QN December 2015

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	QuickNotes
Timely News for Region X Pharmacy Edition

December 2015 QuickLinks
Profile of a Region X Health Center Suite 330 News Career Center	Region X Highlights Professional Development Resources

Thank you to our Annual Sponsors
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Featured Articles

Profile of a Region X Health Center

Lynn Gerlach, Development and Communication Manager, NWRPCA

Every year we gather data from our member health centers and use the information to plan our support, training and technical assistance on their behalf. We’re pretty excited about what we now know about our members, and we’d like to share it with you. We've also taken a stab at "profiling" the typical Region X health center.

Explore the survey results and read what a typical Region X health center looks like

NWRPCA welcomes readers to submit articles in response to our features.

Suite 330: News from NWRPCA »

It's "Pharmacy Month" at NWRPCA!

Pharmacy staff, please let us know how we can help you be successful in your role. Do you need trainings, additional resources, or connections with other pharmacy staff across the region? Send us an email at membership@nwrpca.org and let us know your thoughts

Spotlight on Pharmacy Staff

"Quan Nguyen is a dedicated member of the CHC of Snohomish County pharmacy team. He is an all-around pharmacy team player. His many roles include administrative, leadership, refill authorization and dispensing. He takes on numerous additional duties, working as long or as hard as it takes to get the job done. He also uses his skills as a computer science engineer to automate and find innovative solutions to many of our processes. His commitment to the pharmacy department has been invaluable to both the patients and his co-workers."
-Jessica Isono, Community Health Center of Snohomish County

"International Community Health Services (ICHS) has an outstanding Pharmacy team under the leadership of Jon Sonoda, Pharm.D, CDE, ICHS Pharmacy Manager. ICHS Pharmacy team members' role on the patient care team includes chronic disease management support, managing all ICHS patients taking anticoagulants as well as refill authorizations, prior authorizations and refill requests. The team recently completed a year long process to implement Rx30 pharmacy software which provides additional safety benefits as well as maximizing revenue potential."
-Grace Wang, ICHS

"Richard Leigh is the pharmacy manager and has worked diligently in his short tenure at TCCH to ensure that our pharmacy continues to provide convenient and high quality service to our patients. He collaborates well with patients and adminstration, and our provider staff finds him to be a great resource. Valeria Silva, a full time staff pharmacist, has been with us since the beginning of our pharmacy and has been an integral part of our success. Val consistently demonstrates that she is all about the patient and patient care and strives to be certain that our patients’ medication instructions are clear and understandable. Val and Richard are to thank for the huge success and acceptance of our pharmacy by our patients and providers and for leading the other pharmacists and pharmacy staff. They are an awesome team!"
-Jennifer Robinson, Tri-Cities Community Health

"Lisa Nelson walked into Unity Care NW on May 22, 2013 to start a new pharmacy program. She had a business plan and a pharmacy design put together by the Executive Director, and if that doesn’t make you shudder in horror, I have a Steven King story for you. Remarkably, Lisa opened the pharmacy on October 15^th 2013 and today it is filling an average 240 scripts per day." Read more about Lisa on the NWRPCA website

-Dr. Barb Clure, Unity Care Northwest

Quan Nguyen

ICHS Pharmacy Team

Richard Leigh

Valerie Silva

Lisa Nelson

Coming in January: Focus on Outreach and Enrollment

Do you have an outstanding outreach staff member at your health center?
Please send Member Services Coordinator, Alyssa Panning, a few lines about why that person deserves to be recognized, and a photo, by January 13, and NWRPCA will feature that person here.

A Fond Farewell to Lynn Gerlach

Lynn Gerlach, our terrific Development & Communication (D&C) Program Manager, is leaving us this month to pursue independent consulting under her own banner. Lynn has been an invaluable “change agent” for the organization for almost seven years, first as our Member Services Coordinator, then as Member Services Manager, and finally as our D&C Manager.

During her tenure here, she spearheaded service innovations such as our Annual Measure of Finance, Operations and Productivity (AMFOP), our Health System Transformation project, and our chronic pain collaboration with the UW COPE-REMS Program, and was instrumental in evolving our Patient-Centered Medical Home efforts through a regional task force, refining and promoting our Community Health Leadership Institute, designing and launching our new website and YourMembership association management software system, and initiating our social media presence.

And as if that wasn’t enough, she annually led the development of our HRSA grant proposal, report to stakeholders, member survey, and annual membership meeting, including all our annual awards; grew our membership as lead staff member for our Board membership committee; refined and expanded our bi-monthly electronic newsletter QuickNotes; and, as D&C Manager, consistently secured a wonderful array of exhibitors and sponsors for our conferences and our organization in general! Throughout, Lynn has been a steadfast champion of the community health center model, a clear and consistent advocate for further expanding the model into the population health arena, and a pleasure to work with. Please join us in wishing her the best on her new professional path!

-Bruce Gray, CEO

Congratulations to our Survey Prize Winners

Thanks to everyone who took our annual member survey. These participants will receive their $100 gift certificates soon.

