August 5, 2024
OCHIN believes everyone should have a fair opportunity to achieve their full health potential, regardless of race, ethnicity, background, or zip code. This National Health Center Week (NHCW), we extend our gratitude to our members, Health Center Controlled Network participants, and community health centers (CHCs) across the U.S. for the important work you do toward that aim.
CHCs play a vital role in providing equitable, high-quality care to their communities. OCHIN members and partners are committed to ensuring access to affordable, patient-centered care for everyone by valuing care of the whole patient.
They help increase access to crucial primary and specialty care by offering essential services such as preventive care, behavioral health, and dental care. They also reduce barriers like cost, lack of insurance, distance to providers, and language.
As OCHIN celebrates NHCW, we continue to drive innovation and widen our circle of impact to support CHCs nationwide in three innovative ways.
Optimizing and enhancing OCHIN Epic
OCHIN is partnering with our members to innovate, optimize, and enhance our tools and technology to drive measurable care transformation. This year, we presented our inaugural OCHIN Impact Awards, recognizing four of the many OCHIN members who are using OCHIN tools and insights for:
Transforming patient health and well-being
TrueCare used OCHIN tools to enhance digital literacy among older Hispanic patients, helping them overcome technology barriers and empowering them to take charge of their care so they can enjoy a high-quality health care experience wherever and whenever they need it.
Seattle Indian Health Board partnered with OCHIN to integrate traditional medicine into an EHR-based primary care model, expanding care access for Indigenous patients and supporting whole-patient health. This paved the way for more integrated and culturally competent care for their patients.
Transforming provider and clinician team health and well-being
Mosaic Community Health addressed clinician burnout by creating an exceptional experience for their providers, revamping their training and support to improve communication, education, and daily work training.
Transforming the health of our communities
Roanoke Chowan Community Health Center leveraged OCHIN Epic tools to facilitate virtual visits for rural patients with chronic conditions, breaking barriers to care and ensuring everyone gets the support they need.
Supporting health center excellence with our HCCN
As the largest of its kind in the nation, OCHIN’s HRSA-funded Health Center Controlled Network (HCCN) now supports 111 diverse health centers in 12 states, providing tailored consulting to help Participating Health Centers (PHCs) leverage health information technology to foster continuous quality improvement.
OCHIN’s HCCN accelerates knowledge sharing and best practices among health centers facing common challenges across the country and helps them understand and adapt to new requirements with consultation and technical support.
In year 2 of the three-year program cycle, OCHIN supported our HCCN PHCs with:
Exploring new partnerships
Despite their measurable and enduring value to the health of our nation, CHCs continue to face critical challenges such as ongoing workforce shortages and financial uncertainty. That’s why OCHIN is exploring new partnerships to better support health center sustainability and fuel innovation for member organizations nationwide.
A new partner agreement with OSIS brings greater electronic health record (EHR) platform choice to health centers while ensuring reliable access to equitable, high-quality care for roughly 30% of the nation’s estimated 31.5 million health center patients. It also brings enhanced technical support to close workforce skill gaps, a collective voice in advocacy, and greater representation in patient-centered research. By standing together, OCHIN and OSIS aim to make an even greater impact for the organizations we serve.
OCHIN will join health centers from around the country at the National Association of Community Health Centers’ Community Health Institute and Expo (NACHC CHI) from August 24-26 in Atlanta, Georgia. If you’re attending NACHC CHI, please visit booth #4 and explore how OCHIN’s advocacy, practice-based research, and solutions expertise can help expand and strengthen the circle of care in your community.
