With ever-shrinking grant funding, billing incomes are the number one source of revenue for community health centers (CHCs). As CHCs add new programs, open new access points, or operate in Medicaid expansion regions, the billing department grows not only in importance but in complications as well. This will become ever more critical with proposed changes to the insurance market in 2017 and beyond. This high-level overview gives CHC Leadership easy-to-use tools that allow them to measure and benchmark their organizations against similar CHCs in their own states as well as nationally.

These tools will allow you to track payments per encounter, denial (nonpayment) rates, proper staffing, and the overall performance of your billing department.

• Understand the billing and collections process at a CHC and how changes in the ACA affect this important source of revenue.
• Analyze data available from different sources (billing systems, UDS Reports, etc.) to find trends, post-ACA, for those CHCs in Medicaid expansion states and those that did not expand.
• Understand best practices and benchmarks in relation to billing and collections employed by CHC organizations nationally.

This session will cover the five areas where supply chain management can reduce cost and drive efficiency in your center. Hear tips, best practices, and success stories for implementation of these strategies. You will understand the drivers of cost in the supply chain system, learn how to drive efficiency and formulary management across locations, as well as understand how to optimize GPOs and local contracts.

• Understand the importance of supply chain analytics and what to look for.
• Understand how to apply SKU standardization.
• Acquire information on how to better leverage your contracts and GPOs.

There are several threats to health center funding at the federal level–the 330 funding cliff, repeal of the Medicaid expansion, and block grants/per capita caps. This session will present analytical tools to measure the financial impact of each potential change.

Presenters will also evaluate strategies that health centers can develop now to address funding changes.

• Identify new strategies to address significant issues in your health center.
• Apply these principles to evaluate the potential impact in federal funding changes.
• Discover new or pending policy changes.

Many community health centers have access to a plethora of data that are not fully utilized and analyzed. In collaboration with the University of California at Irvine (UCI) Division of Hematology, we sought to take a closer look at two rare blood disordersthrombocytosis and erythrocytosis. The initial screening for these disorders can be easily noted from a CBC with evidence of an elevated platelet count or hemoglobin level. We sought to run a data mining pilot project to delineate how many of our patients could potentially have these rare blood disorders.

In our initial data filter, there were about 100 patients who had elevated levels of platelets which will need further investigation. The researcher and hematologist/oncologist at UCI will also address our providers on this topic and our future research collaboration, as approximately 20 percent of these patients may also have an associated co-morbid inflammatory bowel disease and would benefit from genetic testing.

This pilot project will demonstrate how partnerships between community health centers and major university research institutions can function in the future models of population health and data analytics/mining.

• Explain the advanced role of Population Health 2.0.
• Identify the steps involved in undergoing a data analytic approach (presented by an informatics health specialist).
• Elaborate on how to collaborate with major university research organizations.

LGBT people face stigma and related health disparities in health care. In spite of the advancements in LGBT acceptance and policy, many LGBT people remain largely invisible to their providers. Meaningful Use Stage 3 includes the requirement that all certified EHR systems have the capacity to record sexual orientation (SO) and gender identity (GI). HRSA now requires that all FQHCs report SOGI data on their annual Uniform Data Systems (UDS) reports. Collecting SOGI data of patients is critical in order for health care organizations to provide a welcoming, inclusive environment and allow HCPs to better understand their LGBT patients.

Routine SOGI data collection in the EHR can be used to measure and track health outcomes at the individual and population levels. The EHR is an important tool for managing quality for populations and developing quality and monitoring reports, like a Transgender Dashboard, that can help reduce health disparities. Experiences and processes of implementing changes within the EHR and workflows will be shared. Training all staff, including non-clinical staff, are key to the successful implementation of SOGI data collection and creating a LGBT-inclusive environment in primary care.

• Describe how the customization of an EHR can improve communication, data, and quality management activities including the collection and reporting of patient-level information, clinical outcomes, and better care coordination.
• Understand the impact SOGI data collection will have on key stakeholders (patients, staff, and management).
• Identify methods to actively engage and educate staff on the importance of collecting SOGI data and how to do so, and its impact on health disparities.

