Quick Finds: Governance

Medical-Legal Partnership as a Community Health Strategy to Improve Maternal Health Access & Outcomes Learning Collaborative: Session 2: Planning and Implementing the Medical-Legal Partnership Workflow (2024). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: These Learning Collaborative sessions are designed to empower participants to develop a deeper understanding of how the social determinants of health impact maternal health. Learn how to use the Medical-Legal Partnership as a way to improve maternal and child health outcomes for health center patients and their communities. Over four informative sessions, this Learning Collaborative will provide T/TA to health center staff to develop strategies and action plans for aligning MLP activities with potential policy and population health approaches. We encourage health centers that work with multiple special populations, including pregnant women and children, to share their insights and strategies that can be adapted to communities’ unique needs. More Details...

Clinical Issues & Health Center Boards: Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Care (2024). Resource Type: n.a.. Description: This short resource discusses Adolescent and Sexual Reproductive Health (ASRH) care and how a health center board can support this service line through governance-level functions. This article is part of a broader series on ASRH; learn more at https://www.nachc.org/quality4teenshealth/. More Details...

Medical-Legal Partnership as a Community Health Strategy to Improve Maternal Health Access and Outcomes Learning Collaborative: Session 1: Leveraging Clinical and Non-Clinical Data to Understand the Social Risk Factors (2024). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: These Learning Collaborative sessions are designed to empower participants to develop a deeper understanding of how the social determinants of health impact maternal health. Participants will learn how to use the Medical-Legal Partnership as a way to improve maternal and child health outcomes for health center patients and their communities. Over four informative sessions, this Learning Collaborative will provide T/TA to health center staff to develop strategies and action plans for aligning MLP activities with potential policy and population health approaches. We encourage health centers that work with multiple special populations, including pregnant women and children, to share their insights and strategies that can be adapted to communities’ unique needs. More Details...

Tips for Effective Health Center Board Meetings (2024). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Board meetings are where a health center board carries out its governance role. This resource provides information on meeting practices used by health center boards and tips for better meetings. It also includes sample tools including a sample board work plan, meeting agenda, board meeting evaluation, and board culture statement. More Details...

Learning Collaborative: Introduction to Patient Safety: Session 3: Supporting Patient Safety with Huddles, Reporting, and Surveillance (2023). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: The Renaye James Healthcare Advisors’ Learning Collaborative will cover various aspects of safe patient care, including safety measure/metric identification, data collection, leadership commitment, facility requirements, regulatory requirements, external collaborations, and governance involvement. Federal, state, local regulations, and accrediting organizations require the delivery of safe medical care for patients, staff, and visitors. These sessions will also illustrate how the Board of Directors promotes a culture that prioritizes safety and includes safety metrics in its strategic oversight. Participants will identify a hypothetical patient safety event that could occur at their health center and will be asked to draft a plan for investigation and response. More Details...

Farmworker Health Network (FHN) Key Resources 2023 (PDF) (2023). Resource Type: Publication. Description: The Farmworker Health Network (FHN) is committed to supporting the development of leadership within Community and Migrant Health Centers and increasing access to care for the farmworker population. This document is a series of resources collected from FHN partners. More Details...

Farmworker Health Network (FHN) Key Resources 2023 (2023). Resource Type: Publication. Description: The Farmworker Health Network (FHN) is committed to supporting the development of leadership within Community and Migrant Health Centers and increasing access to care for the farmworker population. This document is a series of resources collected from FHN partners. More Details...

Learning Collaborative: Introduction to Improving Patient Safety: Session 2: Promoting Patient Safety through Patient Centered Care (2023). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: The Renaye James Healthcare Advisors’ Learning Collaborative will cover various aspects of safe patient care, including safety measure/metric identification, data collection, leadership commitment, facility requirements, regulatory requirements, external collaborations, and governance involvement. Federal, state, local regulations, and accrediting organizations require the delivery of safe medical care for patients, staff, and visitors. The content will reinforce how focusing on patient safety by all departments and staff positively impacts patients and the organization. Participants will identify a hypothetical patient safety event that could occur at their health center and will be asked to draft a plan for investigation and response. More Details...

Health Center Board Roles & Responsibilities (2023). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This two-page resource discusses the three major categories of health center board roles: Strategy, Oversight & Policy, and Board Functioning. It also contains a sample statement of board responsibilities that can be customized by health centers; the sample captures both the general roles of a board and requirements of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Health Center Program. More Details...

Health Center Board Practices and Needs Assessment 2023 (English and Spanish): Findings Report and Governance Benchmarking Tools (2023). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This resource, “Health Center Board Practices and Needs Assessment 2023: Findings Report and Governance Benchmarking Tools,” includes an overview of the assessment; addresses findings and tips related to the three major categories of board roles: Strategy, Oversight and Policy, and Board Functioning; and provides information on additional training and resource needs. This publication also includes a dashboard tool to allow centers to compare certain governance practices to other center boards across the country. More Details...

