In 2015, the United States Congress passed the Cybersecurity Act (CSA), and within this legislation is Section 405(d): Aligning Health Care Industry Security Approaches. As an approach to this requirement, in 2017 HHS convened the 405(d) Task Group leveraging the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) Sector Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Public-Private Partnership. The Task Group’s charge was to develop a common set of voluntary, consensus-based, and industry-led guidelines, practices, methodologies, procedures, and processes that serve as a resource to meet three core goals: (1) Cost-effectively reduce cybersecurity risks for a range of health care organizations; (2) Support voluntary adoption and implementation; and (3) Ensure, on an ongoing basis, that content is actionable, practical, and relevant to health care stakeholders of every size and resource level. This presentation is an opportunity to discuss the importance of cybersecurity practices and raise awareness that cybersecurity should be treated as an enterprise issue, not just an IT issue. This session will provide information on how organizations can leverage Health Industry Cybersecurity Practices (HICP) to apply mitigating practices to the five main cybersecurity threats.

Community health centers (CHCs) know that so much of what affects health outcomes happens outside of the clinic walls. But to reach and engage patients beyond the traditional medical visit, phone calls and emails simply aren’t working. When it comes to boosting access to care, closing care gaps, and engaging patients long-term, text messaging has a proven record of success. Not only have studies shown that text messaging is the preferred and most convenient means and communication channel for patients, it may be the best way to reach health center communities as many low-income patients are more likely to have a cell phone than a computer or landline. By integrating text-based communication systems with EHRs, CHCs can implement a cost-effective approach to boosting access to care and health outcomes. CHCs can deliver automated outreach (in the patient’s language of choice) to attributed or assigned patients. Furthermore, by leveraging EHR integration, CHCs can identify and reach patients with hyper-targeted, clinical messages. This session will include a speaker and case study from a large, multisite CHC that has leveraged this technology to meet complex primary care goals.  

Data in health care is exploding. A recent report published by Seagate projects that health care data will experience a compound annual growth rate of 36 percent by 2025 and that the health care data sphere is expected to grow 13 percent faster than other industries. The report goes on to state that “hypercritical data” is expected to more than double every other year. The phrases big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI) are everywhere and there’s a tangible gap between those who understand what they actually mean and how to benefit from them, and those who don’t. The largest health data companies in the world are building tools for clinical operations performance improvement, clinical decision support, consumer/patient engagement, and more. But who has their eye on revenue cycle data that can be used to improve efficiencies, cut costs, and increase collections? Attend this session to learn which data sources are “hypercritical” to your billing and revenue cycle team, and how to apply these technologies to maximize efficiency and cash collections.

Health center executives will provide an overview of linking clinical and non-clinical operations outcomes with the multiyear strategic plan. This program will demonstrate utilizing data and analytics, gaps in care innovations, and collaboration and leadership approaches to drive improved outcomes based on the health center's short- and long-term strategic plan.

Organizations of all types struggle with information technology (IT) budgeting. This often happens because the IT team doesn’t understand the budgeting process, and the finance team doesn’t understand IT. The planning process should be a joint effort between IT and Finance. This session will cover planning for IT projects from the financial and IT viewpoint. It will also outline how to make IT budgeting meaningful and an ongoing management process.

Access to effective and affordable pharmacy services is a key driver of improved clinical outcomes, and therefore essential to providing a high-quality, comprehensive primary care medical home. In order for patients to realize the full value of the health center’s pharmacy services – whether provided in-house or through a contract arrangement – the pharmacy program must not be operated in isolation but instead, aligned and integrated with the overall health care program. This session will explore the specific roles that individuals in operations, finance, and other health center support divisions can play in optimizing the value of the pharmacy program to the benefit of both the patients served and the organization.

This presentation provides best practices of three FQHCs in Florida, Arizona, and North Carolina that are using telehealth technology to increase access to care for behavioral health and chronic conditions-- specifically behavioral health with virtual visits, CCM using virtual visits, time tracking modules and health coaches as well as remote patient monitoring for patients with uncontrolled diabetes with HbA1C greater than nine percent. These FQHC executives will share their experiences in utilizing web-based telehealth solutions including direct to patient RPM for patients with diabetes, providing statistics and addressing any challenges including information on billing. The presentation will also cover the changing reimbursement landscape including new opportunities to bill for CCM/BHI for Medicare patients.  