Growth is a primary objective of most health center strategic plans and is often accomplished through the addition of new sites. Many organizations focus on the planning and construction, and the excitement of that first day. But there are myriad regulatory steps to perform to ensure you receive appropriate payment for the services delivered at your new site. BPHC, Medicare, and Medicaid each have specific requirements, as do NCQA and other accrediting bodies. Incomplete or missing forms can delay eligibility for payment and result in cash flow challenges.

Presenters will discuss these various requirements and provide a tool for tracking needed activities.

• Understand the various Medicare enrollment requirements.
• Identify examples of state-specific Medicaid enrollment requirements.
• Develop a tool for ensuring the timely completion of all forms and for predicting cash flow.

This workshop will take the operational results of an average health center and look at the risks of maintaining the status quo. Presently, health centers have incentive to analyze their operational results and going forward they will have a need. The presenters will discuss the recent trends related to health center cost of care and model both the operational and financial effects of moving the needle up or down on various cost drivers.

• Understand the financial implications of total cost of care.
• Identify ways that you might analyze your operating results.
• Identify recent trends related to health care costs.

Demonstrating the value of a health center in a simple format is harder than it looks. The Massachusetts PCA, HCCN, and Capital Link worked together to produce a one-page, easy-to-read handout that highlights the data that presents health centers in a positive light. Figuring out which data to use and which to omit was difficult, but the end result is an easy-to-use, flexible document that can serve a variety of needs for any health center.

• Understand uses for different types of data.
• Determine which data uses are appropriate in different settings.
• Select data specific for advocacy.

Managers play a key role in creating a patient-centered experience. This session will give managers an action plan to redesign their management style so their processes are truly patient-centered. Managers and administrators will leave with the ability to give constructive, objective, data-driven feedback to employees that will immediately start transforming their patient experience.

• Complete a self-assessment for patient-centeredness.
• Develop measures for patient-centered management you can immediately apply.
• Use your self-assessment to develop an actionable plan to measure your employees’ performance using patient-centered data.

Review current trends in health information exchange (HIE), including regional and national successes that do or could impact CHCs. OCHIN has experience working in multiple states to improve interoperability for the FQHC and safety-net clinics they support. Meaningful Use requirements drive many focuses at the clinic level, but there are HIE opportunities available that can help with care coordination and could produce better patient outcomes.

• Identify current challenges in the national landscape of HIE.
• Identify areas of interoperability where organizations have been successful and the factors that made these areas successful.
• Take suggestions back to your organization for improving care coordination.

In August 2017, HRSA issued the final Health Center Program Compliance Manual, providing a streamlined and consolidated resource to assist health centers in understanding and demonstrating compliance with the Program Requirements. The Manual replaces several Policy Information Notices (PINs) and Program Assistance Letters (PALs), consolidating guidance into one document addressing the elements of the Program Requirements, methodology for documenting compliance, and specific areas of flexibility. HRSA also indicated it is "field testing" a new assessment protocol aligned with the Manual, which, once final, will replace the current Health Center Program Site Visit Guide for assessing compliance during Operational Site Visits (OSVs).

Of importance, the Manual was effective immediately upon publication. What does that mean for health centers with upcoming grant applications and OSVs? While the requirements outlined in the Manual continue to reflect the statutory and regulatory mandates, the Manual incorporates a new approach to "everyday "compliance, providing both specific steps to demonstrate compliance and explicit areas where health centers retain discretion to tailor their programs appropriately.

Join FTLF as they explore key differences between the prior guidance, the Manual and implications for health center operations. Participants will discuss "tips" to implement specific compliance steps and utilize the discretion afforded their specific projects.

• Understand the key differences between the prior guidance and the new manual and its impact on OSVs.
• Understand the specific steps necessary to demonstrate compliance and areas where health centers retain discretion.
• Identify PINs and PALs that have been replaced by the new manual and current guidance that is still effective.

Provider retention and reduced burnout are concerns for all community health centers. This session will share the experience of one health center and its data surrounding these issues. The Open Door Community Health Centers began implementation of Google Glass technology in Spring 2017 to connect remotely with scribes to improve their providers' work/life balance.

