Project Grant U8645879

HEALTH CENTER CONTROLLED NETWORK - PROJECT TITLE: LOUISIANA HEALTH CENTER CONTROLLED NETWORK APPLICANT ORGANIZATION NAME: LOUISIANA PRIMARY CARE ASSOCIATION INC. GRANT #: H2QCS30271 ADDRESS: 503 COLONIAL DRIVE, BATON ROUGE, LA 70806-6508 PROJECT DIRECTOR NAME: CHRISTINE FOERSTNER, HCCN DIRECTOR PROJECT PHONE NUMBERS: 225-927-7662 EXT. 205 EMAIL: CFOERSTNER@LPCA.NET WEBSITE: HTTP://LPCA.NET GRANT PROGRAM FUNDS REQUESTED: $1,000,000 PROPOSED NUMBER OF PHCS: 33 THE LOUISIANA PRIMARY CARE ASSOCIATION (LPCA) IS A STATEWIDE MAJORITY MEMBER-CONTROLLED NETWORK OF 36 HEALTH CENTERS FUNDED UNDER SECTION 330 OF THE PHS ACT, AND 3 HEALTH CENTER LOOK-ALIKES. COLLECTIVELY, LOUISIANA COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS OPERATE 308 INDIVIDUAL SITES (295 OF THOSE ARE A PART OF THIS HCCN) AND SERVED OVER 447,000 PATIENTS IN 2020 WITH INDIVIDUAL PATIENT VISITS EXCEEDING 1.6 MILLION. OF THOSE PATIENTS WITH KNOWN INCOMES, 99.9% WERE BELOW 200% OF THE FEDERAL POVERTY LEVEL (FPL). ORIGINALLY ESTABLISHED UNDER THE PCA AND FUNDED AS AN HCCN IN 2012 WITH 16 PARTICIPATING HEALTH CENTERS (PHCS), LOUISIANA HCCN (LAHCCN) HAS SUBSTANTIALLY GROWN INTO A STRONG FQHC PARTICIPATION NETWORK OF 32 HEALTH CENTERS THAT ARE HEALTH CENTER PROGRAM AWARD RECIPIENTS AND ONE LOOK-ALIKE AWARD RECIPIENT. WITHIN THESE PARTICIPATING HEALTH CENTERS (PHCS), PROVIDERS AND PROVIDER TEAMS SERVE 98% OF ALL LOUISIANA HEALTH CENTER PATIENTS AND VISITS. LOUISIANA HAS ONE OF THE LEAST HEALTHY POPULATIONS IN THE NATION AND A SIGNIFICANT LEVEL OF MEDICALLY UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES, HAVING ONCE AGAIN IN 2021 RANKED 50TH FOR OVERALL HEALTH STATUS IN THE NATION ACCORDING TO AMERICA'S HEALTH RANKINGS. LPCA HAS SUBSTANTIALLY INCREASED OUR STAFFING AND SYSTEM INFRASTRUCTURE TO BETTER MEET HCCN GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OVER THE LAST SIX YEARS. IN DOING SO, LAHCCN HAS PROVIDED HUNDREDS OF TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE EFFORTS FOR PHCS OVER THE COURSE OF THE LAST TEN YEARS, IMPLEMENTED AZARA DRVS ANALYTICS PLATFORM ACROSS THE NETWORK, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY ASSISTED PHCS IN GETTING THEIR TELEHEALTH SERVICES UP AND RUNNING IN THE WAKE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. PRIOR TO THE LAST GRANT CYCLE OF 2019-2022, LESS THAN 30% OF THE PHCS WERE UTILIZING TELEHEALTH SERVICES, THROUGH THE EFFORTS OF THE HCCN TEAM THIS HAS GROWN TO 100%. ALL PHCS HAVE AND ARE STILL USING TELEHEALTH SERVICES TO SEE PATIENTS IN A SAFE ENVIRONMENT WHILE STILL MANAGING THEIR HEALTH EFFECTIVELY. DURING THIS UPCOMING GRANT CYCLE, LAHCCN IS PROPOSING TO CONTINUE THE GREAT WORK AND TO BUILD ON THE SUCCESSES WE HAVE HAD WITH DIGITAL TOOLS OVER THE CURRENT THREE YEAR GRANT PERIOD. SEVERAL TRAININGS WILL BE HELD THAT WILL FOCUS ON DIFFERENT DIGITAL TOOLS (TELEHEALTH, REMOTE PATIENT MONITORING, PATIENT PORTALS, SMARTPHONE APPS ETC.) USED THROUGHOUT THE NETWORK AS WELL AS RESEARCHING OTHERS THAT COULD POTENTIALLY BENEFIT THE LAHCCN. IN ADDITION, THE TRAININGS WILL BE TARGETED TO ASSURE THAT THE CORRECT AUDIENCE IS REACHED FOR EACH OF THE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE OPPORTUNITIES. LAHCCN PLANS TO FOCUS SEPARATE TRAININGS THAT ARE DESIGNED FOR PROVIDERS, MEDICAL STAFF, PATIENT NAVIGATORS, AND PATIENTS/COMMUNITY MEMBERS WHICH WILL HIGHLIGHT THE DIGITAL TOOLS, ELABORATE ON HOW THEY WORK, AND PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR PHCS TO PEER SHARE ANY PROMISING PRACTICES THEY HAVE THAT RELATE TO THEIR WORK WITH DIGITAL HEALTH TOOLS. IN ADDITION, LAHCCN PLANS TO CONTINUE THE GROWTH AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PRAPARE TOOL. ALONG THE SAME LINES OF SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH (SDOH), LAHCCN PLANS TO ONBOARD MORE PHCS ON THE LPCA ASSIST PLATFORM WHICH WILL ALLOW PHCS ACCESS TO CLOSED LOOP REFERRALS FOR COMMUNITY SERVICES THAT ARE AVAILABLE TO THEIR PATIENTS THAT PRESENT WITH SDOH RISK FACTORS. LASTLY, LAHCCN WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE PHCS WITH ANALYTICS VIA DASHBOARDS, PREDICTIVE ANALYTIC TOOLS AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.