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Looking Forward to 2025 Annual Primary Care Conference
CHAMPS Awards
Highlights from the 2024 Annual Primary Care Conference
2025 ANNUAL PRIMARY CARE CONFERENCE
The 2025 NWRPCA/CHAMPS Annual Primary Care Conference will take place from October 25-28, 2025 in Spokane, WA. More information will be available in the spring of 2025.
CHAMPS AWARDS
Each year, CHAMPS presents awards to staff and board members of Region VIII Health Centers and related organizations to recognize exceptional contributions to the health center community. Over the years, this process has allowed CHAMPS to honor numerous highly deserving individuals from across the region for their outstanding advocacy, leadership, and dedication to the health center mission. Please visit the CHAMPS Awards webpage for more information about each year’s Call for Nominations and Awards Ceremony, details about the most current CHAMPS Awardees, and lists of awardees from prior years.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 2024 ANNUAL PRIMARY CARE CONFERENCE
CHAMPS and Northwest Regional Primary Care Association (NWRPCA) welcomed over 300 members, partners, presenters, and exhibitors from across Region 18 (Regions VIII and X) and the nation at the Annual Primary Care Conference held October 26-29, 2024 at The Westin Denver Downtown in Denver, CO. Participants enjoyed formal and informal networking and educational sessions with clinicians, board members, and administrative staff from health centers, Primary Care Associations, governmental offices, and related organizations in Region VIII (Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming) and Region X (Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington), and beyond.
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Plenary Sessions
Educational & Networking Sessions
Session & Event Handouts & Recordings
Other Conference Highlights
Photo Memories
Continuing Education
Reimbursement Opportunities
At the Opening Plenary on Saturday evening, conference attendees enjoyed hearing from BPHC and NACHC leaders who focused on providing updates about the current policy and healthcare environment. Speakers included:
- Jim Macrae, Associate Administrator, Bureau of Primary Health Care
- Luis Padilla, Chief Health Officer, National Association of Community Health Centers
A Super Session took place on Monday afternoon. Speaker Amy Jensen of Split Oak Strategies discussed how the outcome of the 2024 election could impact health centers. Following Amy’s presentation, Alexia Eslan, Director at JSI, presented on funding opportunities available through the EPA’s Thriving Communities Grantmaking program. The presentation also explored the unique position, responsibility, and challenges health centers face in making meaningful progress toward environmental justice, as well as climate adaptation, mitigation, and resilience.
Later that afternoon, during the Lunch Plenary, Lily Griego, Regional Director for Region VIII of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, provided valuable updates and key statistics from the region. She shared insights into initiatives focused on improving access to care and highlighted notable efforts underway in Region VIII. Afterward, speaker Paul Huschilt addressed the challenges of stress in the workplace through a humorous and engaging presentation. Paul explored the nature of stress, its effects on the body and mind, and offered practical strategies for staying calm, working better together, and fostering personal well-being, even on the toughest days.
EDUCATIONAL & NETWORKING SESSIONS
The conference offered attendees a broad range of educational and networking sessions organized around the following tracks: Clinical, Finance, Governance, Healthy Communities, Hot Topics, HR/Workforce, Leadership, and Operations. Three pre-conference workshops, three plenaries, 46 educational sessions, six roundtables, two receptions, and one Peer Spark Networking event provided attendees with rich opportunities to learn from clinicians, administrators, and board members in Regions VIII and X and other regional and national consultants and partners. Continuing Education credit hours were offered for physicians, nurses, accountants, human resources professionals, social workers, and board members.
