express their voice to its full force. This session will discuss methods for integrating advocacy into health center operations and the best practices for doing so in culturally competent ways. Participants will hear from experts working with the farmworker and homeless populations, and other diverse groups to learn methods for culturally competent outreach and education, strategies for engaging in more advocacy and civic engagement with these populations, and the importance and power of doing so for the future of health centers and the millions of patients they serve.

2017 was a roller coaster of a year in health care policy, so what's on Congress' plate in 2018? Join the NACHC Federal Affairs team for an in-depth look at the latest developments on Capitol Hill, including what's happening with the health center funding, workforce policy, Medicaid, 340B, telehealth, and other priority issues. We'll also discuss how best to use the NACHC Federal Affairs team as a resource.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) fundamentally changed the way health care is delivered in the United States in several ways. Most fundamental to the Health Center Program is the ACA-heralded, local decision making as the preferred method for health care delivery. As a result, health center boards now have even greater responsibility for assuring that care provided inside the health center is of the highest quality-- but they also are creating and establishing “networks of care” at the local level. This session will examine basic health center financing, the new types of care models health centers will be asked to join (accountable care organizations, independent practice associations, etc.), and how a health center board should strategize for entering into these types of conversations with external partners or other health centers.

The news media landscape has changed vastly over the course of the last decade, and promoting the value of health centers to the public, decision-makers, and elected officials is more important than ever. As newsrooms shrink along with the American trust in what they are reading, more people than ever are putting aside newspapers and getting their news on a smartphone and through social media. For nonprofits, this trend offers an opportunity to be your own journalist and share your story. Utilizing basic social media and communications tools, health centers can operate their own newsrooms and develop content that builds public support, educates a broader audience about their mission, and builds critical support from lawmakers on issues affecting health centers and their patients. Attendees will learn the basics of blogging, using Twitter and Facebook live, and gain a greater understanding of the NACHC tools available to help them write and frame their stories for key audiences to tell the health center value story.

BPHC’s Office of Quality Improvement will give an update on policy and programmatic developments related to UDS, FTCA, and issues involving quality and data.

This session will provide attendees an opportunity to learn more about the latest changes to the Medicare program impacting FQHCs. This includes the addition of new codes for Chronic Care Management, Collaborative Care Management, and other changes to help health centers better serve their Medicare beneficiaries.  

This session will highlight innovative ways to respond to social determinant of health needs, identified by PRAPARE, across three different health centers. Health centers are located in different situational environments ranging from communities with limited social services to communities with integrated clinical and non-clinical partnerships; yet, they have all been able to respond to social determinant of health needs with creative solutions. Interventions will cover transportation needs, housing needs, food insecurity needs, needs related to reentry into society after being recently incarcerated, and material security needs. Health center executives will detail how they worked with other organizations to provide these services, what it took to get these services in place, and how these integrated services lead to improved outcomes and reduced costs in value-based pay environments.

A study of both labor and sex trafficking survivors showed that just over two thirds had encountered a health care professional while being trafficked, yet had not been identified. As care providers to vulnerable populations, health centers have enormous opportunity and responsibility to develop policies, protocols, procedures, and practices to prevent, intervene, and treat the harms of human trafficking. This session will highlight national, regional, and state association efforts to build capacity, among their member health centers, to respond to human trafficking.

Los centros de salud comunitarios sirven a más de 27 millones de pacientes con cuidado de salud de alta calidad y bajo costo a personas que, de otra manera, no tendrían acceso al cuidado de salud. Con tanto en la cuerda floja, incluyendo amenazas al financiamiento de los centro de salud y otras regulaciones de nivel local, estatal y federal, los centros de salud necesitan su voz en apoyo del trabajo que hacen. Cada persona puede tener un gran impacto para aumentar el acceso al cuidado de salud para los que lo necesitan. Para ser un defensor de los centros de salud, simplemente hay que man­tenerse informado sobre los temas importantes a los centros de salud y correr la voz sobre esos temas.