Phil Michael, president of the Board of La Clinica Health Centers in Oregon, writes in the Mail Tribune about the role of CHCs in providing high quality cost effective care for the community. Citing a 2010 study from the Geiger Gibson RCHN CHF Research Collaborative (Strengthening Primary Care to Bend the Cost Curve, Brief #19, June 2010) he estimates the savings for La Clinica's patients, underscoring the importance of continued support for CHCs.

RCHN CHF Project Coordinator Amelia Goff is featured in the Community Health Corps. Blog. Read “New Community HealthCorps Alumni Spotlight is now shining on Amelia Goff!” here.

In “Managing the Influx of Data” , FTN summarizes the presentations at the October 5th health information technology briefing “ Unlocking the Value of Health Data: Transforming Care Using Information Securely to Improve Efficiency and Quality, Advance Biomedical and Health Systems Research, and Promote Population-health.” This briefing was part of the Capitol Hill Steering Committee on Telehealth and Healthcare Informatics Series. Dr. David Hartzband, RCHN CHF’s Director of Technology Research, discussed the importance of efficient management of large-scale data sets.

TUCSON - The El Rio Health Center is one of five community health centers in the country to receive a grant to help fight childhood asthma.

WASHINGTON and NEW YORK – A new data chart book titled, “Results from the 2010-11 Readiness for Meaningful Use of HIT and Patient Centered Medical Home Recognition Survey,” released today by the Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, provides unique insight into the status of electronic health record (EHR) and health information technology adoption among community health centers. Derived from a nationwide survey of health centers, the results showed that 69 percent of health centers have adopted EHRs, with 45 percent of them being fully electronic at all sites. This outpaces the 2010 EHR adoption rate among office-based physicians, estimated at 51.5% by the National Center for Health Statistics. Additionally, 81 percent of health centers currently without EHRs reported that they planned to implement one within the next 12 months.

WASHINGTON and NEW YORK -- A new report titled, "A Natural Fit: Collaborations Between Community Health Centers and Family Planning Clinics," released today by the Geiger Gibson /RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services examines the financial and long-term health impact of collaborations between Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and family planning clinics. The researchers found that building formal affiliation arrangements between community health centers and family planning programs has the potential to improve access to comprehensive care while drawing on the expertise of both types of safety net providers.

CHroniCles, a dynamic, multi-media website dedicated to the living history of the community health center movement, launches today. The site, a special project of the RCHN Community Health Foundation and the Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health Policy at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, aims to document the vibrant, varied and important stories of health centers across the country through a web-based portal of narratives, photographs, videos and other materials.

Presented by:

• Merle Cunningham, M.D., M.P.H., Visiting Associate Professor and Director of the Graduate Certificate Program in Community Health Center (CHC) Management in the Department of Health Services Management & Leadership, George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services.
   
• Gil M. Muñoz, M.P.A., Chief Executive Officer of Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center (Cornelius, OR)
   
• C. John Torontow, M.D., M.P.H., the Associate Medical Director for Medical Informatics at Piedmont Health Services, Inc., (North Carolina) and the lead provider at Piedmont’s Siler City Community Health Center.

Health information technology holds the promise of helping us to improve the quality and efficiency of care. This webinar will focus on our recent report “Results from the 2010-11 Readiness for Meaningful Use of HIT and Patient Centered Medical Home Recognition Survey (November 3, 2011).” Derived from a nationwide survey of health centers, the data provide unique insight into the status of electronic health record (EHR) and health information technology adoption among community health centers. Among the findings are that 69 percent of health centers have already adopted EHRs, with 45 percent of them being fully electronic at all sites. While survey findings show that adoption of HIT has been embraced as a health center priority, cost and staffing challenges remain to be addressed to support full implementation of HIT, clinical practice development, and recognition of health centers as medical home. The key report findings will be presented by Dr. Merle Cunningham, lead author of the chartbook . He will be joined by discussants Dr. John Torontow ( Piedmont Health Services, Inc., NC) and Mr. Gil M. Muñoz (Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center, OR) who will address the experiences of their health centers in achieving the adoption and meaningful use of HIT.