Health Center Controlled Network - Project Abstract: Idaho Primary Care Association (IPCA) DBA Idaho Community Health Center Association (ICHCA) Health Center Controlled Network (HCCN) 1087 W. River Street, Suite 160, Boise, Idaho 83702 David Garrett, Chief Executive Officer dgarrett@idahochc.org (208) 898-3828 Fax: (208) 345-2336 www.idahochc.org Funds requested: $705,000 The Idaho Primary Care Association (IPCA) DBA the Idaho Community Health Center Association (ICHCA), is a network of Community Health Centers (PHCs) across 68 communities with 197 clinic sites in Idaho, Washington, Utah, Wyoming and Oregon. The IPCA is applying for Health Center Controlled Network (HCCN) grant funds to assist its network of 15 Idaho grantees in leveraging health information technology (IT) and data to enhance delivery of affordable, accessible, and high-quality primary care. Our efforts will focus on improving data management and analytics, interoperability of systems and digital health tools, implementation of Uniform Data System modernization (UDS+), strengthening cybersecurity support and well-informed artificial intelligence practices. Our membership includes every Idaho-based PHC, encompassing a wide range of health IT products and needs. Our HCCN will provide crucial HIT support, especially to our small rural/frontier members, helping them overcome health IT challenges and achieve quality improvement and value-based care goals. Needs to be Addressed: Our health centers serve a diverse range of patients, operate across multiple sites, and are supported by varying numbers of staff so their needs can differ.Key challenges include workforce shortages, provider burnout, increased demand for services, and financial constraints. To address these challenges, PHCs need to leverage technology effectively to enhance delivery of care while supporting the well-being of both providers and staff. Health IT is essential for delivering of high-quality, equitable health care. To achieve this, PHCs must be able to accurately capture clinical, financial, and operational data to assess their performance and identify potential gaps. They also need robust cybersecurity measures to protect patient data privacy, the ability to securely share data to enhance patient care, effective data governance for reporting purposes, and the responsible adoption of AI tools in a way that ensures safety and equity. This is where the IPCA HCCN can play a key role, offering the support needed to address these challenges and barriers. Proposed Services: The activities supported by the IPCA HCCN will focus on enhancing clinical, financial, and operational data optimization, advancing bidirectional interoperability and data sharing, implementing UDS+, strengthening cybersecurity, and developing best practices for artificial intelligence. These efforts will be carried out by establishing workgroups for each objective, led by the HCCN champions and subject matter experts. The primary goal of these workgroups is to foster collaboration, facilitate mutual learning, and share best practices among participants. The supported activities will include assisting health centers with data governance and management, offering tools and training to enhance cybersecurity, developing policies for the use of artificial intelligence, improving interoperability and data sharing, and implementing UDS+. Once priorities are identified, the IPCA HCCN will provide tailored support and training and technical assistance (T/TA) to each of our health center members. The goal of support and T/TA is to ensure our centers are fully equipped to leverage technology to enhance healthcare. Our HCCN will provide funding and training for our network population health tool and will utilize data provided to improve care and health equity, along with achieving our value-based care goals. Our HCCN will support the cultural and clinical competence of our members and increase their ability to reduce barriers to care. IPCA will also coordinate and