According to Hubspot, 78 percent of people watch online videos every week, and 55 percent view online videos every day. This hands-on session will break down the evolution of online marketing and help you craft a video marketing strategy designed to fit your unique needs. Attract and retain patients, connect with new donors, and expand your reach through the power of video.  

The current world in which health centers operate is complex and challenging with constantly changing policies, accounting standards, and compliance requirements. Also, more complications include limited resources, competitive funding, rigid reporting requirements, and high employee turnover. In a complex world, health centers need to understand their financial performance at a much more granular level than in the past. A health center’s ability to prepare departmental budgets and set up a working accounting and reporting framework to monitor its cost centers’ financial health can make the difference between operational success or failure.  This session will address the challenges usually faced by health centers when establishing departmental budgets and setting up cost center accounting, and what can be done to address those challenges. Presenters will discuss ways to utilize cost center accounting and monitoring to enhance financial viability and operational success of programs, including the development of departmental dashboards to monitor operating metrics and their impact on business performance.

Valley-Wide Health Systems, Inc. (VWHS) started to work on a system in 2015 to better track and understand what was going on with their clinic supplies as well as helping to meet a need in regards to tracking 340B medications. Over the course of the last four years, they've created a system that works inside of their EHR, enables them to 'attach' supplies and medications to a patient via a barcode scanner, and compile data that better allows them to reduce waste and improve patient care. This Clinical Inventory Control System (CLICS) has created tracking and reports for 340B audits, reports for internal usage monitoring, wastage logs, and review of coding and billing for supplies. During its first year, CLICS was able to save VWHS $100,000 by reducing overstock, limiting wastage, and causing some changes to supply ordering practices. In addition, the external 340B auditor has been impressed with the reporting available from the system and lauded it as a best practice.

Other industries have tackled scheduling problems in sophisticated ways, it is time that the health care industry follows suit – increasing patient access, building a reliable schedule for clinicians, and improving productivity. Machine Learning is a very effective tool to predict no-shows, but then you need to put the operational processes and procedures in place to take advantage of this new insight. Learn how seasoned health care executives are modifying their operations to take advantage of this new technology. Presenters will take you through the steps of Machine Learning and explain how to integrate it into your solution set.

Community health centers are increasingly adopting telehealth and remote patient monitoring strategies to address provider shortages, expand access to a broad range of high-quality services, and improve patient health outcomes. The important and growing role of such technology within the Health Center Program is increasingly recognized by the Health Resources and Services Administration. In fact, several recent funding opportunities explicitly contemplate the provision of key services via telehealth. In addition, the UDS reporting methodology was updated for 2019 to capture all in-scope telehealth visits. Despite its many clinical benefits, telehealth raises a number of significant legal considerations that must be addressed prior to adoption. This presentation will highlight the key legal considerations applicable to telehealth arrangements, including HRSA scope of project, FTCA coverage, contractual pitfalls, and payment barriers. Presenters will provide real-world examples of telehealth arrangements and tips on how a health center manager can develop and implement a telehealth strategy that complies with applicable requirements. They will also discuss various state Medicaid programs' approaches to including FQHCs in payment for telehealth encounters and other e-health services.

Has growth and complexity buried your finance team in paper and spreadsheets? Stakeholders require and expect information about performance, spend, and impact -- and at a moment's notice. Digging through dated spreadsheets, emails, and paper files is time consuming, error-prone, and inefficient. In this workshop, we will share community health care transformations that will give you insight and perspective (and a little inspiration) to help you define your organization's future road map. In this session you will: (1) Hear how your peers are leveraging technology to move from spreadsheets and paper to real-time dashboards and paperless automation; (2) Learn how a data-driven approach will empower finance teams and key stakeholders to gain huge efficiencies and cost savings -- allowing them to become more strategic and proactive; and (3) Experience the power of real-time visibility to lead your organization to greater impact -- using your data and modern technology.