This session will include a demonstration of the devices, and device experts will be on site to answer questions from participants.

• Understand the infrastructure that is required to implement Google Glass.
• Understand the mistakes made by others to ensure a smooth implementation.
• Understand that allowing scribes into the health center is not a one-type-fits-all situation.

Health center leadership must be able to analyze and act upon financial information as part of an overall approach to strategic decision-making. This training will focus on the use of forecasting, budgeting, and scenario planning to support leaders in recognizing the underlying economic logic of programs, and adapting quickly to ensure business model sustainability. The presenter will address current regulations and issues that impact health centers. The development and use of internal and external financial reports will be discussed with an emphasis on using financial information in decision-making. Tools and techniques of financial statement analysis, interpretation, and presentation will also be discussed and practiced during the session.

This training is designed to improve financial fluency across agency leadership, including: the practice of critical and analytical thinking; the ability to synthesize and plan; the knowledge of how to evaluate and respond quickly; and the skills to effectively communicate financial data. We will address the real challenges, problems, and opportunities of health centers dealing with and responding to the current economic environment.

• Develop and use financial forecasting and budgeting tools to support an overall approach to strategic decision-making.
• Identify techniques to effectively communicate financial information with key decision-makers across your agency.
• Define the underlying economic logic of your health center business line and use that information to support and sustain a healthy business model for your health center.

Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) are uniquely poised to leverage new health care funding to expand their capacity in underserved communities. To access these funds, FQHCs use their expertise and community assessments to determine where health care deserts exists; however just opening a new clinic in an underserved community does not guarantee that it will be highly accessed by the surrounding population. Since 2015, Brightpoint Health has opened six new clinics and increased its patients' visits from 20,000 visits to 180,000 by year's end.

This session will discuss a four-point strategy for building a flourishing clinic. These strategies are: a traditional community-level marketing campaign, targeted outreach to community partners, integration of wrap-around and clinic services, and the incorporation of local private physicians with pre-existing patient panels. This combined strategy is replicable in other communities and states, and offers key lessons learned that can be utilized in a variety of diverse settings.

• Apply successful growth practices in your FQHC.
• Build a comprehensive and sustainable business development strategy.
• Evaluate local markets to determine best opportunities for mergers, acquisitions, and affiliations to maximize patient growth.

Studies show that one out of every five Americans will develop skin cancer. Health center patients wait an average 180 days from a provider ordering a referral until a dermatology appointment is scheduled, 75 days from when the dermatology appointment is scheduled until the appointment occurs, and another 44 days from the dermatology appointment until a consult is received back from the dermatologist. This session will discuss how seven community health centers in Massachusetts collaborated on a two-year pilot project to test a triaging system that would reduce the number of unnecessary referrals and the wait time for a dermatological consultation.

This program has already seen some very positive outcomes and very serious and urgent cases are being caught much more quickly due to the triaging system. Successes and challenges related to operations and electronic medical record integration will be presented to participants for consideration as they plan their own implementation initiatives.

• Understand the positive health outcomes of implementing teledermatology at a CHC.
• Understand how to implement this type of program at a CHC.
• Identify the challenges associated with trying to implement an innovative teledermatology program.

Building brand recognition and credibility is usually associated with known organizations like Nike, Google, Apple, etc. Building and protecting a personal brand is no different. Whether you are just getting started in your career, climbing the ladder, or a seasoned C-Suite executive, personal brand is a 24/7 commitment to excellence.

In this session, we discuss what you must do to build and protect your personal brand and the importance of this effort not only to you, but the organization you work for or lead. The presenter will explore what you need to do to assure your brand is aligned with your aspirations while helping you understand the landmines that can derail you along the way. You will leave with tips and tricks to help you build and protect your own brand as you move throughout your career.

• Identify the eight truths and elements of a personal brand.
• Describe how to protect and nurture a personal brand while gaining an understanding of the things that can create a derailment.
• Identify techniques for building your personal brand over the course of your career.

Markets report forecasts that the global population health management market will expand significantly during the period of 2016 to 2021. This market is expected to reach USD 42.54 Billion by 2021 from USD 13.85 Billion in 2016, growing at a CAGR of 25.2%.