COO Competencies and Professional Development Tool (2023). Resource Type: Toolkit. Description: This tool is appropriate for use by a wide variety of stakeholders, including health center Chief Executive Officers (CEO), COOs and other Leaders; Board of Directors; Human Resources; Search Firms; Primary Care Associations; Training Organizations; and more. It is our hope that this tool will provide the structure and common language to help define, develop, and sustain excellence in operations leadership of health centers across the United States. More Details...

Key Online Resources for Training Health Center Board Members (2023). Resource Type: Publication. Description: NCFH created this guide to key resources to help health centers incorporate online learning into their board governance training plans. More Details...

The Board's Role in Strategic Planning/La Función de la Junta Directiva en la Planificación Estratégica (2023). Resource Type: Micro-Learning. Description: Strategic planning is the board and management team’s attempt to create the health center’s future, achieve its vision, advance its mission, and exert some influence over an uncertain future. This short module identifies key components of a strategic planning process and discusses the role of the board in strategic planning. More Details...

Key Strategies for Effective Change Management in Health Centers (2023). Resource Type: Publication. Description: NCFH created this visual resource to illustrate key strategies for effective change management in community and migrant health centers. More Details...

Service Line Expansion: A Guide for Health Center Boards (English and Spanish) (2023). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Health centers sometimes consider adding new services. If your health center is considering expanding the services it offers, your board of directors is a critical part of the process. This guide provides health center boards with an overview of service line expansion including why a health center might consider such expansion; information on the board’s role in the process; and questions to help guide decisions around expansion. More Details...

Geographic Expansion: A Guide for Health Center Boards (English and Spanish) (2023). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Health centers sometimes consider expanding geographically, often by adding new sites. If your health center is considering expanding geographically, your board of directors is a crucial part of the process. This guide provides health center boards with an overview of geographic expansion. It provides an overview of why a health center might consider such expansion; information on the board’s role in the process; and questions to help guide decisions around expansion. More Details...

Becoming a Teaching Health Center: Tips for Health Center Boards (English and Spanish) (2023). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This resource offers tips for boards when a health center is considering starting the process to become a Teaching Health Center. It offers a case example of how one board used these strategies. More Details...

Tips for Boards on Health Center Workforce Challenges and Opportunities (2023). Resource Type: Elearning. Description: NACHC has developed two resources – an article and companion video – related to workforce for health center boards. The article provides tips that a board can consider in partnership with the CEO to help address workforce challenges and opportunities through board-level functions, including strategic planning, budget approval, policy approval, and other forms of oversight and board development. Available in English and Spanish. A companion video provides a summary of the article. Boards may find it helpful to watch the companion video to generate discussion about the board’s role related to workforce challenges and opportunities. More Details...

Engaging Leadership and Organizational Change (2022). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: This talk is from the 2022 Advancing Excellence in Transgender Health Care Conference. More Details...

Tips for Health Center Boards for Evaluating the Sliding Fee Discount Program (2022). Resource Type: Microlearning. Description: Health center boards are required to adopt, review and evaluate at least once every three years, and, as needed, approve updates to the Sliding Fee Discount Program as noted in Chapter 19: Board Authority in the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Health Center Program Compliance Manual. This short video provides tips on how boards can work with the health center CEO to evaluate and approve updates to the Sliding Fee Discount Program. It contains sample data and questions a board may wish to ask as part of this process. More Details...

Sliding Fee Discount Program: The Fundamentals for Health Center Boards (2022). Resource Type: Microlearning. Description: This short video outlines the fundamentals of the Sliding Fee Discount Program that is required under the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Health Center Program. This video is intended for health center boards and addresses the following topics: What is the Sliding Fee Discount Program and why is it important? What does a health center board need to know about the Sliding Fee Discount Program? Tips for boards related to the Sliding Fee Discount Program More Details...

Four Fundamentals of Value-Based Payment for Health Center Boards (2022). Resource Type: eLearning. Description: This brief video outlines four fundamental things boards and board members should know about value-based payment. This resource might be helpful for new board member orientation or for a full board to view as part of their ongoing board education. More Details...

Primer on Health Center Pharmacy Operations (2022). Resource Type: Publication. Description: The purpose of this resource is to orient new readers to pharmacy operations at health centers with a specific call-out section for the 340B program. Target audiences are health center C-Suite, Board Members, new health center 340B program staff, pharmacy leaders and new health center staff. More Details...

