Quick Finds: Finance

Prepare Now, Save Later - New Markets Tax Credits Can Save Millions on Your Future Capital Project (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: We will provide a general overview of the NMTC program, the timing of upcoming funding rounds, the process of completing a NMTC transaction and the myriad benefits of doing so. We’ll also review other sources of financing that can be leveraged along with NMTCs. More Details...

Cost Allocation: Getting the Basics Right (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: To assist health center finance and accounting staff in preparing for the transition from fee-for-service to value-based care, The Delta Center for a Thriving Safety Net is hosting a webinar training series, Understanding Your Costs in an Evolving Payment Environment, facilitated by Capital Link. This first webinar will provide a detailed review of the methodology for allocating costs in a fee-for-service accounting environment (direct, indirect, and overhead), and an introduction to how “costing” will differ in a value-based system.  More Details...

Optimizing Team Resources: Patient/Provider Scheduling and Panel Size (2020). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: Health centers continue to devote significant resources to the transition to a team-based model of primary care delivery. From defining target outcomes to simplifying scheduling templates to aligning panel size, the participant will learn a replicable process for moving forward with each of their primary care teams through what is often a contentious and divisive operational imperative. More Details...

So You Want to Start a Health Center? (2019). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This publication is a guide for health care providers and organizations, public agencies, or community-based organizations and individuals interested in becoming part of the Health Center Program. This guide outlines the many considerations and recommended steps a community must consider for assessing readiness to apply to become a community health center. It also provides links to resources and toolkits that support each step of the process. More Details...

Modules on Board Financial Oversight (2019). Resource Type: E-Learning. Description: The Modules on Board Financial Oversight were produced by NACHC and feature subject matter experts from BKD. This five-part series addresses the board’s role in financial oversight, how to read key financial statements, and highlights some key financial performance indicators typically monitored by health center boards. The content in the modules is foundational and intended for those new to board service, board members who want to build their confidence related to financial oversight, or board members that want a refresher on this topic. The Modules can be viewed by individual board members, by the full board as part of its own ongoing board education,* or during new board member orientation.* The Modules include: Module 1: The Board's Role in Financial Oversight Module 2: Reading and Understanding the Balance Sheet (Statement of Financial Position) Module 3: Reading and Understanding the Income Statement (Statement of Activities) Module 4: Understanding the Importance of Cash Flow Module 5: Key Financial Performance Indicators More Details...

Policy Options for Improving Dental Coverage for People on Medicare (2019). Resource Type: Publication. Description: The Kaiser Family Foundation just released an “Issue Brief” which identifies several potential approaches for improving dental coverage for Medicare beneficiaries. Included in the options are OPEN’s recommendation to include an extensive dental benefit under Medicare Part B. Also included in the Issue Brief is the work OPEN has been doing to get federal policymakers to expand the types of “medically necessary” dental services that are covered. More Details...

Project Highlight: The Floating Hospital, NY (2019). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This summary describes The Floating Hospital, Inc.’s (TFH) expansion efforts in Long Island City, NY, highlighting the capital project planning, financing, and estimated community impact of a new $7.5 million health center capital facility. More Details...

Project Highlight: Primecare Community Health, IL (2019). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This summary describes PrimeCare Community Health, Inc.’s expansion efforts in Chicago, IL, highlighting the capital project planning, financing, and estimated community impact of a new $8 million health center capital project. More Details...

NACHC Payment Reform Readiness Assessment Tool (2019). Resource Type: Publication. Description: The preparedness assessment is designed to begin the conversation among health center leadership, staff, and key stakeholders/partners about successful engagement in payment reform models. More Details...

Legal Requirements and Issues Concerning Wraparound Payments to FQHCs (2019). Resource Type: Publication. Description: The federal law addressing the Medicaid FQHC PPS contains special provisions regarding payments to FQHCs for services rendered under contract with a Medicaid managed care organization (MCO). In essence, states are required to make payments to FQHCs to cover the difference between amounts paid to the FQHC by a Medicaid managed care organization (MCO) and the FQHC’s PPS rate (if the latter is higher).3 These supplemental payments, which are made directly from the state to the FQHC, are sometimes referred to as “wraparound” payments. This Issue Brief provides an overview of the law relating to wraparound payments to FQHCs, and identifies several current key policy issues relating to FQHCs’ participation in Medicaid managed care. More Details...

Achieving Social Determinants of Health Goals through Capital Expansion (2019). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: The Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) can be a powerful framework to help health centers become an integral part of a community that sets the foundation for health. Health centers are increasingly addressing SDOH through their capital projects, such as co-located health and housing units, community gardens, gyms, and building space for financial counseling. More Details...

Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) Frequently Asked Questions: Compliance with HRSA Requirements for Scope of Project, Patient Access and Patient Payments (2019). Resource Type: Publication. Description: In practice, SUD-related services encompass various types of treatments based on the specific addiction disorder. One component is the provision of Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) services – a strategy that combines both drug and behavioral therapies to combat substance use disorders, and which may include opioid treatment programs (OTPs) such as Buprenorphine Therapy, non-opioid medication treatments and classes, and various behavioral health therapies. This Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document focuses on some of the more common questions related to the application of HCP requirements to the provision of MAT services. In particular, this FAQ addresses questions that often arise regarding the relationship between MAT services and the health center’s overall “scope of project,” patient access within the context of the HCP requirement to offer services to all residents of the service area, and patient payments for MAT services. More Details...

Defining an Effective Change in Scope (2019). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This document explains the definition of a Medicaid change in scope and why this process is important for payment and care transformation. More Details...

Financing Medical-Legal Partnerships: View From The Field (2019). Resource Type: Publication. Description: To date, over 350 health organizations - including over 120 HRSA funded health centers -have implemented medical-legal partnerships (MLPs). This fact sheet draws on national survey data from these organizations and their partnering legal organizations to describe programs’ average budgets as well as a variety of health, legal, and philanthropic funding streams that currently fund MLPs. It also discusses how MLPs are adapting to meet their funding challenges and highlights examples of programs implementing innovative Medicaid financing models to pay for MLP services. More Details...

Using Financial and Operational Data to Plan for Growth (2019). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: Develop a framework for identifying strengths, challenges, and opportunities for performance improvement in preparation for growth, including best practices from Capital Link's one-on-one work with health centers. More Details...

Medicaid FQHC PPS Checklist (2019). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This resource outlines important information regarding the Medicaid FQHC Prospective Payment System. Federal law requires that State Medicaid agencies pay federally-qualified health centers (FQHCs or “health centers”) using a prospective payment system (PPS). This Medicaid FQHC Prospective Payment System Checklist is designed to assist FQHCs and Primary Care Associations (PCAs) in assessing FQHCs’ PPS rates and in pursuing strategies to make the PPS methodology work better. More Details...

Health Centers as Assets in Their Community: Assessing Your Environment (Market Assessment) (2019). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: This session is designed to provide attendees with a tour of the range of research resources available for health centers to assess market opportunities (many of them are free for all to use). We will review techniques for how to determine the size and location of the low-income, uninsured and under-served population, estimate the level of unmet need, and translate this information into workforce needs and a preliminary capital project budget. More Details...

Looking at PACE...An Opportunity for Community Health Centers (2019). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: Join us to learn more about Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) and how to implement a program at your health center to better serve the growing population of patients aged 55 and older with chronic conditions, while supporting their independent living in the community. More Details...

Managing Your Health Center's Cost of Care (2018). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: This session focused on the factors that influence the cost of care, providing information from new resources – a Capital Link study examining four-year trends across a series of cost-focused ratios and an updated NACHC issue brief providing a methodology for calculating costs. More Details...

Cost Per Visit: Measuring Health Center Performance (2018). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Developed by Capital Link and the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) as an update to NACHC’s original 2003 publication,Cost Per Visit – Measuring Health Center Performance, reviews in detail the process and methodology for calculating the component costs of care with a focus on cost per visit across all service lines — medical, dental, mental health (including substance abuse), and vision services. It also examines methods for reducing health center costs through population health management, global payment methodologies, and tying reimbursements to outcomes. More Details...

Medicaid Accountable Care Organizations: A Case Study with Hennepin Health (2018). Resource Type: Publication. Description: State Medicaid agencies are increasingly utilizing ACOs as an approach to redesign their health care delivery systems, and participating care providers in these states will experience significant changes in reimbursements and service organization/delivery. Through the lens of Hennepin Health, this publication examines key challenges, next steps, and lessons learned at one HCH program participating in an ACO. More Details...

Medicaid Accountable Care Organizations: A Case Study with Boston HCH Program (2018). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This case study examines how these changes to ACOs will impact BHCHP and other Massachusetts HCH programs—and how these issues might be common to other states implementing (or considering) ACOs as part of their health care delivery redesign. More Details...

Payment Innovation and Health Center Dental Programs: Case Studies from Three States (2018). Resource Type: Publication. Description: As dental care reimbursement follows the trends of healthcare overall towards value-based payment reimbursement, lessons from pioneers in dental payment innovation will inform effective health center strategies that will both strengthen the dental safety network and improve the oral health of the communities they serve. This document outlines interviews from organizations in three states on how health center dental programs are adapting clinical care systems under payment innovation incentives. More Details...

Best Practices in Capital Planning and Financing (2018). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: Capital projects are complicated for most health centers, but become more manageable when following a methodical process. This session with provide an overview of Capital Link's new resource Steps to Success: A Toolkit for Navigating a Capital Development Venture, a guideline of the steps involved in planning a capital project. We will also review resources available for each step of the planning process, and financing options for health centers, including New Markets Tax Credits. More Details...

The Fundamentals of Developing a FQHC APM (2017). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: This webinar provides the basis for developing capitated FQHC APM and some best practices. More Details...

