May 21, 2024
OCHIN members and partners from across the country gathered in New Orleans last week for the largest-ever OCHIN Learning Forum, where they participated in firsthand learning workshops, connected with peers, and shared tools and insights to advance health equity.
Attendance at this year’s Learning Forum increased 51% compared to last year with more than 1,100 attendees, including representatives from 160 OCHIN member organizations in 33 states. With the support of 39 sponsors, the four-day event hosted in the birthplace of jazz music featured more than 100 sessions ranging from small educational workshops to peer-to-peer collaboration sessions and inspiring keynote presentations. It also included a celebration of the inaugural OCHIN Impact Awards, recognizing four member organizations for driving measurable care transformation in the areas of patient, provider, and community impact.
The enthusiasm for this year’s member Learning Forum reflects the considerable growth of the OCHIN network—which now serves more than 6.1 million active patients at more than 2,000 care delivery sites nationwide—as well as the ongoing need for collaboration and innovation amongst community-based providers to meet today’s evolving health care challenges.
Collaborative progress to address systemic challenges
In her opening keynote, OCHIN President and CEO Abby Sears highlighted the collective progress the OCHIN network has made in connecting and transforming access to care for rural and systemically underserved communities. Despite staffing challenges, resource shortages, and the fragmentation of our country’s health care system, OCHIN members collaborated to complete more than 17.5 million patient visits and 1 million social risk screenings in the past 12 months alone. These efforts have helped close persistent health care gaps by leveraging shared resources and linking patients across the OCHIN network to the comprehensive health care system they deserve.
“We are beginning to connect capabilities and weave together a new system of care—one that wraps around patients the rest of the system has forgotten or undervalued,” she said. “Everyone in this room holds a thread of the new tapestry of care we hope to create, and our success will depend on how we begin to knit our efforts together.”
Guest keynote speaker Daniel E. Dawes, JD, a nationally respected voice in the health equity movement, discussed the critical bridge between social and political determinants of health and their potential to improve health outcomes for underserved communities. Having pioneered a framework that has increased policies and laws prioritizing health equity, Dawes affirmed the important work that OCHIN members do to improve the health of those who have been systemically undervalued.
“We know that in the United States, communities’ health is not an organic outcome,” he said. “It is not a coincidence that certain groups in our community experience higher premature death rates than others … Our system has not always valued each group equally.”
Awards for transformational impact
This year’s Learning Forum also featured the presentation of our inaugural OCHIN Impact Awards, recognizing four of the many OCHIN members who are using OCHIN tools and insights in transformative ways to improve the health and well-being of their patients, providers, and communities. Representatives of each member organization shared their success stories and impact during a panel discussion moderated by OCHIN Chief Experience Officer Kim Klupenger.
Sponsored by Microsoft, this year’s 2024 OCHIN Impact Award recipients are:
Seattle Indian Health Board, Transforming Patient Health and Well-Being
Seattle Indian Health Board paved the way for more integrated and culturally competent care through partnership and innovation. Their ongoing efforts to integrate traditional medicine into an EHR-based primary care model expands care access for Indigenous patients, supports whole-patient health and well-being, and has already had a measurable and significant impact.
TrueCare, Transforming Patient Health and Well-Being
TrueCare rolled out a robust digital literacy plan to help older Hispanic patients overcome common technology barriers and take charge of their care virtually. In addition to increasing their clinic’s MyChart adoption rate and empowering patients with online scheduling tools, they’ve collaborated with an OCHIN technology partner to enhance support for video visits—ensuring that patients can enjoy a high-quality health care experience wherever and whenever they need it.
Mosaic Community Health, Transforming Provider and Clinician Team Health and Well-Being
Mosaic Community Health created an exceptional experience for their providers by revamping their training and support structure to better communicate, educate, and train users in their day-to-day work. They implemented role-based electronic health records training during onboarding for new employees; created a video training library; and leveraged OCHIN Epic’s Super User program to support advanced training, provide additional help to users who may be struggling, and provide regular educational moments.
Roanoke Chowan Community Health Center, Transforming the Health of Our Communities
Roanoke Chowan Community Health Center transformed the health of their community by thinking outside of the box to facilitate virtual visits for rural patients with chronic medical conditions. After using OCHIN Epic tools to identify patients experiencing barriers to care, they empowered their community health workers and home visit telehealth nurses to travel to patients’ homes to help facilitate virtual visits. No-show rates have dropped dramatically and Roanoke Chowan has obtained an award to help them expand these behavioral health, nutrition, and provider visits into their public school system.
Learn more
The OCHIN Learning Forum is an annual enrichment event designed uniquely for OCHIN members and is enhanced with the support of sponsors. This year’s Diamond Sponsors included Epic, Microsoft + Nuance, CareMessage, and TriZetto Provider Solutions. To learn more about how to become an OCHIN member or sponsor ahead of next year’s event, visit the OCHIN Learning Forum website.
2024 OCHIN Learning Forum photos by Zack Smith Photography.
