In August, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced $125 million in Quality Improvement grant awards awarded to 1,352 community health centers. Funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), health centers will use these funds to continue to improve quality, efficiency, and the effectiveness of healthcare delivery in the communities they serve.
To further its commitment to improving the overall quality, efficiency, and value of health care services for the more than 27 million patients served at health centers, HRSA provides Quality Improvement Awards (QIA). These awards recognize the highest performing health centers nationwide as well as those health centers that have made significant quality improvement gains from the previous year. Azara is proud to share the number of our HRSA-funded health center customers who are in the top echelon of the Improving Quality of Care Awards category. They include:
Health Center Quality Leaders – 87 Azara customers out of 411 centers!
Health Center Quality Leaders achieved the best overall clinical performance among all health centers and placed in the top 30% of the adjusted quartile rankings for clinical quality measures (CQMs).
National Quality Leaders – Five Azara customers out of the 36 awarded!
National Quality Leaders exceeded national clinical quality benchmarks (including Healthy People 2020 goals) for chronic disease management, preventive care, or perinatal/prenatal care.
The Quality Improvement Awards also supports HRSA’s strategic goal to improve access to quality health care and directly supports the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s goal of moving towards a value-based payment system. Value-based healthcare is a healthcare delivery model in which providers are paid based on patient health outcomes – a model that requires community health centers to develop a population health, care coordination, and data analytics strategy.
Congratulations to over 90 Azara customers for their dedication to improving patient lives and for working together to transform their practices.