HEALTHeLINK has achieved National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Data Aggregator Validation status for the third year in a row. This is another opportunity for HEALTHeLINK to bring value to its participating health plans and providers by leveraging the HIE to simplify and streamline data acquisition needed for HEDIS® reporting. With this status, HEALTHeLINK can share validated sources for standard supplemental data for use in measurement year 2022 HEDIS® reporting.

Earlier this fall, HEALTHeLINK was named a Phase 1 winner of the Building Bridges to Better Health: A Primary Health Care Challenge sponsored by the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA). The goal of this multi-phase challenge is to enhance access and care coordination to achieve better health and reduce disparities utilizing technical assistance solutions. There were more than 130 applicants from which HRSA selected HEALTHeLINK as one of 27 Phase 1 winners from across the country. Each winner was awarded $11,111 to help fund their project and move on to Phase 2 of the challenge. HEALTHeLINK’s project focuses on the design and development of its HEALTHeQUALITY technical assistance solution that supports Federally Qualified Health Centers to advance health equity.

The New York eHealth Collaborative once again commissioned a Customer Satisfaction and Usage Survey, administered by NORC at the University of Chicago. Thank you to the randomly selected participants who took the time to complete the survey. We value your feedback as we continually look to improve HEALTHeLINK services and the satisfaction of our users. Your feedback will be used to improve our services here in Western New York. 

As part of its Medicaid redesign plan, New York State has requested funding from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to support its 1115 Demonstration Waiver aimed at addressing health disparities and systemic health care delivery issues in our region. This initiative will include a Health Equity Regional Organization (HERO) to coordinate planning activities with providers and community partners to identify specific vulnerable populations and develop strategies for health intervention and address social determinants of health and health inequities. HEALTHeLINK with our additional Regional Health Improvement focus that resulted in the merging in of the Population Health Collaborative, continues to be very engaged in the ongoing planning efforts and the potential opportunity for us to take on a more active role in this initiative moving forward. We will continue to keep our participants updated in the coming weeks and months. 

The Health Foundation of Western and Central New York in partnership with the John R Oishei Foundation hosted an “Health Equity Priorities in New York’s Medicaid Program” event on December 7 for information sharing, planning, and strategy in anticipation of proposed changes to New York State’s Medicaid program through the proposed 1115 Waiver amendment.

HEALTHeLINK Executive Director Dan Porreca sat on a panel discussing “Building a Health Equity Regional Organization for WNY” with Brett Lawton with Universal Primary Care and Andrea Wanat from the Value Network. HEALTHeLINK Board Member Pastor George Nicholas sat on a panel discussing “Centering Equity Implementation” with Lara Kessel, Medicaid Matters, Richard Merchant, Health Workforce NY and CNY area education Center.

Reminder that starting on December 15, users will no longer be able to access the HEALTHeCOMMUNITY Portal using Internet Explorer. Please note that this date may move as we monitor security risks during this timeframe. We are encouraging organizations to move to a supported version of Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. For further information, please see the following from Microsoft: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/faq/internet-explorer-microsoft-edge

In addition, please be aware that all Windows 7 machines will no longer be able to access the HEALTHeCOMMUNITY Portal starting on January 14^th, 2023.

While we have blocked Windows 7 since 2020 for the majority of users, this will affect any organizations that have purchased extended support through Microsoft and have worked with HEALTHeLINK to be a part of the exception group to continue access. If you are accessing with a Windows 7 machine, please find another machine to access the HEALTHeCOMMUNITY Portal. 

At HEALTHeLINK, we have a tradition dating back to 2008 to help brighten the holiday season for local families in need. Instead of purchasing gifts for each other we take the money we might spend and instead adopt families in need through St. Luke’s Mission Christmas Adopt-A-Family program. Team HEALTHeLINK again went above and beyond in their generous support, raising $1,805 for families in need of the holiday spirit! 

HEALTHeLINK’s Guide 2 Better Care segments are back on WGRZ for 2022. Every other Wednesday, during the 4pm and 11pm newscasts, local health care leaders provide education about HEALTHeLINK as well as highlight the value and benefits of HIE in Western New York. To view all the segments, click here.

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