The opioid crisis continues to escalate nationwide. Community health centers are providing a vital service in the form of Medication-Assisted Treated (MAT) programs. This session will cover several critical aspects for implementing a successful MAT program, including: (1) Outlining key service lines in a MAT program; (2) Reviewing three key case management functions; (3) Reviewing billing and compliance considerations; and (4) Identifying the role of a MAT leadership team.

Integrating behavioral health into the medical practice has many promising benefits including improved health outcomes and quality of care. But, it’s not as easy as it sounds. One health center will share its experience integrating behavioral health into its workflow. While the initial launch was successful, as time went on and volume increased, a number of underlying issues related to poor workflow surfaced which impacted the success of the program and employee retention. Long patient cycle times and disorganization caused significant frustration amongst staff and led to dissatisfied patients. Things turned around quickly once the organization focused on workflow and implemented rapid and intense changes. The changes resulted in the organization redefining what success looked like for integrated care, with an increased focus on care team (medical provider and behavioral health consultant) productivity and quality. Patient cycle times decreased from 68 minutes to 46 minutes and staff turnover decreased. Health center executives will share their challenges and successes integrating behavioral health into their medical practice as well as a step-by-step plan for what health centers can try to reach a truly integrated behavioral health model.

LA Care Health Plan, the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County (CCALAC), Elevation Health Partners, and Harbor Community Clinic will share their journey in achieving large-scale, sustainable practice transformation among the largest scale practice transformation cohort in the country involving 23 FQHCs (over 800 providers) demonstrating achievement of 15 practice dimensions over five phases of transformation in three years. To date, the Los Angeles Practice Transformation Network has achieved an overall 46 percent improvement across transformation domains, outperforming all 38 TCPI initiatives by 7.3 percent with savings of over $130 million. Learn about the innovative strategies and coaching model of the 13 practice transformation and quality improvement coaches guiding the effort and how coaching and clinic teams worked shoulder to shoulder to use the CMS assessment to drive improvement in primary care and specialty care operations, finance, human resources, quality improvement, and health IT to achieve CQM targets for patients with diabetes and depression, contribute to the evidence base of practice transformation strategies, and join value-based reimbursement programs.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is at the forefront of the administration’s health IT efforts and is a resource to the entire health system to support the adoption of health information technology and the promotion of nationwide health information exchange to improve health care. Receive a federal update from the ONC with reaction and perspective from two innovative Health Center Controlled Networks. Participants will learn why partnerships and collaborations are critical to improving outcomes.

Many health centers face issues with low productivity that impact finances and long waits to be seen or waits on the phone to speak with a staff member. We attempt new strategies and initiatives, hoping they’ll work, but they never quite stick. This presentation will include a case study of one health center that reduced cycle times by 24 percent, decreased their call abandonment rate by 43 percent, improved real-time charting documentation, and put a plan in place to sustain the operational improvements that were responsible for this change. Attendees will learn tactics they can use to improve each of these data points, which will also improve patient and staff satisfaction. Attendees will leave the workshop with both an understanding of the roadmap to success and concrete tactics that can be implemented immediately to improve operations, and learn which tools and tactics were responsible for sustaining and improving these results over the course of one year and beyond.

During this session, presenters will provide insight into grant compliance issues facing CHCs based on observations from CHC audits, operational site visits, and information available from the financial capacity reviews being utilized by the Division of Financial Integrity (DFI). The compliance risks for CHCs continues to grow, and with competing priorities organizations are struggling to make the necessary changes. The Uniform Grant Guidance is almost five years old and the CHC Compliance Manual was released in August 2017 and CHCs have room for improvement. The DFI Financial Capacity Review 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. Session presenters will share observations and provide action items on steps your CHC can take to be more compliant.