Analytics are essential today for value-based care and day-to-day operations within a CHC/FQHC or health system. Analytics enable enhanced capabilities that you need to support your success in a transforming market place. EagleDream Health is NextGen's new platform for driving enhanced analytics required for value realization. Join us to learn insights and understand what is going on with the patient across the universe of care, and what actions to take for optimal care management.

• Realize the importance of finding gaps in care.
• Identify new ways to handle population health, specific to CHCs/FQHCs.
• Discuss real-life actionable intelligence stories and successes.

In 2016, Sage Growth Partners conducted a groundbreaking survey of community health center CEOs across the country. The 175 respondents provided insights and important baseline metrics on key performance indicators for health centers, including: Leadership, Financial Stability, Competition, Volume to Value, Partnerships, and Marketing. This session will address the key findings of the study.

The survey results demonstrate an opportunity for health center leaders to assess their organizations and become more competitive in the private marketplace while staying focused on their mission of serving underserved populations. Learn about highlighted strategies employed by health center leaders to not just be competitive business operators, but true market leaders. As health centers continue to face unprecedented change in their funding and payment models, the pressure to be innovative and to adapt quickly has never been more important.

• Understand how FQHC leaders view their operationsspecifically, levels of financial sophistication, consideration of alternative payment models, competitive threats, potential partnerships, and ability to implement marketing initiatives.
• Understand how FQHCs around the country are working to define their keys to success in their markets.
• Translate the survey results to strategies for your own location.

This session will cover a high-level, cost-benefit analysis of health centers preparing for pay for performance. The first section will be devoted to identifying potential pay-for-performance revenue, from both process-based and outcomes-based sources. The second section will identify costs associated with organizational improvement, and tracking how these improvements impact outcomes.

The presenter will also analyze health center internal costs versus utilizing network infrastructure.

• Measure the strategic and economic cost of pay-for-performance plans from an organizational perspective.
• Establish tools for evaluating current methodologies and developing more effective compensation strategies.
• Identify colleagues whom you can contact after the conference to continue problem-solving.

In an age when funding for health care is uncertain, this session highlights a case study of a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) that succeeded in developing a Patient-Centered Medical Home model, as part of transitioning their location. Through the process, Family Healthcare of Hagerstown was able to increase patient access and expand physical capacity to increase services, resulting in higher volume, increased patient satisfaction, higher physician retention, and greater personal accountability in individual care. Attend this session to learn how Family Healthcare of Hagerstown determined financial feasibility, appropriate site and space planning, market validation, and rebranding as part of their pre-planning efforts.

Presenters will highlight how this FQHC not only revitalized its space and patient experience, but also its community, by repurposing an abandoned building.

• Describe financial feasibility, market validation, and service rationalization processes driven by community needs.
• Identify successful tactics to improve patient satisfaction and experience while keeping value and cost of care as top priorities.
• Explore the place of a new FQHC in population health improvement of the greater community.

There are many considerations involved in deciding to have an in-house pharmacy or to use a contract 340B pharmacy. A "contract pharmacy" is a pharmacy that is owned by an organization other than the health center. Contract pharmacies include both large retail chains and independent community pharmacies. When deciding whether to use an in-house pharmacy, one or more contract pharmacies, or a combination of both, at a minimum an FQHC should consider several factors.

This session will discuss the pros and cons of both models.

• Identify key compliance responsibilities for in-house and contract 340B pharmacies.
• Understand the impact on patient access with each 340B model.
• Understand upfront and ongoing costs for both contract and in-house 340B pharmacies.

This session will outline the considerations for utilizing cloud technologies to enhance disaster recovery and business continuity planning for health care organizations. Presenters will outline the concerns and issues related to cloud integration, and "proof of concept" example projects will be demonstrated.

• Understand the differences between data backups, disaster recovery, and business continuity and the level of protections offered by each solution.
• Develop a list of both “line of business” and support/corporate systems that should be considered for cloud integration.
• Understand the concerns and limitations of cloud integration into your business continuity plan (BCP).