Medical Respite Care: Financing Approaches (2017). Resource Type: Publication. Description: The Council’s “Medical Respite Care: Financing Approaches” brief details practical considerations for creating or growing financially sustainable medical respite care programs. As communities look to reduce health care costs and improve patient outcomes, medical respite care programs fill a critical need for people without homes. To help fund this vital care, our brief details medical respite, provides a rationale for creating such programs, outlines financing approaches, and suggests steps for effective implementation. More Details...

The Value Proposition for Population Health Management for Health Centers: Calculating ROI on your PHM investment (2017). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Measuring return on investment ROI and the value of population health management is an emerging concern for health centers.  Calculating ROI on HIT investment is complex, and few health centers have experience in this endeavor.  The definition of value varies by type and size of provider, patient population, and other factors, and may be unique to an organization.  This white paper discusses principles and approaches to measure the value proposition for population health management for health centers.  Although few examples exist, we present the results of one health center’s measurement of the value of PHM. Measuring return on investment ROI and the value of population health management is an emerging concern for health centers.  Calculating ROI on HIT investment is complex, and few health centers have experience in this endeavor.  The definition of value varies by type and size of provider, patient population, and other factors, and may be unique to an organization.  This white paper discusses principles and approaches to measure the value proposition for population health management for health centers.  Although few examples exist, we present the results of one health center’s measurement of the value of PHM. Download the white paper below. More Details...

Health Center Stories (2017). Resource Type: Publication. Description: To give health centers insights on the capital development process, Capital Link regularly profiles health centers that have successfully completed their capital funding strategy. These client stories illustrate how health centers are striving to expand to meet the needs of their communities, using a wide variety of financing structures to achieve the goal of moving ahead with their capital projects. More Details...

Introduction to Value-Based Payment for Health Centers: What is Value-Based Payment and why are Health Centers Considering Payment Reform? (2016). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This HITEQ brief introduces value-based payment and role of health centers as payment models shift. The brief answers key questions about health centers’ engagement in value-based payment, including health-center specific Alternative Payment Methodology (APM), reasons to engage in payment reform, the shifts in primary care payment going forward, and the transition to value-based payment. Value-based payment is a systematic method of paying for care that rewards the cost-effective improvement of the health and well-being of a population.  Payment reform is changing current volume-based payment system to alternative payment models (APMs) that link payment to outcomes and align financial incentives with providing value. By engaging in value-based payment models, health centers can lay the foundation for financial sustainability, high quality care, and engaged staff. This resource outlines value based payment and payment reform specifically tailored to the health center environment. More Details...

Building Resources to Support Civil Legal Aid Access in HRSA-Funded Health Centers (2016). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This issue brief describes how health centers used supplemental funding to anchor MLP services as part of enabling services activities. It shares the experiences of health centers from Hawai’i to New Hampshire that received expanded services awards from HRSA and used them for legal-related enabling services, and extrapolates lessons for other health centers about the impact of collaborations between health centers and civil legal aid services and how to leverage funding opportunities for fostering medical-legal partnerships. More Details...

What Questions Should I Ask About My Health Insurance (2016). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This publication is for patients to provide basic information about how health insurance may affect the cost of a visit. This document is editable and can be modified by the health center. More Details...

Que Preguntas Deberia Hacer Sobre Mi Seguro Medico (2016). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This publication is for Spanish-speaking patients to provide basic information about how health insurance may affect the cost of a visit. This document is editable and can be modified by the health center. More Details...

Managed Care and Homeless Populations: Linking the HCH Community and MCO Partners (2016). Resource Type: Publication. Description: The brief includes the health care needs of this group, describes Health Care for the Homeless projects and the patients receiving care in these venues, a description of managed care, common goals between both entities, and issues that both providers and plans should consider when creating or strengthening partnerships. Because health care providers and insurance plans use different language, the terms “patient” and “member” are used throughout this brief to refer to the individuals being served. More Details...

That Was Easy Understanding Health Center Finances for Board Members (2015). Resource Type: Archived Webinar . Description: An overview of health center finance topics appropriate for board members without a financial background, presented in the context of the 19 HRSA program requirements. More Details...

Integrating Medical and Financial Health (43313). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This publication summarizes the impact of financial stability on health, and provides guidelines for creating a medical-financial partnership in a health center. More Details...

How CHCs Are Funded - The Revenue Cycle (2015). Resource Type: Archived Webinar . Description: Training on understanding how CHCs are funded and the role that staff play in the health center’s financial viability. Staff at CHCs often have limited or no understanding of where funds that support center activities and staff salaries come from. This webcast will provide HC staff knowledge of the role that billing, co-pays, SFS and collections play in the financial viability of the health center and how they are part of that role from the front desk to the provider. More Details...

Health and Housing Partnerships: Progress Towards a Tobacco-Free Community (43881). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: This webinar reviews the requirements of HUD’s smoke-free rule and identifies behavioral health treatment strategies for tobacco use disorder. More Details...