Celebrating National Health Center Week

August 4th marks the first day of the 2024 National Health Center Week (NHCW), initiated by the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) . NHCW is a time to celebrate and honor the 1,400 Community Health Centers (CHCs) across the nation that provide comprehensive, equitable and patient-centered care to almost 32 millions patients annually across the United States. 1

CHCs, also known as Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), are not-for-profit health centers that provide care to the medically underserved. The first CHCs were built over 50 years ago in part to address poverty by delivering primary care to historically marginalized populations and communities with limited access and/or availability to care and also reducing the cost of care for patients.?

From its inception, the mission of CHCs has been to provide high quality of care to people, improve their experience of care, all while managing costs (the Triple Aim of health care!). CHCs have always provided care to patients regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay for services, mitigating barriers to care. Knowing that social drivers of health play a critical role in patient outcomes, CHC staff and partners collaborate to address issues such as food insecurity and transportation challenges.?

Spotlight: Keystone Rural Health Consortia

Keystone Rural Health Consortia is a CHC headquartered in Emporium, Pennsylvania and has served rural communities throughout Northern and Central Pennsylvania since 1976. In 2023, the health center provided services to approximately 9,600 unique patients in its 5 clinics, two of which provide standalone dental services.?Keystone is dedicated to making sure that access to health care is available amidst the rural landscape of Pennsylvania, and that patients receive consistent and comprehensive care, with no individual left without the care that they need.

As an Aledade Accountable Care Organization (ACO) partner since 2018, Keystone has continually demonstrated its commitment to providing high quality of care for its community, evidenced by positive patient health outcomes that improve year over year.

Aledade champions CHCs

Aledade has been partnering with independent primary care practices and clinicians since 2014 to help them form and join Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). The work of an ACO is about delivering the best care to patients and to demonstrate the impact of that care on population health. Like CHCs, Aledade’s mission is to help practices deliver the highest quality of care to underserved populations, such as Medicare and dually-eligible patients, while controlling the total costs of care. The purpose of Aledade is simply to do what’s good for patients, practices and for society.?

“Everything points back to improving the experience for patients and improving their outcomes while reducing?costs. By using our care team efficiently and working?with Aledade to get access to the data that is critical for their work, we’ve been able to make a big difference in our?community.” - Kristie Lenze , CEO, Keystone Rural Health Consortia

As a public benefit corporation, Aledade is entrenched in the concept of doing more good for our communities. Aledade currently partners with almost 200 CHCs in 30 states, and that number continues to grow. Supported by Aledade tools and resources, Aledade CHC ACOs are demonstrating improved patient outcomes. For example, within a one year period of 2021 to 2022,?Aledade CHCs had 12% fewer patient hospitalizations and their patients were less likely to use the emergency department by 7% compared to the prior year. This is important because potentially avoidable hospitalizations and ED over-utilization has been shown to lead to poorer health outcomes and increased costs.23 By the end of 2022, Aledade CHC ACOs were able to earn on average $433 per Medicare beneficiary in 2022, more than any other CHC ACO that year. These shared savings dollars were often reinvested back into the community, including supporting programs to address social drivers of health.

Aledade is honored to be able to make a positive impact on the CHCs who partner with us. We are continually improving our service offerings and resources to CHCs and other independent practices in order to maximize practice success in value-based programs. Our recent announcement about partnership with Azara Healthcare , a company that provides population health data insights, is one example of our commitment to making it easier for CHCs to take care of their patients. Improved patient care and outcomes equates to more value-based payment shared savings, and more shared savings equates to additional stable income that can be reinvested back into communities based on their unique needs.

“We have done wonders for our practice together so far, and we’re excited to keep going. We’re more in tune with our patients and the cost of?care, which are both extremely important. It's been an amazing experience, and we’re?very proud of what we have accomplished?with Aledade while looking toward a future that is better for our patients, our staff, and?the health system as a whole.” - Kristie Lenze, CEO, Keystone Rural Health Consortia

During this National Health Center Week, Aledade enthusiastically applauds all CHCs and their dedicated work toward delivering high-quality and equitable care while also pursuing social justice and community advocacy for patients. Thank you to CHCs across the nation for your strength and service. Aledade proudly stands beside you as a community partner.?

Peggy Chin Evans, PhD , VP Community Health Center Performance

1?https://www.nachc.org/resource/americas-health-centers-by-the-numbers/

2 Segal, M., Rollins, E., Hodges,K., Roozeboom, M. Medicare-Medicaid Eligible Beneficiaries and Potentially Avoidable Hospitalizations. Medicaid and Medicare Research Review. 2014: Volume 4, Number 1. Accessed July 25, 2024. https://www.cms.gov/mmrr/downloads/mmrr2014_004_01_b01.pdf

3 Majewski, P., Lobick, D. Appropriate ED Utilization Leading to Better Care Coordination. AJMC, March 2022. Accessed July 25, 2024. https://www.ajmc.com/view/appropriate-ed-utilization-leading-to-better-care-coordination