Incarceration has a lasting impact on the individual returning home and the community they return home to. A growing number of health centers are developing responses to the health and social disparities that returning persons with chronic disease, mental health disorder, and/or substance use disorder experience when they are not properly linked with a medical home and welcoming community. These programs seek to bring public safety and public health together to enroll formerly incarcerated individuals in primary care and behavioral health options while reducing emergency room utilization, hospitalizations, and recidivism. This panel discussion will highlight work done at the local, state, and federal levels to meet the needs of this vulnerable group and examine the medical, operational, and policy implications for health centers working with this population.

The Board Chair and CEO must register and attend this session as a pair. Limited to 25 pairs. The health care landscape is changing at breakneck speed. Creating a culture of collaborative leadership is essential for navigating the changes and ensuring the well-being of a health center. The Board Chair and CEO must model collaboration to inspire and enhance their health center's evolution. In this workshop, receive practical guidance about how to establish, build, and maintain the Board Chair and CEO partnership so the quality of governance is strengthened and health centers continue to be strong and vital community assets. A follow-up webinar will also be offered to session participants. 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 Thursday, March 1, 2018. No on-site registration available.                              

Enormous change in health care delivery and reimbursement, coupled with uncertainty about MediCaid and health insurance reform, leads to great concern and anxiety among health center leaders about how to navigate this brave new world. Where can they turn to share both their angst and experience? To their peers, of course. In these uncertain times, leadership peer networks can prove to be more valuable than ever! Join alumni from NACHC's CEO and CFO Institutes and various PCA, college, and university-partnered leadership development institutes to discuss your concerns, share best practices, and identify approaches to engage your elected officials, transition to team-based care and value-based payments, secure savings, add revenue, and expand operations while growing your peer network.

Health centers need data to show they are caring for safety-net populations who comprise a significant percentage of the highest risk, highest cost patients in our health system at a lower cost, while achieving better outcomes and increasing patient satisfaction.This session will focus on Business Intelligence (BI) and its importance for safety-net providers. Presenters will also identify strategies for overcoming the major challenges and barriers to building BI competency, as well as lessons learned and key components for building your own BI capacity.

Migrant Clinicians Network (MCN), funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, conducted a one-year study of adult patients receiving health center care to determine best practices for conducting cost-of-care (CoC) conversations and optimal methods for training clinic staff. This project examined determinants of building trust between clinicians and their patient populations to improve acceptance and implementation of CoC conversations. Session presenters will showcase staff training modules, with background and evidence about the potential improvement on patient adherence and outcomes with positive CoC conversations; tools for health insurance literacy for patient handouts; and a clinic CoC conversation policy template.  

This session will address the financially focused areas of the Health Center Program Compliance Manual. Presenters will discuss policy considerations and language 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.

While always important, strategic planning has recently become an organizational imperative for health centers as they seek to successfully navigate uncharted territory. The health care industry is experiencing rapid change brought on by demographic shifts, economic influences, policy changes, and bureaucratic adjustments. These changes are especially significant for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) because of their significant reliance on government programs for reimbursement. This session - led by a health center CEO - will provide a concrete, how-to guide for organizations beginning or refining their strategic planning process. Part 2: An Introduction to a Dynamic Toolkit for Health Centers (PThG2) will serve as a continuation of this topic and provide an overview of a strategic planning toolkit.  

Many health centers are involved in providing essential health services to veterans who live in their communities. As a result of these efforts, health centers have reported that they served in excess of 320,000 veterans in 2016 alone. There are several ways for a health center to be a recognized community provider of services to veterans. This session will review the provider participation options available to health centers, describe how to approach and complete the provider application process, and discuss how payment for services occurs.