August 19, 2025
Part of our 25th anniversary blog series celebrating 25 years of member-led transformation in community care
As we mark a quarter century of progress with our national member network and partners, we are thrilled to highlight our members’ inspiring stories. Together, they have achieved operational and financial wellness, supported clinician well-being, and enhanced clinical quality through OCHIN’s integrated knowledge solutions, fueled by the insights and imagination of our national member network.
We invite you to join us in recognizing their collective impact, extraordinary leadership, and groundbreaking efforts to transform the health and well-being of their patients, providers, and communities.
Lower Lights Health in Columbus, Ohio, enhanced patient care by addressing a longstanding challenge: access to specialty services.
With support from OCHIN solutions, they improved referrals and increased OCHIN Epic MyChart adoption to reduce appointment wait times for patients with autoimmune disorders. They also introduced an on-site specialty pharmacy offering home delivery and partnered with other health centers to provide affordable medications.
Tracy Cloud, former CEO of Lower Lights Health, shared the organization’s journey to improve access to specialty care and the impact of OCHIN’s partnership and integrated knowledge solutions on patient outcomes at this year’s member Learning Forum in Nashville, Tennessee.
Empowering whole-person care through efficiency
Lower Lights Health serves more than 17,000 patients in Central Ohio with a comprehensive approach that includes primary care, behavioral health, dental, vision, pharmacy and spiritual support. Cloud said the organization’s goal is to “wrap around” patients and support every aspect of their well-being.
Their partnership with OCHIN began three years ago, when they transitioned to a new electronic health record system. The move was driven by a need for better data access, improved workflows and stronger integration with local hospital systems.
Providers were exhausted by the inefficiencies in the EHR that they were using, Cloud said. They needed a system that supported collaboration and gave them the tools to deliver quality care.
Reaching medically underserved patients
The patient communities served by Lower Lights Health face a life expectancy 12 years below the state average. Cloud said that makes preventive and value-based care especially critical—and that the right technology is essential to delivering it.
“Our previous system … didn’t have the workflows, the reporting, or the data we needed to be able to effectively promote and manage quality care for our patients,” she said.
With OCHIN, they now have the tools to do so more efficiently.
Through a new specialty care program they developed in partnership with OCHIN, patients with autoimmune disorders can now get on-site or telehealth appointments within 14 days—down from wait times as long as 10 months.
Cloud shared the story of a patient with plaque psoriasis, a severe autoimmune disease, who was living with a lot of pain and had struggled to access specialty care.
“We had referred him out to a specialist at one point, but he had challenges making the drive because the specialist was nearly an hour from his house,” she said.
Through the specialty care program, he received treatment and health coaching that helped him regain his health and reconnect with his community. The health coach worked closely with the patient to address various lifestyle factors—such as nutrition, exercise, sleep, and stress—that go beyond just taking medication but significantly influence health outcomes. As a result, the patient began making meaningful progress: losing weight, spending more time outdoors, walking in his neighborhood, and eventually reconnecting with friends and family.
“It really changed his life,” Cloud said.
“I'm proud of the work we've done with OCHIN to expand specialty care to our patients. This is care that they may not otherwise receive, and it makes me emotional to think about the impact we've been able to have on our patients’ lives.”
Innovation through partnership
By leveraging OCHIN’s technology and national network, Lower Lights Health continues to expand their whole-person care model and address the needs of medically underserved patients. They have grown their specialty care program to include services for patients with infectious diseases and are exploring additional specialty areas.
Looking ahead, Lower Lights Health is committed to transforming patient health and well-being in partnership with OCHIN, driving meaningful and lasting impact.
“At the end of the day, if you don’t have the right partners, if you don’t have the right technology, you just can’t deliver for your patients,” Cloud said.
“Being able to really learn and capitalize on what OCHIN has to offer has been a game changer for us.”
Visit OCHIN’s website to explore more member stories and learn about the transformative impact of the OCHIN network over the past 25 years.
