NextGen Healthcare Launches First-of-its-Kind Nationwide Community Health Collaborative to Advance Health Equity Among Underserved Populations
Collaborative Will Collect and Share Community Health Operating Metrics and Promote Best Practices for Integrated Whole Person Care
ATLANTA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–$NXGN #NextGenHealthcare–NextGen Healthcare, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXGN), a leading provider of ambulatory-focused technology solutions, announced the launch of NextGen® Community Health Collaborative (NCHC). As the first of its kind, this initiative will offer data benchmarking, comparative analytics, and reporting services, plus a forum for members to connect and share best practices to advance the mission of community health. Initial Collaborative members include NextGen Healthcare clients Delaware Valley CHC, CHC Strategies, Northeast Medical Services, Presbyterian Medical Services and Health Center Controlled Network (HCCN), OSIS.
Community Health Centers (CHCs) are a pillar of the U.S. healthcare system, offering affordable care and improving health equity for more than 29 million Americans. Serving CHCs for more than 30 years, NextGen Healthcare is a leading supplier and trusted advisor for CHCs that collectively manage nearly 40% of the patient population in centers across the U.S. Through the NCHC, members will develop the first programs to leverage NextGen Healthcare’s vast data pool — representing the largest footprint of CHC data assembled to date. This data will provide actionable insights to NCHC members as they design the next generation of care models for the underserved U.S. population, with a focus on health equity.
Elements of the NCHC’s national infrastructure will be tested in a local pilot in 2022. Early components will include:
- EHR-agnostic data aggregation services
- Interoperability as a service across all suppliers who support community health organizations
- Clinical quality reporting and benchmarks
- Aggregated reporting into emerging Health Equity measures and benchmarks
- Point-of-care services to deliver actionable insights to providers and their patients
“Today’s announcement marks an inflection point in community healthcare, with key industry leaders forming a national health information network dedicated to community health initiatives,” said David Sides, president and chief executive officer at NextGen Healthcare. “NextGen Healthcare is uniquely positioned to empower critical connections within our healthcare infrastructure. The formation of this Collaborative brings us another step closer to frictionless interoperability, which is vital to strengthening the long-term health of our nation.”
“The Covid-19 pandemic amplified healthcare delivery inequities across the U.S.,” said Doug Smith, executive vice president, Presbyterian Medical Services. “The NextGen Community Health Collaborative will provide a wealth of valuable information and insights for CHCs on the front lines of providing access to care where it is needed the most.”
“Patient data has been instrumental to community health centers’ work for decades,” said Isaiah Nathanial, chief information officer, Delaware Valley Community Health Center. “This information helps us truly know our 30 million CHC patients at the point-of-care. NextGen Healthcare’s recognition of this critical piece and willingness to foster the next level of clinical data integration is a gem uncovered.”
Jeff Lowrance, chief executive officer of OSIS, said, “The NextGen Community Health Collaborative benefits CHCs with centralized reporting to meet regulatory requirements for health centers across the country. It provides a unified console for benchmarking, monitoring and improving internal and external compliance.”
About Community Health Centers/Federally Qualified Health Centers
Since the nation’s first community health centers (CHCs) opened in 1965, expansion of the federally supported health center system to over 1,400 organizations has created an affordable health care option for more than 29 million people. Health centers help increase access to crucial primary care by reducing barriers such as cost, lack of insurance, distance, and language for their patients. In doing so, health centers — also called Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) provide substantial benefits to the country and its healthcare system while also working to bridge the disparity gap among patients. These nonprofit organizations operate in more than 14,000 medically underserved communities in every state, U.S. territory, and the District of Columbia. Nearly half of health centers (42%) are located in rural communities, where the nearest doctor or hospital can be as far as 50 miles or more away. One of every 11 Americans depend on a CHC as a trusted and regular source for affordable healthcare — 91% of patients are low-income, and two-thirds are members of racial or ethnic minorities. As required by Federal law, health centers are governed by local, patient-majority boards and are transparent, accountable stewards of taxpayer dollars. (Source: NACHC brochure)
For more information about the NextGen Community Health Collaborative, please visit our CHC/FQHC web page.
About NextGen Healthcare, Inc.
NextGen Healthcare, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXGN) is a leading provider of ambulatory-focused technology solutions. We are empowering the transformation of ambulatory care—partnering with medical, behavioral and dental providers in their journey to value-based care to make healthcare better for everyone. We go beyond EHR and PM. Our integrated solutions help increase clinical productivity, enrich the patient experience, and ensure healthy financial outcomes. We believe in better. Learn more at nextgen.com, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram.
Contacts
Media Contact
Tami Stegmaier
NextGen Healthcare, Inc.
(949) 237-6083
tstegmaier@nextgen.com
Investor Relations Contact
Matthew Scalo
(415) 370-9202
mscalo@nextgen.com