The conference featured diverse tracks of educational sessions, including:
Three engaging Pre-Conference Workshops on:
- 340B
- Becoming an Employer of Choice
- Integrating Medications for Alcohol Use Disorder into Primary Care
Three days of energizing Clinical sessions:
- Bridging Buprenorphine from the Emergency Department to the Community Health Center: A Community Partnership
- Overdose Safety Planning: A Brief Intervention for Overdose Prevention
- The IMPACT Program: An Innovative Approach to Provide Integrated Care in the School Setting
- Food & Mood: How Ending Hunger Can Change Minds
- Leveraging Technology & Organized Screening to Increase Colorectal Screening Rates
- Medical Dental Integration for All: Implementing Change Across Large Urban to Small Frontier Health Centers
- Why & How Community Health Centers Can Improve Screening, Diagnosis, & Management of Chronic Kidney Disease
- Creating an Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities Integrated Care Gold Standard within a Community Health Center
Two days of educational Finance sessions:
- Preparing for Tomorrow: Financial Planning for the Community Health Center
- Payor Contracting & Medicare Advantage Wrap Around Payments
- Enhancing Risk Management & Insurance for the Growing Needs of FQHCs
- Mergers, Acquisitions, & Affiliations: CFOs’ Insights on Challenges, Lessons Learned, & Best Practices
- Making Tough Choices: Program & Fiscal Assessment of an In-Patient Substance Use Treatment Program
- Workforce Benchmarking & Trends: Salary Survey Results from Regions VIII & X
Two days of Governance sessions:
- CHC 101: Introduction to the Community Health Center Movement
- Health Center Boards: What You Need to Do & How to Do It Effectively
- Strategic Planning: Understanding Capital Expenditure Needs & Financial Management
- Building a Successful Succession Plan for the CEO & Beyond
- Ensuring Excellence: A Board Member’s Guide to Reviewing & Paying Your CEO
- Making Mission Matter: Advocating to Strengthen Health Centers & Increase Access to Care
Two days of enlightening Healthy Communities sessions:
- Improving Health Care Access for Vulnerable Populations Through Digital Navigation
- The Coffee Break Project: A Community-Driven Model Supporting Farmer/Rancher Mental Health & Emotional Well-Being
- Community Hubs: Building Cross-Sector Solutions to Address Social Care Needs
- Care Transitions: Supporting Health, Wellness, & Stability After Incarceration
- Finding Our Way: Navigating Unmet Social Needs in Primary Care
- Addressing Complex Care Outside the Four Walls of the Health Center
Four relevant Hot Topics sessions:
- Agencies Creating Agency: Why Community Health Centers are Vital in America’s Contraception Narrative
- Using Analytics to Help Health Centers Understand Risk, Navigate Payer Relationships & Succeed in Value-Based Care
- Embracing Challenges & Opportunities in Rural Health Leadership
- Defending & Strengthening State Medicaid Programs in Challenging Political Environments
Two days of transformative HR/Workforce sessions:
- Beyond the Resume: Win at Hiring
- Addressing Healthcare Workforce Shortages Through Innovative Educational Partnerships
- Building Tomorrow’s Healthcare: Innovations in “Grow Your Own” Workforce
- A Path to Safety: Keeping Your Employees & Health Center Safe with a Good Policy
- Fostering Staff Resiliency Through Innovative Practices
- Workforce Innovations in Washington State Primary Care
One day of instructive Leadership sessions:
- Navigating the Waves: A Navy SEAL’s Approach to Creative Healthcare Growth
- Trauma-Informed Leadership
- DEI Initiatives: Community Health Clinic Team Member Perspectives on Meaningfulness & Lasting Impact
- Building Capacity & Resilience in Community Health Centers Through Partnership Practices
Two days of essential Operations sessions:
- Fortifying Health Centers: Future-Ready Cybersecurity Strategies
- Artificial Intelligence: Future Proofing Your Health Center
- Your Provider Will See You Now: Actionable Strategies to Assess & Enhance Patient Access
- Operationalizing a Trauma-Informed & Patient-Centered Strategy to Address Intimate Partner Violence
- Disaster Preparedness In 2024 & Beyond: Expanded Version
- Navigating Your UDS+ Journey
The conference also offered a variety of opportunities for attendees to connect with one another.
The Community section of the conference’s online Whova platform facilitated networking by allowing attendees to ask questions on both formal topics, such as upcoming conferences and improving the patient experience, as well as informal topics like recommendations on places to visit in Denver. Hundreds of messages and connections were formed between attendees throughout the conference.
The Welcome Reception on Saturday, October 26, allowed attendees to introduce themselves to new faces and engage with friends and colleagues. The reception room was filled with conversation, as attendees were excited to share best practices and challenges with one another.
The new Peer Spark: Networking for Innovation event took place on Sunday, October 27. Participants broke into small groups to engage in facilitated in-depth discussions on specific topics of interest, which included adaptive leadership, chronic disease management, community-based partnering, financial sustainability, health information technology, provider and non-provider recruitment and retention, rural health care issues, and team-based care.