Manufacturer Restrictions on Contract Pharmacies (2022). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This NACHC Brief explains how Gilead’s new “Contract Pharmacy Integrity Initiative” leads to manufacturer restrictions which require health centers and other covered entities to provide claims-level data from contract pharmacies. Merck has recently included Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in their contract pharmacy restrictions when previously only hospital covered entities were impacted. Restrictions do not apply to in-house/entity owned pharmacies. More Details...

Pharmacy Models: An Introduction for Health Center Boards (2022). Resource Type: eLearning. Description: This short video is intended to provide board members with a high-level overview of various pharmacy models and some of the strategic considerations related to these models. More Details...

The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Health Center Workforce: Challenges and Solutions (2022). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: Despite increasing demand for health care services, health centers indicate a critical shortage of staff necessary to meet that demand. Burnout, stress, depression, etc. have eroded our healthy workforce. This Facebook Live session discussed workforce challenges and how to navigate these challenges to advance well-being. More Details...

Developing Your Financial Playbook for Sound Governance Decision Making (2022). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: This webinar provides a playbook for financial decision making for governing board members as it relates to expansion of service area, delivery of service lines and other significant investments needed to navigate our recovery from the Pandemic. More Details...

Affirming Organizational and Human Resource Policies for an LGBTQIA+ Workforce (2022). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Building a space of equity and inclusion for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, and asexual and all sexual and gender minority (LGBTQIA+) people in health care is a critical step to address health disparities faced by these communities. However, the process of building inclusive spaces is one that takes significant time, analysis, and investment at every level of leadership. This guide presents strategies and considerations in driving organizational change for LGBTQIA+ inclusion and equity in health care. More Details...

Financial Fundamentals & Oversight for Board Members (2022). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: Based on a NACHC Board Member training developed by BKD, this webinar will provide governing board members with a basic understanding of their fiduciary responsibilities related to financial oversight, financial reporting, and performance metrics. This session is geared toward new governing board members, seasoned governing board members looking for a refresher, and the finance team. More Details...

The Role of the Health Center Board Member & Board Recruitment (part 1) (2022). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: CPCA developed a 2-part governance training series based on NACHC developed Governance curriculum. The two, one-hour webinars provide summaries around individual board member responsibilities, the responsibilities of a board as a collective, how to work with the CEO, and tips and tricks around board recruitment, training and retention. More Details...

Federally Qualified Health Center Strategies for Coping with Hospital Closure: Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas (2022). Resource Type: Publication. Description: An in-depth exploration of a rural health center\'s response to the closure of a local hospital and the subsequent impact on the community. (Released in 2022) More Details...

Ten FAQs About Health Center Boards & the CMS Omnibus COVID-19 Staff Vaccination Interim Final Rule (2022). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This short document addresses Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the implications of the CMS Omnibus COVID-19 Staff Vaccination Interim Final Rule (CMS IFR) for health center boards and board members. More Details...

The Board’s Role in Evaluating and Implementing Corporate Consolidation Strategies (2022). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This resource outlines the role of a health center board in evaluating and implementing corporate consolidation strategies such as merger, asset acquisition, and parent-subsidiary model. More Details...

Introduction to the Planning and Financing a Capital Project to Accommodate Integrated Care Learning Collaborative (2022). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: Join Capital Link for an introductory webinar to learn more about our upcoming \"Planning and Financing a Capital Project to Accommodate Integrated Care\" Learning Collaborative and to gain insight on organizational readiness, select financial and operational benchmarks, financial capacity, and how to begin planning for your capital project. Capital Link is launching a fifth year of our capital planning learning collaborative, which provides practical direction and tools for capital project planning, financing, and completing for health centers that anticipate the need for a project in the next one to five years. More Details...

Optimizing People, Place, and Process in Planning Your Facility for Integrated Care (2022). Resource Type: Archived Webinar. Description: This webinar will provide an overview of the most important factors to consider when planning a facility that will accommodate various models of integrated care. Drawing from our publication, “Tools for Creating an Environment that Supports Integration,” released in 2020 and the recently released, “Optimizing People, Place and Process: Resources to Facilitate Integrated Care in FQHCs,” we’ll present guiding principles for creating a place in which integrated care teams can work effectively with each other and the patients they serve. More Details...

Statewide Medicaid Benefit for Medical Respite Care: Issues Informing Benefit Design and Implementation (2022). Resource Type: Publication. Description: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have encouraged states to consider how to address social determinants of health in their Medicaid plans. Washington State Health Care Authority recognizes the benefits of a statewide MRC service, and is proposing it as part of Washington State’s Medicaid Transformation Project Section 1115 Demonstration Renewal Request as a health-related service for Apple Health enrollees in both managed care and FFS delivery systems. More Details...