As an institution preoccupied with evolving as a highly reliable organization, Ryan Network sought to incorporate the tool of Daily Operational Safety Briefings (DOSBs) to sustain such efforts. A DOSB is one of the JACHO hallmarks for high-reliability organizations which calls for daily safety huddles or check-ins to facilitate effective safety communication. Through planning and research, Ryan Network discovered key briefing points to address the daily concerns of an FQHC. They outlined common safety/security issues that they felt were important to track, trend, and analyze transparently across the network. In addition, they also included key areas where resources might be shared to improve response to operational shortages. Their data reporting further captured urgent IT and facilities issues. As a result, Ryan Network was able to openly share lessons which reduce risk and improve network engagement in a multi-platform health care system.

FQHCs know that delivering great care and driving outcomes starts with getting patients in clinic doors and effectively engaging with them in between visits. Many health centers, however, face similar challenges of high no-show rates, low response rates, and difficulty reaching quality goals, despite many staff hours going into calls and letters. Attend this session to learn why ChapCare and Omni Family Health decided to implement text-messaging solutions to best engage with their large, underserved patient populations; the key use cases they’ve developed to achieve goals; and the strong impact they’ve seen in health outcomes, operational efficiency, and bottom line results. Learn best practices in implementing a successful patient engagement with text messaging for your FQHC.  

Disparate, on-premise, redundant solutions are common throughout the healthcare industry. Many organizations are acutely aware of how their current financial systems fail them, but are unsure of how to move beyond their current technology limitations. This session will focus on best practices and approaches for developing a vision for your current financial systems landscape that allows you to embrace cloud capabilities while increasing efficiency and capabilities. The presenter will address how to develop a cloud strategy for your organization, assess your cloud readiness, and manage common risks that arise in this process. She will explore best practices when approaching system requirement and selection conversations to help you guide your organization to the cloud.

The session is focused on attracting and retaining high-performing staff. Learn how FQHC leaders have implemented new approaches to the recruitment model. These strategies include the branding and communication of the organizational message, to potential new hires, to ensure candidates align with the organizational mission before applying. Participants will also learn how to develop competitive compensation packages to attract ideal employees who will be engaged and committed to their teams.  

Collecting complete data used to be a primary goal for many organizations, but the evolution of technology now makes almost too much data available. Having a data strategy will provide a foundation to collect, store, protect, and use the information you have and enable you to make sound decisions around services, patient care, and health outcomes. This session will provide a high-level look at data strategy models and components.

This session will consider how to apply the new FASB revenue recognition standard to your community health center’s (CHC) traditional patient service revenue. This session will walk you through the model for conventional patient service revenue, make suggestions for improvements in the timely posting of contractual adjustments, and cover other essential topics. The goal will be to take this standard from the abstract to the concrete as we work through the most significant revenue source for most CHCs.

Managing diverse populations of patients, especially those who are non-English speakers, is more challenging than ever before. Now, intelligent, multilingual “chatbots” embedded in the electronic medical record are a new solution for efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and patient management. Using these innovations for conversational two-way patient communications, community health clinics can achieve new levels of compliance and better health outcomes., while lowering the burden on staff.

This session will discuss how Open Door Health Services embraced Lean methodologies to drive efficiencies within their organization. By using a variety of tools, Open Door Health Services tackled projects including patient scheduling/access, medical assistant workflows, and implementation of a chronic care management (CCM) program. These initiatives have led to significantly increased access, decreased patient cycle time, and improved patient engagement related to chronic diseases.

Enabling services, defined as non-clinical services that aim to increase access to health care and improve health outcomes, are a hallmark of community health centers, connecting vulnerable patients to supports that enhance their ability to become active partners in their own health care. Patients with chronic conditions may require enabling services such as care coordination, language assistance services, transportation, and/or other supports to help them fully adhere to their clinical treatment plans. Community health centers effectively address patients’ social determinants of health (SDH) barriers and can benefit from a standardized protocol to systematically document those interventions. The ability to track and evaluate these services is essential in order for health centers to demonstrate their value in meeting and addressing patient social risks. The Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO) offers an enabling services data collection (ESDC) tool and best practices for community health centers.