Session presenters will review the Financial Capacity Review document, currently utilized by the Division of Financial Integrity (DFI) of HRSA, to analyze financial policies and procedures in place at health centers. This document contains 17 management control areas that HRSA believes will ensure that grant recipients have policies in place that are compliant with the Uniform Grants Guidance and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Grants Policy Statement.

Special consideration will be made for findings most commonly disclosed in single audit reports, HHS Office of Inspector General reports, HRSA Operational Site Visit reports, and DFI grant reviews which are designed to ensure health centers have safeguards in place for the appropriate financial stewardship of federal funds.

• Identify language that HRSA feels “must” be included in financial policies.
• Understand rules surrounding record keeping in the general ledger related to grant funds, time and effort reporting, and property and procurement standards.
• Identify the revisions to the Uniform Grant Guidance Compliance Supplement for 2017, specifically sliding fee and UDS testing, along with common single audit findings.

Currently, training programs for medical assistants (MAs) have not caught up with the national move toward Patient-Centered Medical Home recognition and value-based care. Therefore, recruiting MAs trained for these advanced roles is challenging. Moreover, the leading primary care agencies bear the burden to provide extensive practical training for individuals they hire. These challenges result in extra recruitment and training costs, inefficiencies from staffing shortages, and lack of proper support for providers. A response is to create clinic-based training for MAs.

Implementing an academic training program from the ground up requires a significant commitment and investment of resources: financial and human capital. Projections during the planning and initial start-up year for the National Institute for Medical Assistant Advancement (NIMAA) indicated a substantial need and demand for this service. While the initial investment was significant, it was projected that once the program was up and running the payback would be fairly rapid and that, over time, the project would offer significant Return on Investment that could be used to further support the mission of the health centers along with ensuring a viable answer to the challenge of recruiting highly-trained individuals into these more advanced MA roles.

• Discuss the challenges regarding the recruitment and retention of MAs in roles at clinics defined as Patient-Centered Medical Homes.
• Understand how an MA training program was designed and implemented from the ground up to ensure enhanced education for MAs.
• Understand the financial analysis required to project return on investment when reviewing and supporting innovative initiatives.

Health centers play an integral role in the provision of family planning services to reproductive-aged women and men. To support delivery of family planning in FQHC settings, the Office of Population Affairs is laying the foundation for new eMeasures, for contraceptive care, that measure the percentage of reproductive-aged women provided a most effective (i.e., sterilization, contraceptive implants, intrauterine devices or systems) or moderately effective (i.e., injectables, oral pills, patch, ring, or diaphragm) contraceptive method and who have access to long-acting reversible contraceptive methods.

A core set of family planning and reproductive health data elements needed to calculate the measures, including new data elements for pregnancy intention, sexual activity, and contraceptive method provided during a clinical encounter, have been mapped to new and existing code sets (including LOINC, SNOMED CT, and RxNorm). Also, two interoperability mechanisms, one that is based in Consolidated Clinical Document Architecture (CCDA) and one that utilizes Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR), are being developed to capture standardized, patient-level data on family planning and reproductive health. Health centers can use these measures to improve the provision of quality family planning services to their clients and ensure these clients have access to the full range of contraceptive methods.

• Describe new clinical eMeasures that can be used to monitor family planning service provision within the health center context.
• Explain the data elements needed to use the contraceptive care measures for quality improvement.
• Describe the two interoperability mechanisms that will be available for capturing family planning service provision in electronic health records.

This session explores the extraordinarily high cost of employee turnover and offers some practical solutions to provide both the organization and the new employees a greater likelihood of having made a great mutual decision. Through both new employee orientation and onboarding, the process of connecting the new hire to the organization occurs. To the extent that we get it right, we greatly heighten our chances of retaining the new hire in our organization.

We'll talk about the investment we need to make if we wish to decrease employee turnover. And it doesn't end once the employee has been with your organization for a while.

We'll explore the power behind 'stay interviews' with all of our existing employees, and how our staff follow and advance through relationships.

• Design a New Employee Orientation Program that introduces new hires to the organization, its key people, and policies and procedures.
• Create a New Employee Onboarding Program which will set new employees up for success in their initial first few months.
• Positively impact your organization's ability to retain its talent, increase employee engagement, and curb the expense associated with employee turnover.

