High Plains Earns Awards and Funds from U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

Recently the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services awarded $36.3 million in Affordable Care Act funding to expand quality improvement in community health centers.

The funding is used to reward community health centers that have a proven record in clinical quality improvement, including better patient care, and expanding and improving systems  to provide the highest quality of primary care services to the communities they serve.

Health Centers receiving these funds are recognized for high levels of quality performance in one or more of the following categories.

• Health center quality leaders received awards if they were among the top 30 percent of all health centers that achieved the best overall clinical outcomes, demonstrating their ability to focus on quality in all aspects of their clinical operations.
• National quality leaders received awards for exceeding national clinical benchmarks for chronic disease management, preventive care, and perinatal/prenatal care, demonstrating the critical role that health centers play in promoting higher quality health care nationwide.
• Clinical Quality Improvers received awards if they demonstrate at least a 10 percent improvement in clinical quality measures between 2012 and 2013, showing a significant improvement in the health of the patients they serve.
• Electronic Health Record reporters received funding if they used EHRs to report clinical quality measure data on all of their patients, a key transformational step in driving quality improvement for health center patients across the nation.

Of the eighteen community health centers in Colorado, High Plains Community Health Center located in Lamar was the only center that earned awards in all four categories. Jay Brooke, CEO of HPCHC notes “It is a great honor for High Plains to be recognized in this manner and is a tribute to the commitment of all our staff to deliver quality care and our patients for working with us to improve their health.”

To learn more about High Plains Community Health Center visit http://www.highplainschc.net.