By Amy Brisson, CLC Partner/Consultant
Federally Qualified Health Centers’ focus is delivering culturally appropriate, high-quality care to patients. Each year, on February 15th, health centers submit data about patient demographics, visits and staff, clinical metrics, and financial information - otherwise known as the Uniform Data System (UDS) report.
HRSA has developed the Community Health Quality Recognition (CHQR) badges to recognize Health Centers who make notable improvement in the areas of access, quality, health equity, and health information technology.
Based on the 2020 UDS the following were recognized with CHQR badges:
Health Center Quality Leaders: 387
National Quality Leaders: 17
Access Enhancer: 132
Health Disparities Reducer: 98
Advancing Health Information Technology (HIT) for Quality: 883
Patient-Center Medical Home Recognition: 1,057
COVID-19
COVID-19 Data Report: 413
COVID-19 Testing: 306
COVID-19 Vaccinations: 170
These badges are used to recognize Health Centers, based on Health Center Adjusted Quartile Rankings. Currently the CHQR badges are NOT associated with supplemental funding, however there is a new Quality Improvement Fund (QIF) to leverage grants, prize challenges, and pay-for-performance opportunities.
The first QIF opportunity was the Optimizing Virtual Care grant and future grant opportunities will be announced soon.
To learn more about the CHQR, explore these resources:
CHQR Overview: https://bphc.hrsa.gov/qualityimprovement/community-health-quality-recognition
CHQR FAQs: https://bphc.hrsa.gov/qualityimprovement/community-health-quality-recognition/faqs
UDS Overview: https://data.hrsa.gov/tools/data-reporting/program-data.