Health Center Controlled Network - Project Title Alaska Quality Improvement Network (AQuIN) Applicant Organization Alaska Primary Care Association Address 3111 C Street Anchorage, AK 99503 Project Director Janet Johnston, Health Center Operations & Quality Director Contact Phone Numbers Main: (907) 929-2722 Email Address janetj@alaskapca.org Website Address www.alaskapca.org # of Participating Health Centers 20 Grant Program Funds Requested $955,000 per year x 3 years HCCN Grant # U86CS45851 The Alaska Quality Improvement Network (AQuIN), Alaska’s Health Center Controlled Network (HCCN) is comprised of 20 Participating Health Centers (PHCs) from across the state of Alaska. As a program of the Alaska Primary Care Association (APCA), AQuIN is housed in the Health Center Operations & Quality Department. AQuIN is advised by the AQuIN Steering Committee (a committee of the APCA Board of Directors) which is comprised of one voting representative from each PHC. Project staffing includes a project director, population health & quality improvement senior manager, health information technology manager, quality improvement analyst, and data analyst–all staff from the Health Center Operations and Quality Department. The overall purpose of AQuIN is quality improvement for better health outcomes driven by data and evidence, increased patient access and engagement, increased provider satisfaction and support, and lower costs. PHCs will work collaboratively to leverage health information technology (IT) and data to enhance delivery affordable, accessible, and high-quality primary care, with a specific focus on data management and analytics, interoperability of systems and digital health tools, and Uniform Data System Modernization (UDS+) implementation. AQuIN members will also work on strengthening cybersecurity support and informed artificial intelligence implementation over the next three years. The majority of AQuIN’s PHCs utilize one of the two data warehouse and analytics platforms supported by AQuIN that aggregate data from each PHC’s Electronic Health Record (EHR). One platform, Azara Healthcare’s DRVS, is used by 13 of the PHCs while the five PHCs that employ the Alaska Tribal Health System’s Cerner EHR use the Health Catalyst platform. These data warehouses have enhanced the PHCs’ and APCA’s abilities to transform data into actionable analytics. The remaining minority of PHCs without a population health and analytics platform will work with APCA’s Data Analyst and Health Information Technology Manager to extract the required data directly through the PHC’s EHR or other health information technology. With the HCCN cooperative agreement, the PHCs have chosen to focus on increasing the functionalities of the population health platforms by refining their risk stratification algorithms, adding an automatic patient outreach system, and integrating a screening tool for non-medical drivers of health. APCA proposes to operate and manage the AQuIN program by employing on-site and remote-delivered technical assistance. Staff of the OPS Department are experienced, competent health professionals, highly qualified in Quality Improvement, the Model for Improvement, population health and data analytics. Their experience will be augmented by a partnership with successful HCCNs in other states through a peer network of common platform users. Through formal and informal partnerships, OPS staff will implement and adapt successful best practices from HCCN, data analytics, and clinical care coordination experts. APCA is requesting $955,000 for this proposed project of at least 10 Participating Health Centers.