Legal Lessons Learned from the Pandemic for Health Center Boards (2022). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Some of the health center board governance practices adopted during the pandemic may ensure improved governance for the foreseeable future and beyond. This short resource highlights legally-focused governance lessons learned during the pandemic. It also details considerations for assuring and maintaining a reasonable level of flexibility in the health center’s bylaws and key board-approved policies. More Details...

Expanding Options for Health Care Within Homelessness Services: CoC Partnerships with Medical Respite Care Programs (2022). Resource Type: Publication. Description: A brief to improve health care quality and outcomes for people experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 response by strengthening partnerships between homelessness assistance systems and medical respite care (MRC) providers. This brief features the views of both Continuums of Care (CoCs) and MRC staff about how to best integrate operations at the systemic level, as well as featuring a community spotlight on the CoC-MRC partnership in Yakima, Washington. More Details...

Identifying Outcomes for Medical Respite/ Recuperative Care Programs (2021). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This document is intended to help programs identify specific outcomes and variables that they can feasibly track within their program. More Details...

Board Actions Combating Racism: Case Study of Lowell Community Health Center (2021). Resource Type: Micro-Learning. Description: This video case study highlights the board of Lowell Community Health Center, which passed a Board Resolution Declaring that Racism is a Public Health Crisis. In the video, board members discuss the Resolution and how the board is providing oversight of its implementation. Various discussion questions for boards are included at the end of the video, along with links to resources for additional learning. More Details...

CCHN 2021 Community Health Center Governance Podcast Series (2021). Resource Type: Other. Description: This three-part podcast series provides short, digestible introductions to some of the important parts of being a board member for a CHC. This series is not a comprehensive guide of what it means to be a CHC board member, but rather provides a quick snapshot into relevant governance topics. More Details...

Considerations for Health Center Boards: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice in Governance (2021). Resource Type: Self-Paced Module. Description: Considerations for Health Center Boards on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice in Governance, is a short introductory module intended as a resource for boards starting to explore or reevaluate diversity, equity, and inclusion in health center governance. More Details...

Navigating CEO Transitions: A Toolkit for Health Center Boards (2021). Resource Type: Toolkit. Description: This toolkit provides an overview of steps involved in preparing for a CEO transition, searching for and selecting a CEO, and onboarding and supporting a new CEO. The appendix includes various templates and tools that can be customized by health center boards. More Details...

CEO Succession Planning: A Toolkit for Health Center Boards (2021). Resource Type: Toolkit. Description: This toolkit provides health center boards with guidance on creating a Chief Executive Succession Policy and a Chief Executive Backup Plan. Various templates are included in the toolkit. More Details...

The Role of Health Center Boards in Business Continuity Planning (2021). Resource Type: Publication. Description: Business Continuity Planning is the process that outlines the potential impacts of an unplanned disruption in operations and identifies the steps organizations will take to prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate potential impacts. This short article outlines key considerations for health center boards related to Business Continuity Planning and questions boards can ask the CEO at their health center. More Details...

Hybrid Board Meetings: Our Next Normal? (2021). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This article outlines practices to consider for hybrid board meetings (when some participants are in-person and others are virtual). More Details...

Health Center Boards & HRSA Health Center Program Compliance: Considerations During and After the Pandemic (2021). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This short resource outlines key considerations for health center boards during and after the pandemic related to Health Center Program Compliance, outlines various resources available to boards on Health Center Program Compliance, and includes discussion questions for boards. More Details...

New Board Member Orientation: PowerPoint Template & Facilitator Guide (2021). Resource Type: Template. Description: Ensuring that new board members receive the information and training to prepare them for their new volunteer role is widely recognized as a good practice and is commonly referred to as “board orientation.” This “New Board Member Orientation – PowerPoint Template” can be customized for board orientation at your health center. The template  contains some slides with general information, as well as a series of slides designed to be updated with health center-specific information. An accompanying “Facilitator Guide” to the “New Board Member Orientation – PowerPoint Template” provides an overview of how to use the PowerPoint slides for the purposes of board orientation. These products are available in English and Spanish. More Details...

Tools for Creating an Environment that Supports Integrated Care (2021). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This toolkit equips health centers with the guiding principles and tools needed to create an environment that facilitates integrated care. This resource, developed with support from HRSA, is meant to stimulate project team’s thinking and problem-solving skills related to place planning and build cohesion as they embark on improvement projects. (Released in 2021) More Details...

Performance Benchmarking Toolkit for Rural Health Centers (2021). Resource Type: Publication. Description: This toolkit provides guidance in applying data analysis tools to help rural health centers more effectively track performance, understand key drivers, and incorporate operational insights for financial sustainability. This resource was supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration. (Released 2021) More Details...