States, health plans, and providers, including federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), continue to move away from fee-for-service payments and toward value-based payment (VBP) arrangements. In California, as in other parts of the country, these payment arrangements reward primary care providers for improving quality and decreasing health care costs, while offering greater flexibility to deliver care in innovative ways.

This webinar, made possible by the California Health Care Foundation and Blue Shield of California Foundation, highlighted examples of promising FQHC payment approaches in California and Colorado. The VBP models featured are designed to give FQHCs more flexibility in delivering patient-centered care and the ability to obtain financial incentives from improving quality and reducing costs across the larger health care system, and do not require state or federal action.

Agenda

I. Welcome and Introduction

Speaker: Greg Howe, Senior Program Officer, CHCS

G. Howe welcomed participants and highlight findings from a recent CHCS report, Accelerating Value-Based Payment in California’s Federally Qualified Health Centers: Options for Medicaid Health Plans, including promising VBP models and opportunities for implementing VBP in FQHCs in California, and the rest of the country.

II. Implementing a Health Plan/FQHC Partnership: The Rocky Mountain Model

Speakers: Patrick Gordon, CEO, Rocky Mountain Health Plans, and Art Fernandez, COO, Mountain Family Health Center, Colorado

Leaders from these two Colorado-based organizations discussed their partnership, including challenges and successes of implementing their VBP model for improving patient care and greater accountability.

III. Advancing VBP Arrangements with FQHCs in California

Speaker: Kurt Hubler, Chief Network Officer, Inland Empire Health Plan, California

J. Sayles provided an overview of Inland Empire Health Plan’s shared savings initiative as well as discussed why advancing VBP arrangements with FQHCs is important for health plans.

IV. Moderated Q&A

Moderator: Tricia McGinnis, Executive Vice President and Chief Program Officer, CHCS