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Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County

Health Information Technology Programs

Health Center Controlled Network (HCCN) Program

HCCN Resources (Click here to access the HCCN Resource Page)

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HCCN Program Overview

The CCALAC Health Center Controlled Network (herein referred to as HCCN/HCCN Program) is a program of CCALAC that is comprised of 46 CCALAC member Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Look-Alikes with more than 300 primary clinic sites serving over 1,000,000 patients. The current HCCN Program is funded through July 31, 2025 by a grant from the United States Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

Health Center Controlled Networks (HCCNs) are networks of health centers that work together to strengthen and leverage health information technology (IT) to improve health centers’ operational and clinical practices, resulting in better health outcomes for the communities they serve. CCALAC’s HCCN will use funding to support health centers in leveraging health IT and data to deliver high-quality, culturally competent, equitable, and comprehensive primary health care, with a specific focus on improvements in:

  • Clinical quality,
  • Patient-centered care, and
  • Provider and staff well-being

HRSA-funded HCCNs work with State and Regional Primary Care Associations (PCAs), HRSA’s Health IT Evaluation and Quality Center (HITEQ), and other National Training and Technical Assistance Partners (NTTAPs). CCALAC’s HCCN Program will provide technical assistance services, patient education resources, marketing resources, and workflow/operations trainings to participating health centers that focus on the goal areas laid out in its current HCCN Work Plan. For questions, please reach out to Raymond Ople at rople@ccalac.org.

This funding is authorized by Section 330(e)(1)(C) of the Public Health Service Act, (42 U.S.C. 254b(e)(1)(C)).

General HCCN Program Requirements

Continued participation in the HCCN program requires that the health center leaders work towards achieving the goals above and commit to doing the following activities (as documented in the HCCN MOA):

  • Designate a “HCCN Lead” (i.e., a primary HCCN point-of-contact) within the health center who is dedicated to the implementation of the project activities
  • Designate a HCCN executive sponsor within the health center who will be accountable for the health center’s commitment and active engagement in the project
  • Work towards achieving HCCN project objectives for all of the organization’s sites and service locations
  • Work with the HCCN to continually develop and update this work plan as needed throughout the project period

Furthermore, the health center must ensure that participation in the HCCN activities will not have a deleterious effect on the quality of health services currently being provided to patients.

HRSA HCCN Focus Goals and Areas

CCALAC’s HCCN will execute project activities supporting participating health centers in line with the following HRSA-defined focus areas and goals (see HCCN Goals and Objectives Guide 2022-2025 for more details):

Objective 1: Patient Engagement

Increase the percentage of PHCs that support patients and families’ participation in their health care through expanded use of integrated digital health tools (e.g., electronic messages sent through patient portals to providers, telehealth visits, remote monitoring devices).

Objective 2: Patient Privacy and Cybersecurity

Increase the percentage of PHCs with formally defined health information and technology policies and practices that advance security to protect individual privacy and organizational access.

Objective 3: Social Risk Factor Intervention

Increase the percentage of PHCs that use patient-level data on social risk factors to support patient care plans for coordinated, effective interventions.

Objective 4: Disaggregated, Patient-level Data

Increase the percentage of PHCs with systems and staff aligned with submitting disaggregated, patient-level data via UDS+.

Objective 5: Interoperable Data Exchange and Integration

Increase the percentage of PHCs with the capacity to integrate clinical information with data from clinical and nonclinical sources across the health care continuum (e.g., hospitals, specialty providers, departments of health, health information exchanges (HIE), care coordinators, social service/housing organizations) to optimize care coordination and workflows.

Objective 6: Data Utilization

Increase the percentage of PHCs that use data strategies, such as use of predictive analytics with data visualization, to support performance improvement and value-based care activities.

Objective 7: Leveraging Digital Heath Tools

Increase the percentage of PHCs that support providers and staff in achieving and maintaining proficiency in the use of digital health tools (e.g., telehealth and remote patient monitoring tools).

Objective 8: Health IT Usability and Adoption

Increase the percentage of PHCs that improve health IT usability and adoption by providers, staff, and patients (e.g., align EHRs with clinical workflows, improve structured data capture in and/or outside of EHRs, use of metadata to improve EHR user experience).

Objective 9: Health Equity

Utilize a health IT innovation (e.g., digital patient engagement tools, remote patient monitoring, emergency preparedness, artificial intelligence) to improve the health status of their PHCs’ communities by reducing health disparities and/or addressing social determinants of health.

Objective 10: Improving Digital Health Tools

Enhance the quality and coordination of health services by focusing on improving the functionality of digital health tools (e.g., EHRs, virtual care platforms, patient portals, analytic systems) in one or more of the following areas: (1) support relationships between providers and staff with patients, their families, and the community; (2) support high-functioning care teams; (3) integrate care delivery across systems and communities; (4) reduce workload; and (5) make care more equitable.

Program Implementation

CCALAC will assign each HCCN health center a project coach who will provide project assessment, project management, and process improvement technical assistance services within the scope of the HCCN Program. Many of these coaches will be from contracted HCCN service partner consulting firms, and wherever appropriate and feasible, CCALAC will continue to collaborate with service partner consultants from the previous project period to provide technical assistance support to participating health centers. CCALAC’s HCCN project activities will be executed in a manner that complements the activities of other ongoing practice transformation initiatives that HCCN health centers may already be participating in. Participation is dependent on achieving specific program goals detailed in this Work Plan. HCCN Program services are matched to individual health center profiles based on existing resources, progress on HCCN focus areas, and health center needs.