OCHIN is pleased to share highlights of our impact in 2022.
Letter from the CEO
Dear OCHIN Members and Colleagues,
Thankfully, we have finally come out from the most severe phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, but our already fragmented health care system is strained and riddled with new challenges to achieving health equity. In most communities, staff and financial resources have been severely depleted. This is particularly true for rural and underinvested communities, where the need for connected, whole-patient care is great, but access to it is increasingly hard to come by.
At OCHIN, we believe we are stronger together. As Rachelle Miles, a clinical nurse manager with the City of New Orleans, explained: “OCHIN’s team prioritizes each organization’s needs.” And that is precisely our goal. We partner to reinforce local strengths and build our collective resilience for the future.
This year we made significant investments in workforce development to help expand care teams and create new pathways to living-wage jobs for underrepresented and economically marginalized communities. We increased our cybersecurity offerings; advocated for essential payment programs like the 340B Drug Pricing Program; and informed equitable models of value-based pay to ensure the continued security and financial sustainability of our members. And we doubled our staff to advance our connected care efforts and expand into acute care for the first time after accumulating more than 20 years of ambulatory expertise.
Those who join the OCHIN network are selecting much more than an electronic health records platform. They are choosing an innovation partner with the solutions expertise to help them grow, keep their independence, and connect their patients efficiently to an expanding community of care. In schools, health centers, correctional facilities, public health departments, and critical access hospitals across the country, our members are there to ensure everyone has a fair chance to achieve their full health potential. And the strength of our nation’s health care system depends on their success.
We know challenges and uncertainties remain, but we’re confident in the progress we can achieve together when we choose to work in community to value care, first.
Abby Sears
President and CEO, OCHIN
Report Summary
“We have a very tight-knit community, and we’re so glad OCHIN is part of it. OCHIN has really helped me to bring our health system into the 21st century.”
—Dakotah Lane, MD, Medical Director, Lummi Tribal Health Center, Bellingham, WA
Integrated, connected care solutions that support whole-patient health and well-being
OCHIN's integrated technology solutions improve patient health by driving new efficiencies for care teams and connecting community health organizations through an electronic health records (EHR) platform that’s anchored in a one patient, one record model.
Our average member satisfaction is 92%, with an overall rating of 4.4 out of 5.
Modern HIT systems that are seamless and secure
OCHIN is advancing modern health information technology (HIT) systems that improve the patient experience, ease clinician burden, and unlock operational efficiencies.
With over 82 million clinical records moved safely and securely in FY22, OCHIN continues to expand our capacity for health information exchange with partners throughout the country.
Workforce development solutions that expand opportunity and enhance clinical capacity
OCHIN is invested in training the workforce of the future through a growing portfolio of learning and professional development programs called OCHIN+.
With more than $5 million in grants secured for HIT training and staff development through OCHIN+ in FY22, OCHIN is partnering to rebuild, strengthen, and diversify the health care workforce in the wake of the COVID pandemic.
Leading quality and performance measures to pave the way for value-based pay
Together, OCHIN and member providers work to ensure access to care for the whole community by valuing care for the whole patient.
As a leader of national efforts to develop foundational social determinants of health (SDOH) quality measures, OCHIN members have recorded more than 1.6 million social risk screenings among more than 875,000 unique patients nationwide in OCHIN Epic.
“OCHIN continues to be a great partner. I love that you stay up to date on all the changes to an FQHC. You do a great job at anticipating our needs. We appreciate all OCHIN does to help our organization be successful.”
—Lacrisha Whitley, Chief Quality & Information Officer, Neighborhood Health Center, Richmond, IN
National perspectives to transform health delivery
OCHIN leaders and subject matter experts represent the interests of our network by advancing our unique points of view around workforce development, inclusive innovation, connected care, and valuing care for the whole patient.
The critical insights and expertise they shared this year at a wide variety of policy, research, and thought leadership forums—including more than 20 events and nearly four dozen presentations—helped identify systemic challenges and begin to dismantle structural barriers to achieving national health equity.
HCCN consultancy to optimize tools and care teams
For more than a decade, the nation’s largest Health Center Controlled Network, OCHIN HCCN, has partnered with health centers across the country to make the best use of technological advancements while fostering measurable quality improvement.
This year our HCCN received $9 million from Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) —its fourth and largest award to date—to support an 18% expansion of the network and enable our HCCN to provide solutions expertise and clinical insights to 114 participating health centers across 15 states.
Development and advocacy to strengthen community care
OCHIN engages systemically to advance health equity and support our members’ growth through an integrated external affairs team.
With 60 public comments filed and more than $16.9 million in new non-research funds awarded, our impact this year focused in three key areas of critical concern for our members: rebuilding the health care workforce, driving sustainable payment models for the future, and protecting and expanding access to care.
Practice-based research that drives health equity
OCHIN research drives health equity in alignment with national research priorities and OCHIN’s mission.
With more than $53 million in research funds awarded, our research department set strategic goals in 2022 to further embed equity in all we do, from growing our team to engaging with new partners and exploring innovative ways to disseminate findings for greater impact.
“Our providers know exactly how to connect patients to services they need to experience their full health potential. It’s changed the way we’re able to help people.”
— Matthew Kosel, PA-C, MSHI, Vice President of Clinical Informatics and Enterprise Analytics, TrueCare, San Marcos, CA
Financials
OCHIN supports the continued growth and financial sustainability of our members by reinvesting in our staff and our network as we grow.
Representative workforce
OCHIN made significant strides in growing and enabling a diverse and inclusive workforce this year. Today our staff includes more than 1,000 employees working virtually to support a stronger circle of care in hundreds of local communities nationwide, and we are actively shaping the world we want to live in through intentional governance, culture-building, and employee development. It is only by cultivating a more representative workforce, reflective of the people our members serve, that we can meaningfully fulfill our health equity mission.
In FY22, OCHIN’s nationwide workforce grew by nearly 55% to 959 employees across 49 states and Washington, D.C.
Nationwide network
OCHIN provides a wide range of solutions expertise to reinforce the local strengths of our members with tailored tools, insights, and expertise to foster a healthier and more resilient future.
Today we support an estimated 25,000 active* providers through our OCHIN Epic electronic health records platform, and we have expanded our consultative services to help remove systemic barriers at nearly 2,000 care delivery sites nationwide.
*Active patients and providers are defined as having a scheduled encounter within the past three years.
Who we serve
Providers in the OCHIN network help connect rural and medically underserved patients to the comprehensive health care system they deserve.
Among the 4.3 million patients who received care via an OCHIN supported EHR platform (such as OCHIN Epic or NextGen) this fiscal year, 47.2% were on Medicaid, and 25.1% were uninsured.