Health centers care for a medically and socially complex patient population. While there are many examples of this complexity, as centers go into value-based pay, they are being asked to prove/measure this complexity. This session will evaluate risk adjustment in value-based pay. The session will review current risk adjustments system in place, such as the Ohio CPC program, that rely on diagnosis and service information. We will discuss the importance of risk-adjustment in total cost of care or risk contracts. We will also evaluate what other risk adjustment data is currently available, including the NACHC PRAPARE tool.

The National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers work to support providers in starting or growing telemedicine programs. Our regional center in California (CTRC) developed a concrete and accessible Telehealth Implementation Roadmap. It was designed to help individuals identify the critical steps and their logical order of completion towards successful program implementation. This panel will identify and discuss in detail the critical steps every program should consider when planning for a telehealth program. A successful telehealth program integrates leadership and ensures adequate capacity across all four sectors: 1) Telehealth Operations 2) Technology 3) Clinical Services 4) Business and Sustainability. The panelists will also address some often-overlooked challenges, including structured relationships, contracting models, and policy and reimbursement. Panelists will share their unique perspective as it relates to each portion of the Roadmap.

The 340B Program has been the subject of intense scrutiny in the last few years from all fronts. As a result, HRSA’s Office of Pharmacy Affairs has significantly ramped up the audit process and the quality of their audits is improving each year. This session will provide a self-assessment of where your program compliance stands today and provide tools to test your audit-readiness. There will also be a discussion and review of recent HRSA audit findings and solutions to prevent adverse findings in your health center, including self-audit tools to enhance compliance. Finally, we will review common oversights during self-audits so you can avoid adverse audit findings.

Due to their participation in multiple federal health care programs (such as Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act, Medicaid, and Medicare), health centers are subject to scrutiny from a number of different sources: HRSA’s Division of Financial Integrity, Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs), CMS’s Unified Program Integrity Contractors (UPIC), State Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCUs), and the Office of Inspector General (OIG), just to name a few. Fortunately, there are a number of proactive steps a health center can take to minimize the potential of an audit or investigation taking place or for reducing their scope or duration. This session will address those proactive steps such as establishing an “advance team,” reviewing billing policies and procedures, identifying common risk areas, and conducting self audits. Health centers also need to know how to respond in the event that they receive a notice of an audit or investigation. When a health center has been armed in advance with the knowledge of who should be involved in responding to an audit or investigation, the health center can do a better job of responding in an organized and thoughtful fashion.

Effective care management can help health centers improve clinical quality metrics, health outcomes, and for those in value-based arrangements, control patients’ costs of care. This session will detail a health center-embedded care manager model in which the managers serve as the population health champion and direct the care coordination efforts for specific high-risk patients. The session will outline how a care manager can work in collaboration with the providers and utilize a data-driven approach to identify and address high cost and high risk patients with impactable needs. It will also detail how a population health technology platform, such as the Aledade “App”, can help care managers identify appropriate patients for enrollment in care management. Next, the session will explain how care managers can leverage admission, discharge, and transfer (ADT) data to drive timely interventions after patients’ ED and hospital visits to prevent readmissions and further utilization. Finally, it will outline how care managers can identify and address specific risk factors. Using this model, health centers can engage patients in billable care management with the goals of patient activation and mitigation of modifiable risk factors that have led to high utilization patterns.

A Patient Access and Clinical Efficiency Report Card provides a framework for middle management clinical leaders to engage clinical teams (providers, managers, and staff) to work together to improve access, quality, and financial measures. This session will guide health centers in utilizing middle management clinical leaders and their teams to use existing health center data and programs to work collaboratively and enthusiastically towards achieving operational and quality goals such as improving productivity, clinical attendance, patient satisfaction, cost containment, and staff performance duties.

As expectations for healthcare providers continue to increase and evolve, health centers are responsible for a growing, broader array of services. Health centers continue to seek the impact of these internal and external influences on sustainability while experiencing change and complexity. To better prepare for these initiatives, health centers can use readily available information in making data-driven decisions and developing actionable strategies; thus proactively reducing uncertainty and minimizing risk. This session will utilize health center financial and productivity trends while introducing scenarios and approaches to establishing and better assessing operational interactions and goals.