Community Health Centers of Lane County receives national recognition for quality care and increasing access
The Community Health Centers of Lane County (CHCLC), a division of Lane County Health & Human Services (LCH&HS), recently received national recognition in four areas from The Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA). These recognitions include Access Enhancer (AE), Advancing Health Information Technology (HIT), Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH), and Health Disparities Reducer (HDR). HRSA is a federal agency that provides healthcare access to the nation’s highest-need communities, such as those that have been economically and socially marginalized, including people with low income, children, parents, rural communities, and more.
“These recognitions show the dedication of the Community Health Centers and H&HS to expanding our capabilities to provide quality, and equitable access to healthcare to those in our community who are most in need,” said CHCLC Chief Operations Officer Suzanne Roelof.
In 2022, the CHCLC served nearly 26,000 patients, a 12 percent increase from 2021, providing an umbrella of healthcare services to meet community needs, such as general medical care, chronic disease management, mental health services, and more. The CHCLC increased positive health outcomes for patients served through accessible services, including the adoption and expansion of the CHCLC’s capacity to provide telehealth services, streamlining patient-provider communication, and removing many barriers to healthcare access in our community. The culmination of this work earned both HRSA’s AE recognition and the Advancing HIT Quality.
“This recognition is an acknowledgment of the great work at our health centers, which continues to focus on providing high quality care to the most vulnerable residents of our community. It also represents Lane County H&HS' continued strategic focus on eliminating health disparities, especially for those who are economically and socially marginalized,” said LCH&HS Director Eve Gray.
The Community Health Centers have prioritized reducing the health gap in Lane County by providing access to ambulatory healthcare and by meeting or exceeding the requirements for primary health centers against national standards. This approach involves patient-focused care to improve health equity, lower healthcare costs, and ensure that health outcomes are similar across different racial and ethnic backgrounds, especially in low infant birth rates and chronic disease management. These outcomes include keeping low birth weights at or below 7.7 percent, increasing patient hypertension control to 61 percent or more, and reducing the prevalence of patient uncontrolled diabetes at or below 11.6 percent. The Community Health Centers’ commitment over the years to reducing health disparities and ensuring equitable access to positive health outcomes for all residents in Lane County has resulted in receiving the PCMH and HDR recognition from HRSA.