OLE Health Receives Seven Awards for Quality from the Federal Health Resources and Services Administration
At OLE Health, we pride ourselves on offering high-quality, comprehensive care to all. We are very proud to say it is much more than a slogan, and our commitment to excellence is woven into everything we do. Recently, our work was recognized as OLE Health received seven awards from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Of the more than 200 eligible federally qualified and lookalike health centers across California, OLE Health is the only one to receive that many.
“These items aren’t just quality metrics measured by a government agency; they are efforts that help make our communities healthier and stronger,” said Alicia Hardy, Chief Executive Officer for OLE Health. “We have made strides in improving outcomes and access for patients and continue to strive to do better. We have played a huge role in this community’s response to COVID-19 by offering access to the vaccine and testing. I am incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved and the groundwork we have laid to continue to deliver on our mission of building stronger communities.”
The awards are diverse but share a common thread of improving outcomes for the patients served by health centers, who are often the most vulnerable members of the community. This recognition is based on data we provide annually to HRSA and includes achievement in:
- Increasing access to care and services
- Leveraging technology to improve patient care
- Improving measurable health outcomes
- Reducing health disparities
- Increasing utilization of preventative services
- Responding to COVID-19
Here is a complete description of the awards received and the efforts that garnered the recognition.
- Health Center Quality Leader (Bronze), meaning we ranked in the top 30% of all health centers nationwide in our measures of overall quality. Some of the quality measures where we excelled in 2022 include:
- Engaging patients in Prenatal Care early (during the first trimester)
- Reducing Low and Very Low Birthweight Deliveries
- Increasing Cervical Cancer Screening
- Promoting Dental Sealants for children ages 6-9
- Prescribing Statin Therapy for the prevention of cardiovascular disease
- Access Enhancer for increasing the total number of patients treated at OLE Health and the number of patients who receive at least one comprehensive service by 5%. During the pandemic, access was extremely limited. But we have really pushed to improve access since reopening our health centers and have hired more staff, leveraged telehealth services, and resumed evening and weekend hours to meet demand.
- Health Disparities Reducer for a more than 10 percent improvement in high blood pressure control among patients representing various racial/ethnic backgrounds, including those who identified as Hispanic, American Indian/Alaskan Native, White, or more than one race.
- Advancing Health Information Technology for Quality through using a certified EHR system, offering services via telehealth, using technology to exchange clinical information, engaging with our patients via Health IT (i.e., portal use and texting), and collecting data on patient societal risk factors by having our care coordination team to collect Protocol for Responding to & Assessing Patients’ Assets, Risks & Experiences (PRAPARE) surveys and entering the info into the patient’s health record so it could be tracked and monitored with their care.
- Addressing Social Risk Factors for collecting data on our patients’ risk factors through PRAPARE surveys and increasing patient access to services through care coordination and other efforts to expand access.
- COVID-19 Public Health Champion for our extensive work offering vaccination for and testing to patients and the community. We have offered more than 60,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine and continue to offer doses in our health centers.
- Patient-Centered Medical Home, for offering patients a consistent team of providers, led by a primary care provider, who ensure they receive the care they need in a way that they can understand. We are designated as a PCMH at four of our six sites and are in the process of having the other two designated as PCHM sites.
This was an organization-wide effort, with every single OLE Health employee and department contributing to our success. We continue to find ways to improve access and provide the best care and outcomes for our patients.