Selma Ramsdell, Eastern Aleutian Tribes
Julie Weisenburg, Moses Lake Community Health Center
Kathryn Laird, Waterfall Community Health Center
Ardys Scott, Community Health Care

NWRPCA Staff Learns about Member Health Centers

Each month Member Services posts interesting and insightful information and photos for a different health center in Region X. During December, our staff is learning all about Kaniksu Health Services in Idaho.

Professional Development

NWRPCA

Opportunities

Confident in your compliance? Following the sweeping changes of 2013-14, including OMB’s Supercircular and HRSA’s PINs on both budgeting/accounting and the sliding fee discount scale, health centers need to position themselves to reduce the risks of waste, fraud and abuse while meeting the key responsibilities for effective administration.

Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell presents Supercircular, Sliding Fee Scale, and Budget Pins: Federal Compliance Requirements for Health Centers
January 21-22, 2016 in Seattle

Instructors: Marcie Zakheim and Ted Waters

Details and registration here

Western Forum for Migrant and Community Health

ACCESS, EQUITY, JUSTICE

Northwest Regional Primary Care Association is looking forward to kicking off 2016 with the Western Forum for Migrant and Community Health! Join us in Portland, Oregon, on February 24-26, 2016 to attend sessions involving agricultural worker health, community health worker programs, community health policy, public health, immigration, partnerships, and leadership development.

The focus for 2016’s Western Forum emphasizes the intersection of primary care and the social determinants of health. A diverse set of sessions with dynamic speakers are featured throughout the three day event. Sessions will focus on exploring community health worker programs, organizational leadership, outreach and enrollment, addressing health inequities through partnerships and community collaborations, and more.

Learn more about the Western Forum

Save the Date: Spring Primary Care Conference
May 14-17
Anchorage, AK

Learn about the latest in primary care in beautiful Alaska! NWRPCA conferences are a cornerstone of our membership services. No matter where you are in your career, the Spring Primary Care Conference has something for you. The spring conference features prominent keynote speakers, powerful breakout sessions, networking with your primary care colleagues, and much more.

There are two days left to submit an abstract for the Spring Primary Care Conference. Don't miss your chance to shape this conference!

Explore the unique history of the CHC and its vital role today

Introduction to Community Health Centers, an interactive, dynamic and easy-to-complete online course, allows you to dive deeper into the world of community health centers (CHCs), exploring the history of the health justice and health equity movement and the roles and responsibilities of the current CHC. Now in their 50th year, CHCs are the critical primary care access points for underserved populations in the United States today.

As this course inherently honors CHCs, we have a special package deal available for health centers! Get full-year access to this special course to use at your CHC for both current and future staff and board. It’s perfect for introducing everyone to the vibrant world of CHCs.

Take the course here

Opportunities from Our Learning Connections Partners

Billing 101 Webinar Series
PMG, Inc.
Don't miss out on this exciting series from PMG, designed specifically for FQHCs.
Learn more

Electronic Data Interchange
January 7, 2016
Payment Posting
January 21, 2016
Unpaid Claims Management
February 4, 2016
Benchmarking and Unpaid Claims Management
February 18, 2016

Two Sides of the Same Coin: Aging and Disability
Northwest ADA Center
This two-part webinar series will address challenges regarding aging individuals with disabilities as both employees and customers.

Part I: Accommodating Older Employees Who Would Never Admit to Having a Disability
January 19
Part II: Serving Older Customers Who Don't See Themselves as Disabled
January 26
Learn more

Seattle Clinical Update on the Management of STDs and HIV Prevention

February 10-11, 2016
Seattle, Washington

Two-day didactic course provides registered participants with training in the most recent advancements in epidemiology, diagnosis, and management of viral and bacterial STDs. This course is designed for clinicians practicing in Federal Region X. Although focusing on STDs in Washington, clinicians from any state are welcome to attend. CME/CNE is offered for this class. An optional Clinical Practicum is available upon completion.

Learn more

National Health Care for the Homeless Council, Spring Regional Training
March 31-April 1, 2016
Denver, CO

Health Care for the Homeless experts across the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains regions of the United States will offer tailored education to clinicians, administrators, consumers, and advocates of homeless health care services.

Learn more

11th Annual Medical-Legal Partnership Summit "Health is a Shared Value"
National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership
April 6-8, 2016
Indianapolis, IN

Each spring, the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership hosts a national conference that brings together hundreds of leaders in government, law, medicine, nursing, public health and social work to share ideas, insights and best practices about how integrating legal care into health care can help combat health-harming social conditions.

Learn more

Health Equity and the Science of HOPE Focus of Healthy Gen’s April Conference
Register Now for Discount!

The New Year is upon us and we are only four short months away from a fantastic event in the health equity movement – Healthy Gen's Coalescing for Change – the Science of HOPE Conference April 19^th and 20^th at the Hilton Seatac Airport & Conference Center. Foundation for Healthy Generations is offering NWRPCA members a 20% discount for this conference.

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Featured Articles

It's "Pharmacy Month" at NWRPCA!