Overview
Community health centers (CHCs) depend heavily on health information technology (HIT) to enhance patient care and outcomes, bridge the digital divide with underserved populations, and improve digital health equity. The Health Center Controlled Network (HCCN) within the League spearheads initiatives to advance a wide range of HIT improvement projects among CHCs. The HCCN plays a pivotal role in supporting CHCs on their HIT journey, aiding with electronic health record (EHR) implementation and management, data utilization, Artificial Intelligence, digital health tools, cybersecurity preparedness, and reporting tool development.
What is the HCCN?
The HCCN is a HRSA-funded grant program that supports the development and operation of safety-net provider networks. By enhancing health center operations, public health initiatives, and efficiency through HIT, the HCCN assists health centers in adopting HIT, with a strong focus on the management and optimization of complex electronic health record (EHR), practice management, and reporting systems. Also, the HCCN helps develop HIT infrastructure that supports sharing information between health centers and hospitals, primary care associations, local health plans, and state or local health departments.
What Services Does the HCCN Provide?
- Health IT Implementation: Activities emphasize effective utilization of health IT solutions across all health center sites to enhance quality of care, individual health outcomes, and population health.
- Data Quality and Reporting: Activities focus on improving comprehensive, integrated, high-quality data reporting across all participating health centers to enhance data collection, analysis, and reporting capabilities.
- Health Information Exchange (HIE) and Population Health Management: Expand secure electronic data exchange with patients, unaffiliated providers, and organizations to support patient-centered health care delivery and population health.
- Quality Improvement: Activities enhance clinical and operational quality improvements, thereby improving patient outcomes and positively impacting provider and staff burden.
- Cybersecurity: Through training and technical support, sharing best practices, vendor evaluations, and assistance with HIPAA annual security risk assessments, the HCCN helps health centers prepare for and mitigate cyber threats.
Quick Facts
The HCCN of Massachusetts includes 36 Federally Qualified Health Centers. While the HCCN is vendor agnostic, the network supports 5 of the top EHR platforms, including:
- Athena
- eCW
- OCHIN
- Epic
- NextGen
To see how the National HCCN Collaborative works to support health centers across the country: HCCN – Driving Innovation for Community Health Centers Nationwide
