North Carolina Health Centers Celebrate Innovations in Healthcare Across the State

August 8, 2016

Raleigh, NC – Over 50 events around North Carolina are planned as part of National Health Center Week (NHCW). The national campaign runs August 7-13^th with the goal of raising awareness about the mission and accomplishments of North Carolina’s community health centers and those across the country over the course of more than five decades.

North Carolina’s community health centers play a vital role in our state’s healthcare safety net. They are innovators in healthcare delivery and feature a patient-centered medical home model that utilizes care teams and enabling services to help patients address their medical and social needs. Today, they play the following role in NC:

Serve more than 450,000 patients (43% uninsured, 26% Medicaid, and 9% Medicare and 16% private insurance).
Offer sites in 72 of North Carolina’s 100 counties.
Provide medical, dental, pharmacy, behavioral health and substance abuse services.
Participate in new delivery systems, such as Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Accountability Care Organizations and a Health Center Controlled Network that analyzes patient data to improve care.
Generate $157 million dollars in direct federal, state, and private grants to local communities and more than 3,100 jobs

Nationally, community health centers:

Produce $24 billion in annual health system savings
Reduce unnecessary hospitalizations and unnecessary visits to the emergency room
Treat patients for a fraction of the average cost of one emergency room visit
Generate $26.5 billion in economic activity and over 230,000 jobs
Reduce infant mortality rates

Health centers not only prevent illness and foster wellness in the most challenging populations, they produce innovative solutions to the most pressing healthcare issues in their communities. In North Carolina, where our state has yet to expand Medicaid coverage to uninsured adults with incomes at or below $138% of the federal poverty level, community health centers remain one of the few healthcare providers willing to treat the uninsured. They reach beyond the walls of conventional medicine to address the factors that may cause sickness, such as lack of nutrition, mental illness, homelessness and addiction. Because of their long record of success in innovation, managing healthcare costs, and reducing chronic disease, leaders in Congress have declared health centers a model of care that offers a “bipartisan solution to the primary care access problems” facing our nation.

There are NHCW events scheduled across North Carolina and the country, including health fairs, press conferences, back-to-school drives, community breakfasts, patient appreciation events, free health screenings and dental cleanings, visits by Members of Congress and state officials and much more.

To learn more about NHCW and the listing of events please visit: www.healthcenterweek.org.

You can follow the conversation using #NHCW16 or #CHCsInnovate on Twitter.

HHS Awards $5.25 Million to North Carolina Health Centers to Expand Oral Health Services

Raleigh, NC – Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell announced $5.25 million in funding to support 15 Community Health Centers (CHCs) in North Carolina to increase access to integrated oral health care services and improve oral health outcomes for Health Center Program patients. This funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will be used to enable health centers to expand integrated oral health care services and increase the number of patients served.

“This funding will help address a very significant need for oral health services in our state. In 2014, North Carolina community health centers provided almost 170,000 dental visits. These resources will expand that reach, and further expand our integrated healthcare model which treats oral health in conjunction with physical health.” said E. Benjamin Money, Jr., President and CEO of the North Carolina Community Health Center Association.

About the North Carolina Community Health Center Association

The North Carolina Community Health Center Association serves as the collective voice for North Carolina’s Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Look-alikes (LAs)—aka Community Health Centers (CHCs). Our members offer a patient-governed, patient-centered health care home that integrates high quality medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy, and enabling services without regard to a person’s ability to pay. Community Health Centers are geographically dispersed across 72 counties and 38 CHCs operate nearly 200 clinical sites.

Five North Carolina health centers were awarded $4,290,125 for facility renovation, expansion, or construction to serve a projected 10,615 additional patients. NCCHCA congratulates Blue Ridge Community Health Services, Cabarrus Rowan Community Health Centers, Gaston Family Health Services, Metropolitan Community Health, and CommWell Health!

Statement of E. Benjamin Money, Jr., NCCHCA President and CEO on Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) Office of the Inspector General’s (CNCS OIG) Report on Community HealthCorps Program

The Corporation for National & Community Service Office of Inspector General (CNCS OIG) recently closed an investigation of the National Association of Community Health Centers’ (NACHC’s) oversight of a Community HealthCorps grant, a program of Americorps. In a report issued April 26, CNCS OIG found that between 2013 and 2015, NACHC’s failure in oversight allowed a few AmeriCorps volunteers to provide emotional support (doula care) to women during legal abortion procedures at a New York subgrantee. This was a violation of the Serve America Act which authorizes the AmeriCorps program, and expressly prohibits the use of AmeriCorps resources to “provid[e] abortion services or referrals for receipt of such services.”

The NC Community Health Centers Association and its members are appalled that a few volunteers at a community health center program in another state apparently acted out of compliance with federal law. As an affiliate member of NACHC, the North Carolina Community Health Center has been reassured by NACHC’s current leadership that NACHC itself reported the issue to the CNCS OIG, has been fully cooperating with CNCS OIG, and has taken the appropriate steps toward corrective action. Specific questions about the CNCS OIG’s report and the entities involved should be directed to the National Association of Community Health Centers.