Roundtable Lunches were held on Sunday, October 27, for Chief Executive Officers and attendees of the Clinical, Finance, Governance, HR/Workforce, and Operations tracks. These gave conference participants the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from other experts in their field.
The Networking Reception & Raffle with Exhibitors on Monday, October 28, was one of the final events during the conference. Attendees reengaged with exhibitors and entered raffles to win prizes. The reception and raffle were seen as a celebration of the conference’s success before the final day of educational sessions.
SESSION & EVENT RECORDINGS & HANDOUTS
All 2024 CHAMPS/NWRPCA Fall Primary Care Conference materials related to sessions, including any available handouts, video recordings, etc., will be available soon in NWRPCA’s Learning Vault. Contact the NWRPCA Registration Team at registration@nwrpca.org if you have any difficulties.
The Annual Conference is more than educational sessions and plenary speeches! Participants had formal and informal ways to learn about resources, win prizes, and inspire one another via the Whova platform, in-person meetings, and networking events. Whova was the central hub for attendees as it provided the agenda, speaker information and handouts, a community networking section, and much more.
Lunch & Learns were held Saturday, October 26, and Sunday, October 27. The first, hosted by Aledade, Inc., focused on Effective Strategies to Address Workforce Shortages and Physician Burnout in Primary Care. Attendees gained valuable insights from experts on the causes and effects of physician burnout and the primary care workforce shortage, as well as strategies to help physicians prevent and overcome burnout. The second, hosted by The Hebets Company, was titled, Alleviate Retirement Fears and Concerns, Create Workforce Stability, and Peace of Mind. Participants learned about tax-efficient and effective retirement benefit strategies designed to improve peace of mind.
On Sunday, October 27, attendees had the opportunity to enjoy some puppy cuddles at the Puppy Paw-ty, hosted by Lifeline Puppy Rescue. This event provided the perfect chance to unwind between educational sessions while interacting with adorable, adoptable puppies. Attendees also learned about the organization’s efforts and the positive impact pets can have on mental health.
Finally, on Tuesday, October 29, attendees had the opportunity to tour two mobile medical units generously provided by Salud Family Health and Denver Health. Participants engaged with staff working on the units and learned more about the value of mobile clinics in meeting patients where they are.
A photo journal for the 2024 CHAMPS/NWRPCA Annual Primary Care Conference will be available soon.
The CHAMPS/NWRPCA Annual Primary Care Conference is a source of continuing education units (CEU) and helps to support health center staff, clinicians, administration, and board of directors advance professionally. Additionally, the event offers continuing medical education (CME), continuing nursing education (CNE), continuing professional education (CPE), continuing human resources credit (HR), and continuing social work and counseling education (NASW). Based on the type of credit requested during registration, either certificates or certificate access instructions will be sent to attendees within two months following the conclusion of the conference. Please contact the CHAMPS Clinical Quality Improvement Director for questions related to CEUs.
Migrant Clinicals Network is accredited, by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation, as a provider of continuing nursing education.
2024 CHAMPS/NWRPCA Annual Primary Care Conference Registration Reimbursement is available to CHAMPS Organizational Member CHCs in good standing as of October 25, 2024. Each CHAMPS Organizational Member Community Health Center (CHC) is eligible for reimbursement for a single registration fee (total value up to $1,000).
CHC staff who qualify for the registration reimbursement include line staff, medical support staff, and mid-level managers and supervisors as well as CHC board members. Providers and Executive Directors/CEOs are not eligible for reimbursement. The request form must be completed by December 13, 2024, and only one form per member organization will be approved.
Download the 2024 Registration Reimbursement Request Form.
Region VIII clinicians are able to apply for Clinical Travel Support Reimbursement. Those eligible include clinicians working 0.50 FTE as providers (medical, behavioral, or dental) in a CHAMPS Organizational Member CHC in good standing as of October 25, 2024, or a member of the Mountain/Plains Clinical Network (MPCN) Steering Committee. MPCN Steering Committee members may gain an additional $100 reimbursement with participation on the committee prior to the Fall Conference and attendance at the Fall Conference Steering Committee Meeting.
The maximum value available for travel assistance is $700, or $800 for members of the MPCN Steering Committee. The request form must be completed by December 13, 2024 and include all original receipts and a mileage map for the payment to be accepted.
Download the 2024 Clinical Travel Support Reimbursement Request Form.
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