National Association of Community Health Centers
2023 Outreach and Enrollment Learning Collaborative | March 22, 2023 – June, 7 2023
Application deadline: March 3, 2023

NACHC is hosting its third annual Learning Collaborative for Health Center Outreach and Enrollment (O&E) staff. This Learning Collaborative is a free, professional development opportunity for Health Center Outreach & Enrollment staff to learn and apply Lean process improvement methods to their enrollment processes and workflows. Lean is a methodology that looks at what is not adding value from the patient’s perspective and eliminates or modifies those activities, in turn maximizing value to the patient. The Learning Collaborative consists of six, biweekly workshops and optional group coaching sessions.

Outreach & Enrollment Overview
Community Health Centers play an important role in enrolling individuals and families into health insurance coverage. According to HRSA data, in 2021, health centers employed nearly 7,000 outreach staff and enrollment eligibility assister and provided 3.7 million enrollment assists. The health center outreach and enrollment (O&E) workforce includes enrollment assisters, in-person assisters (IPAs), Certified Application Counselors (CACs), Marketplace Navigators, Community Health Workers (CHWs), and more.

Currently, 40 states (including DC) have adopted Medicaid expansion and 11 states have not. In terms of Marketplace coverage, 30 states utilize the federal Healthcare.gov platform, 18 states have their own Marketplace, and 3 have state-based Marketplaces utilizing the federal platform. This statewide variation in coverage options leads to challenges and opportunities for health centers when conducting outreach and enrollment activities. Given recent policy developments related to Medicaid Eligibility Redeterminations and the Public Health Emergency unwinding, health centers play a unique role in supporting people seeking access to coverage.

Learning Collaborative Overview
This Learning Collaborative is designed for Health Center Outreach and Enrollment (O&E) staff and will be focused on leveraging process improvement strategies to redesign your enrollment workflows.

The goals of this Learning Collaborative are to:

1. Provide health center outreach and enrollment (O&E) staff an opportunity to discuss challenges, and strategies related to conducting O&E activities with their health center peers.
2. Explain the Lean methodology and apply it to O&E workflows at your health center.
3. Test and implement changes that result in workflow improvements.

The Learning Collaborative will convene six times between March and June 2023 and address key Lean concepts. Each workshop may also include policy updates from NACHC staff or other national partner organizations to address emerging issues such as the Medicaid Eligibility redeterminations, Special Enrollment Periods, and more.

Participants are expected to attend and participate in all six calls held every other week –with the exception of the last workshop, which is scheduled three weeks after Workshop #5 – and complete assignments in between calls. Assignments will take approximately 1-3 hours and templates will be provided.

As an added benefit for participation, there will be optional coaching calls between each workshop with the Lean Consultant and/or staff from NACHC and PCAs.  These calls will provide dedicated time to receive lean expert support, work with other peers to collaborate and get input and feedback on assignments, or to discuss O&E-specific issues and concerns.

 Workshop Dates

1. Workshop #1: Kick-Off- Lean Overview & Project Scoping
   Wednesday, March 22, 2023, 2:00 pm – 3:30 PM ET
   The kick-off call will introduce the format and expectations of the learning collaborative.  Participants will be introduced to the overall Lean methodology and principles along with learning to scope their O & E workflow project to focus on what is in their control, and relevant to their work.
   Optional Coaching Call: Wednesday, March 29, 2023, 2:00 pm – 2:45 PM ET

2. Workshop #2: Direct Observation and Current State Mapping
   Wednesday, April 5, 2023, 2:00 pm – 3:30 PM ET
   This workshop will teach participants how to perform direct observation and current state mapping to get an in-depth understanding of the current process to see where there are opportunities to make improvements.
   Optional Coaching Call: Wednesday, April 12 2023, 2:00 pm – 2:45 PM ET 
3. Workshop #3: Waste Identification and Future State Creation
   Wednesday, April 19, 2023, 2:00 pm – 3:30 PM ET
   This workshop will focus on identifying waste or things that aren’t adding value from the patient’s perspective. The participants will be shown how to perform root-cause analysis to determine if waste can be removed when creating their future state process.
   Optional Coaching Call: Wednesday, April 26, 2023, 2:00 pm – 2:45 PM ET

4. Workshop #4: Testing and Watch-it Metrics
   Wednesday, May 3, 2023, 2:00 – 3:30 PM ET
   This workshop will focus on how to design experiments and test out the new future state.  Participants will also learn how to create metrics to make sure the process is achieving the intended outcomes.
   Optional Coaching Call: Wednesday, May 10, 2023, 2:00 pm – 2:45 PM ET 
5. Workshop #5: Implementation – Documentation, Training & Continuous Improvement
   Wednesday, May 17, 2023, 2:00 – 3:30 PM ET
   This workshop will be used to talk through the documentation and training needed to support the new process and how to perform continuous improvement using the metric data. Participants will also receive information on what the expectations are for the final workshop report out.
   Note: There is one extra week between this workshop and the next to allow for more time to implement and prepare for the final report out.
   Optional Coaching Call: Wednesday, May 24, 2023, 2:00 pm – 2:45 PM ET
   Optional Coaching Call: Wednesday, May 31, 2023, 2:00 pm – 2:45 PM ET 

6. Workshop #6: Health Center Project Report Outs + Wrap-Up
   Wednesday, June 7, 2023, 2:00 – 3:30 PM ET
   This workshop will consist of presentations from each participant showcasing their overall project summary including results, lessons learned, and next steps.  After the presentations, there will be time to provide feedback on the workshop and address any outstanding questions.

Faculty

Faculty for these workshops include staff from:

• National Association of Community Health Centers
• Varyn Consulting – Mindy Hangsleben Lean Expert
• Primary Care Association Staff

Application Requirements

To apply, a participant must meet the following requirements:

• Actively conduct outreach and enrollment activities at a Health Center
• Commit to attending all six Workshops
• Commit to completing the relevant homework activities
• Have the support of your Supervisor/leadership

Click here to Apply. Deadline is March 3, 2023.

For more information, contact Ted Henson at trainings@nachc.org.

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $6,719,834 with 0 percentage financed with non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit HRSA.gov.