Value-based care and quality payment models have made coding an integral part of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), and Quality Payment Program (QPP). While CHCs are eligible, but not obligated to report via QPP and penalties for 2017 data do not impact CHC PPS payments, CHC exclusion won't last forever. Learning how current CHC coding/billing patterns impact how your organization, individually, and CHCs, collectively, are perceived may change the historic CHC tune of "coding does not matter."

During this session, attendees will gain a better understanding of the evolution and the future of the value-based care national landscape including the insurance industry perspective. Leave with tools that allow you to execute an effective 'top-down' QPP game plan including ICD-10 coding specifics and physician documentation improvement.

• Better understand the past and future implications of value-based care models.
• Grasp the importance of clinical coding in fiscal success as we move towards QPP.
• Create a ‘top-down’ education plan to ensure success in the face of QPP.

As the population ages and the Medicare percentage of total patients increases for most community health centers, a focus on optimizing revenue from this important payer continues. This session will explore the key drivers of Medicare revenue including G-Code rate development, Chronic Care Management (CCM), and others.

Presenters will discuss completion of the Medicare cost report and how the information from that completed report can be used to help monitor your performance and provide you with information on opportunities with this important program.

• Recognize the importance of an accurately completed Medicare cost report to use as a management decision tool.
• Identify the key drivers of Medicare revenue and tips and hints to help ensure that Medicare revenue has been optimized.
• Understand the need to have a Medicare strategy so that opportunities to increase Medicare market share are utilized.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its long-awaited final rule establishing emergency preparedness requirements for 17 healthcare providers and suppliers participating in Medicare and Medicaid programs, which specifically includes Federally Qualified health centers. The rule establishes consistent emergency preparedness requirements across provider types. The rule went into effect on November 16, 2016, and Medicare and Medicaid participating providers and suppliers, including health centers, must comply by November 17, 2017.

The new rule is far-reaching and requires providers to conduct annual risk assessments and develop emergency plans. Providers must develop and implement policies and procedures to successfully execute their emergency plans, while addressing risks identified during their most recent assessment phase. Providers must also establish a communications plan to communicate and coordinate patient care within and outside their facilities during an emergency. Finally, providers must demonstrate ongoing training and testing of their emergency management programs, including conducting exercises.

This session, led by FTLF attorney Dianne Pledgie and Primary Care Emergency Preparedness Network (PCEPN)'s Lead Liaison Alexander Lipovtsev, will discuss the four core elements included in the new rule and the implications for health centers:

1. Risk Assessment and Emergency Planning
2. Communications Plan
3. Policies and Procedures
4. Training and Testing Program

It will also help you:

• Articulate the four core elements of the CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule.
• Evaluate your organization’s compliance with the four core elements of the CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule.
• Identify internal resources and processes necessary to maintain compliance with the CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule.

As medical practices move from a fee-for-service reimbursement environment to fee-for-value reimbursement, it is increasingly important for the financial health of the organization to be able to optimally manage the health of the practice's patient population in a cost-effective manner. For a community health center (CHC) practice, the decision to offer medical services virtually, however, does not come without significant organizational commitment and investment cost. From a clinical perspective, virtual care requires physician acceptance of a paradigm shift in how a relationship is established between patient and physician. From a financial perspective, key areas of concern are: (1) return on investment (ROI) projections; and (2) the potential implications of not offering a virtual visit solution.

This presentation seeks to: provide a review of existing literature on the topic of telemedicine with a focus on synchronous virtual encounters in primary care; evaluate experiences of primary care practices; and, ultimately, provide additional knowledge to assist practice administrators and key stakeholders in decision-making and strategic planning as it relates to the value of virtual visits to the future of their organizations.

• Understand how virtual visits can be utilized effectively in the primary care setting.
• Understand the ROI from the clinical and patient perspectives in utilizing virtual visits.
• Understand reimbursement in the fee-for-service model, as well as the opportunities in the value-based payment model.

