Health Center Controlled Network - The Tennessee Primary Care Association has received four rounds (2012, 2016, 2019, 2022) of HCCN funding, which has been used to establish and operate the Center for Quality in Community Health (CQCH). The CQCH coordinates and supports the health IT and quality improvement efforts of Tennessee’s community health centers. Through CQCH, participating health centers (PHCs) pursue a common goal of improving the health of their communities by advancing interoperability, digital health tools, and data analytics to enhance the patient and provider experience, improve health outcomes, reduce the administrative burden, and address health inequity. Needs to be Addressed: CQCH identified numerous data- and health- related IT needs associated with clinical quality improvement, interoperability, patient and provider experience, and patient-centered, whole person care. A summary of these needs include: 1) PHCs need support to identify and effectively utilize digital health tools that are evidence-based, accessible, and integrated with their EHR of choice. 2) Most PHCs are unable to systematically document the development of care plans informed by patients’ social risk factors and close the loop on those that are referred to social services. PHCs need training and technical assistance to consistently collect, share, and utilize social risk factor data for integrated care coordination to address social determinants of health challenges. 3) Given the lack of a statewide health information exchange (HIE) in Tennessee, PHCs need support for securely exchanging and integrating data from external providers. 4) Some PHCs have limited staff capacity to maintain cybersecurity knowledge, skills, and systems and need training and TA for implementing policies and practices that protect individuals and organizations from misuse, cyber-attacks, fraud, and other harms. 5) PHCs need health IT training, TA, and technical support that facilitates continuous data validation and maximizes functionality for effective population health management. PHCs also need access to health IT and T/TA that enables the use of advanced analytics for benchmarking, performance improvement and value-based care activities. 6) Industry-wide, there is variation in adequate training, timely customer service, and technical support from EHR vendors. This creates confusion, hardship, and in some cases, increases the administrative burden associated with quality reporting. As a result, PHCs need support (T/TA) to securely send electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) and patient-level data (UDS+) for required reporting and to optimize the functionality of their EHRs for improved efficiency and usability among their providers and staff. Proposed Services: CQCH is supported by TPCA staff members and consultants who provide training, technical assistance (T/TA) and other forms of support to PHCs. Individual PHC and group-level services will be delivered virtually and in-person, including TA, training, meetings, on-site support visits, and collaboration. CQCH will also support PHCs in connecting to and using a network-level population health reporting and analytics platform. Proposed CQCH services will support PHCs in improving clinical quality, providing patient-centered care, enhancing provider and staff well-being, and improving the health status of medically underserved Tennesseans. TPCA will leverage partnerships with entities such as the National Association of Community Health Care Centers, Tennessee Department of Health, Region IV Digital Health Alliance, HITEQ, Azara Healthcare (population health tool), and others as the need arises. Population Groups to be Served: The CQCH will serve the 24 HRSA Health Center Program (H80) award recipients and 1 Look-a-Like (LAL) that have committed to participate in the CQCH. These 25 PHCs operate 192 service delivery sites across 70 counties, employ approximately 2,800 provider and staff FTEs, and serve 336,626 patients (UDS, 2023).