North Carolina Community Health Centers take the Hyde Amendment, the federal legislative provisions prohibiting community health centers from using federal funds to pay for abortions or support for those services, very seriously. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is the oversight body for community health centers, also known as federally qualified health centers (FQHC). HRSA conducts regular on-site reviews of all FQHCs. There have been no violations of the Hyde amendment in any HRSA site visit reports of North Carolina FQHCs. North Carolina community health centers do not plan to, nor are they seeking to, become providers of abortion. The core set of services and mission of community health centers are to provide preventive and primary health care services. Abortion does not fit into our model of care.

About the North Carolina Community Health Center Association: The North Carolina Community Health Center Association (http://www.ncchca.org) serves as the collective voice for North Carolina’s Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Look-alikes (LAs)—aka Community Health Centers (CHCs). Our members offer a patient-governed, patient-centered health care home that integrates high quality medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy, and enabling services without regard to a person’s ability to pay. North Carolina’s 38 FQHCs are geographically dispersed across 74 counties and operate approximately 200 clinical sites.

New hospitals and health care providers join successful, cutting-edge federal initiative that cuts costs and puts patients at the center of their care

Medicare accountable care organization initiatives to improve how the health system cares for patients

Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced new participants – representing 49 states and the District of Columbia – in an innovative initiative – Medicare Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) – designed to improve the care patients receive in the health care system and lowers costs.

Raleigh, North Carolina – Carolina Medical Home Network Accountable Care Organization, LLC (CMHN-ACO) was selected to participate in the ACO Investment Model (AIM) which was designed to encourage ACO formation in low penetration and rural locations. This model provides ACOs access to the capital to invest in the infrastructure necessary to successfully implement population care management. All AIM ACOs also participate in the Shared Savings Program, which CMHN-ACO has participated in since 2015. Participating in both programs provides ACOs with additional resources to achieve lower costs and higher quality of care for beneficiaries.

Doctors, hospitals and health care providers establish ACOs in order to work together to provide higher-quality coordinated care to their patients, while helping to slow health care cost growth. CMHN-ACO will be one of 434 ACOs serving 7.7 million beneficiaries as part of the Shared Savings Program as of January 1, 2016. Beneficiaries seeing health care providers in ACOs always have the freedom to choose doctors inside or outside of the ACO. ACOs receive a portion of the Medicare savings generated from lowering the growth in health care costs as long as they also meet standards for high quality care.

“People across America are going to be better cared for when they go to their health care providers, because these hospitals and providers have made a commitment to innovation, a commitment to change how they do business and care for patients,” HHS Secretary Sylvia Matthews Burwell said. “Medicare, and the health care system as a whole, is moving toward paying providers based on the quality, rather than just the quantity of care they give patients. The three new ACO initiatives that are being launched today mark an important step forward in this effort.”

Since ACOs first began participating in the program in early 2012, thousands of health care providers have signed on to participate in the program, working together to provide better care to Medicare’s seniors and people with disabilities..

ACOs are delivering better care, and they continue to show promising results on cost savings. In 2014, they had a combined total net program savings of $411 million for 333 Medicare Shared Savings Program (Shared Savings Program) ACOs and 20 Pioneer ACOs. Based on 2014 quality and financial performance results for Shared Savings Program ACOs who started the program in 2012, 2013, and 2014, ACOs that reported in both 2013 and 2014 improved on 27 of the 33 quality measures, including patients’ ratings of clinicians’ communication, beneficiaries’ rating of their doctors, screening for tobacco use and cessation, screening for high blood pressure, and Electronic Health Record use. Shared Savings Program ACOs also outperformed group practices reporting quality on 18 out of 22 measures.

Ultimately, today’s announcement is about delivering better care, spending dollars more wisely, and having healthier people and communities. ACOs drive progress in the way care is provided by improving the coordination and integration of health care, and improving the health of patients with a priority placed on prevention and wellness.

More information about the ACO Investment model is available at https://innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/ACO-Investment-Model/

More information about the Shared Savings Program is available at https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare-Fee-for-Service-Payment/sharedsavingsprogram/index.html?redirect=/sharedsavingsprogram/

E. Benjamin Money, Jr., M.P.H., President and CEO of the North Carolina Community Health Center Association, has been named the 2015 Geiger Gibson Distinguished Visitor. The Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health Policy is a special initiative of the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University. The Distinguished Visitor Program honors an individual whose lifetime career in community health, and achievements on behalf of health centers and medically underserved communities serves as an inspiration in public health policy and practice. The Distinguished Visitor is in residence briefly each fall to lecture, meet with students, and consult with faculty and research staff. Ben Money is the first North Carolina resident and the first African-American to receive this honor.

“The changes North Carolina is proposing in its Medicaid program coupled with the state legislature’s refusal to expand Medicaid drew the interest of the faculty at George Washington University and led to my invitation,” said Mr. Money. His presentation focused on Medicaid Reform and Expansion in North Carolina, emphasizing the critical role community health centers play in the state’s health system, providing quality primary care at considerable cost savings.