Leadership is the ability to inspire individual and organizational excellence, create a shared vision, and successfully manage change to attain an organization's strategic ends and successful performance. Transformational leadership is defined as a leadership approach that causes change in individuals and social systems. In its ideal form, it creates valuable and positive change in the followers with the end goal of developing followers into leaders.

This session will focus on transformational leadership and the competencies and domain areas necessary to successfully and effectively lead in FQHC organizations.

• Successfully lead change
• Learn and lead simultaneously
• Groom and develop future leaders

We are told just about every day in health care that data is the future, we need to get better at data, we need to justify our knowledge with data, and we need data to receive funding in the future. But how are we handling data today? Are we still working with multiple spreadsheets? Inputting data by hand? If we are unable to handle the little day-to-day encounters with data, is there any hope for us when the viability of the health center depends on reporting large amounts of data on a daily basis? Creating a culture where analysts understand the data cycle will be a defining characteristic of successful health centers.

Many of us understand the revenue cycle, but alongside this and other business processes is the data cycle. This cycle involves how the various bits and pieces of information flow throughout our electronic environments (and sometimes paper environments). This cycle is full of opportunities for efficiency that we overlook in our day-to-day activities. Directors and managers don't have the time to find and improve the data cycle. This is where we need to have analysts be the eyes on the front lines of the health center.

• Identify the data cycle in the health center operations.
• Identify how mismanaging data can cost the health center money.
• Utilize all employees as analysts to improve the data cycle.

There are several large accounting and reporting changes on the horizon and it will be important for CHC finance departments to be ready. In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842), the long-awaited new standard on lease accounting. Lessees will now recognize assets and liabilities on their balance sheet for all leases with terms of more than 12 months. In August 2016, the FASB released ASU 2016-14, an NFP accounting standard for financial reporting. This marks the largest change to NFP financial reporting in 20 years. And ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606) was released which impacts revenue recognition. This was followed up by guidance issued from the AICPA specific to health care organizations.

It will be beneficial to have a good understanding of these three significant changes as they all are implemented over the next two to three years.

• Understand the new NFP financial reporting standard issued by the FASB.
• Understand the new lease accounting standard as issued by the FASB.
• Understand the new revenue recognition standard as issued by the FASB and the related guidance issued by the AICPA.

In April 2017, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a $400,000 HIPAA settlement with a federally qualified health center. Although the health center responded appropriately to an email phishing incident affecting over 3,000 patient records, OCR found that the health center failed to complete the required risk assessment process and it failed to implement any corresponding risk management plans to address the risks and vulnerabilities identified in a risk analysis. With each settlement announced, OCR is sending a message to similar health care entities and this time the message was clearly directed at health centers.

In this session, we'll review the health system settlement and several other recent settlements to identify enforcement trends, settlement trends, and lessons learned.

• Identify key HIPAA Privacy and Security Rule enforcement actions relevant to health centers and other community providers.
• Understand risk assessment and risk management requirements under HIPAA
• Draft activities related to HIPAA risks for inclusion in their health center's compliance work plan

Choosing an employee health plan should be a collective decision-making process involving employees, HR, leadership teams, and board members. But often it gets punted to a few individuals and rushed through right before renewals are due. As a result, organizations may not be getting the best financial deal, and employees may face unexpected - and possibly unwelcome - changes in their plans. With health care as both one of the largest line items on an organization's budget and the most important benefit for employees, this is far from a best practice for health care purchasing.

One solution is to establish a health care purchasing feedback program. Starting with a small group of decision-makers, a feedback program can reach out to all audiences in an organization to solicit input on potential health insurance plans. By engaging a diverse group in the process, CHCs are ensured that all voices are heard when making critical decisions about what health care program best serves the organization and the employees.

This interactive workshop will delve into health care purchasing feedback programs, specifically focusing on one CHC's experience with this model and how it created early buy-in across all audiences for a completely new - and wholly beneficial - partial self-insurance program.

• Understand how a health care purchasing feedback program can create a sense of ownership and satisfaction with benefits across all internal audiences.
• Identify the various data collection methods involved with a health care purchasing feedback program and how to use them effectively in the decision-making process.
• Understand why it’s critical to start early and the strategies for engaging with all audiences in manageable ways.