ARcare

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced recently that 500 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC), including 12 Arkansas locations, have been selected for the FQHC Advanced Primary Care Practice demonstration project from over 800 applicants.  The 500 community health centers in 44 States across the country will receive approximately $42 million over three years to improve the coordination and quality of care they deliver to people with Medicare and other patients.  The initiative is designed to evaluate the impact of the advanced primary care practice model, al

U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln stated, “Community Health Centers are a critical component of what is right and good about health care reform,” during her address to CHCA Annual Conference attendees. Craig Kennedy, Associate VP of Federal and State Affairs for NACHC, expressed his feelings that Community Health Centers are not simply the best model of care for the poor and uninsured, but are the best model of care for all primary health care. These sentiments pervaded this year’s conference. The conference theme, “Inspiring a Culture of Excellence: Innovation, Leadership, Quality,” aimed to prepare the Arkansas CHC staff members, board members, and partners in attendance for the landscape change of health care reform implementation. Over 200 attendees, exhibitors, and sponsors participated in this year’s conference.