Ben Money joined the North Carolina Community Health Center Association in June 2001 and has led the Association as Chief Executive Officer since December 2008. Mr. Money holds a bachelor’s degree in health education and psychology from Springfield College in Massachusetts, and earned a Master of Public Health degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His career spans over 30 years – with work in public health, community mental health, faith-based non-profits, and health care to the homeless programs. He is on the board of Capital Link, the Carolina Medical Home Network, the NC Health Information Exchange, the Care Share Health Alliance, the East Carolina University Department of Public Health Advisory Committee and is a member of the North Carolina Public Health Association and the National Association of Community Health Centers.

About the North Carolina Community Health Association: The North Carolina Community Health Center Association (http://www.ncchca/) serves as the collective voice for North Carolina’s 34 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Look-alikes (LAs)—aka Community Health Centers (CHCs). Our members offer a patient-governed, patient-centered health care home that integrates high quality medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy, and enabling services without regard to a person’s ability to pay. NCCHCA members are geographically dispersed across 66 counties and operate nearly 180 clinical sites.

About the Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health Policy: The Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health Policy is a special initiative of the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University. Established in 2004, the program is named in honor of Drs. H. Jack Geiger and Count Gibson, pioneers in community health practice and tireless advocates for civil and human rights who fifty years ago, founded the nation’s first community health centers in Mound Bayou, Mississippi and Boston, Massachusetts. Today, more than 1200 health centers, operating in over 9000 locations, serve over 24 million people in urban and rural medically underserved communities across the nation.

About Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University: Established in July 1997 as the School of Public Health and Health Services, Milken Institute School of Public Health is the only school of public health in the nation’s capital.

Statement of E. Benjamin Money, Jr., President and CEO of the North Carolina Community Health Center Association on the death of Congressman Howard Coble

Raleigh, NC—We at the North Carolina Community Health Center Association (NCCHCA) are saddened to hear of the passing of Howard Coble. On behalf of our members, we would like to recognize Congressman Coble’s service to the 6th district and his support of Community Health Centers (CHCs) and the work they do to increase much-needed access to health care for our state’s most vulnerable communities. CHCs play a critical role in North Carolina’s health care system delivering primary care to more than 470,000 people.

Howard Coble was a champion of 6^th District Community Health Centers: Caswell Family Medical Center, Person Family Medical Center, Piedmont Health Services, and Triad Adult and Pediatric Medicine. In 2014 before Congressman Coble’s retirement, Piedmont Health Services honored him by naming the recreation room at Piedmont Health SeniorCare of Burlington, “The Howard Coble Recreational Room.” At the ceremony, Mr. Coble was presented with the Community Health Center Advocate Award, a national award given by the National Association of Community Health Centers to recognize national leadership in support of CHCs.

Congressman Howard Coble was a true ally of CHCs and his legacy remains in the strength of the services they continue to provide to North Carolina’s 6^th District. He will be missed.

The North Carolina Community Health Center Association (http://www.ncchca.org) serves as the collective voice for North Carolina’s Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Look-alikes (LAs)—aka Community Health Centers (CHCs). Our members offer a patient-governed, patient-centered health care home that integrates high quality medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy, and enabling services without regard to a person’s ability to pay. Community Health Centers are geographically dispersed across 74 counties and 39 CHCs operate nearly 200 clinical sites.

NCCHCA Member Caswell Family Medical Center in Yanceyville, North Carolina (http://caswellmedical.org/) is a Federally Qualified Health Center Caswell committed to providing high quality and affordable health care while promoting health awareness and education. Caswell is accredited by The Joint Commission as a Primary Care Medical Home.

NCCHCA Member Person Family Medical Center (http://www.personfamilymedical.com/) with locations in Roxboro and Yanceyville, North Carolina is a Federally Qualified Health Center offering a variety of affordable and high quality health services including primary care, dental, nutrition counseling, diabetes education, behavioral health, and outreach services to the community.

NCCHCA Member Piedmont Health Services (http://www.piedmonthealth.org) of Carrboro, North Carolina is a Federally Qualified Health Center. The mission of Piedmont Health Services is to improve the health and well-being of the community by providing high quality, affordable, and comprehensive primary health care. Piedmont Health is determined to deliver quality health care to everyone with compassion, devotion and clinical sophistication. All eight of Piedmont Health’s community health center sites have received Level 3 Patient-Centered Medical Home recognition.

One of the largest providers of healthcare services for children and adults in Guilford County, North Carolina, NCCHCA Member Triad Adult and Pediatric Medicine, (TAPM, http://www.tapmedicine.com) provides primary care, chronic care, sick and acute care, nutrition, behavioral health and other support services at five locations. A Federally Qualified Health Center, TAPM received a 2015 Clinical Quality Improver Award from the Health Resources and Services Administration for successful efforts to improve clinical quality and health outcomes as they provide comprehensive primary care.

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