While increasing access to health care and transforming the health care delivery system are important, there has been growing interest in the impact of social, economic, and environmental factors to health and well-being. Community health centers have long served both the clinical and non-clinical needs of their patients and collaborated with community and social support services. A natural extension of this commitment is to track their patients’ social determinants of health requirements, such as The Protocol for Responding to and Assessing Patients’ Assets, Risks, and Experiences (PRAPARE), in order to begin to inform care plans and connect patients to community and social services.
As health centers begin to offer non-health related services to address the social determinants of health (SDOH), they should also collect data on (1) what services are being offered; (2) the scope and reach of these services; and (3) which SDOH interventions hold the most promise for improving health outcomes. A new baseline analysis by Capital Link, sponsored by Blue Shield of California Foundation, provides a start to measuring health center efforts to impact the non-clinical dimensions of the SDOH.
The analysis documents SDOH interventions offered by health centers as reported to the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Uniform Data System (UDS) during 2015 and 2016, the most recent data available, in California and nationwide. SDOH interventions seek to link patients with programs that provide social and economic opportunities that promote good health but are not part of the listed medical, dental, behavioral, and other health services. They are distinct from clinically-focused enabling services which facilitate access to care, and include services such as: Women, Infant and Children (WIC) programs, job training, head start programs, shelters, housing programs, child care, frail elderly support, adult day health care programs, fitness programs, and public/retail pharmacies. Prior to this review, no substantive research had been conducted on these services, although multiple studies have been undertaken on clinically-focused enabling services.
Click here for a free download of Tracking Social Determinants of Health Interventions: Health Center Reporting of Non-Health Related Services in the Uniform Data System
Over our long history of working with health centers, Capital Link has amassed a database of financial and operational information to develop field-building resources on the factors affecting health center performance, impact, and growth. For more information, visit www.caplink.org.
Capital Link's Blog
New Report Examines the Financial and Operational Trends of California Health Centers
Capital Link announces the release of an updated statewide financial and operational profile of California health centers. This resource, sponsored by Blue Shield of California Foundation, presents multi-year trends as well as comparative data for health centers nationally, offering a framework for identifying the financial strengths, challenges, and benchmarks that support opportunities for performance improvement.
Covering the four-year period of 2013 to 2016, this analysis focuses on the following trends for California Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and FQHC Look-Alikes (LALs):
- Growth and expansion of the patient population and service provision
- Financial performance as shown by revenue growth and operating margins
- Financial health as measured by liquidity and revenue collections
- Operational measures such as patient utilization and practice mix
- Productivity metrics and quality of care indicators
Click here for a free download of California Community Health Centers: Financial & Operational Performance Analysis.
Over our long history of working with health centers, Capital Link has amassed a database of financial and operational information to develop field-building resources on the factors affecting health center performance, impact, and growth. For more information, visit www.caplink.org.
New Markets Tax Credit Program Allocation Awards Announced: Capital Fund Receives $40 Million
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund announced the awardees for the 2017 round of New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) allocations. The $3.5 billion in awards are aimed at revitalizing low-income communities and increasing economic opportunity nationwide. Community Health Center Capital Fund (Capital Fund), Capital Link’s lending affiliate, was awarded a $40 million NMTC allocation.
While NMTC financing is a critical source of low-cost capital and equity for health center facility projects—often securing approximately 20-22% of total project costs—obtaining tax credits is a competitive and complex process. Interested health centers must demonstrate a high level of project readiness and be able to communicate the merits of their projects to Community Development Entities (CDEs) with allocation. Furthermore, the process of structuring and closing an NMTC transaction is complicated and the terms, benefits, and fees offered to borrowers vary widely.
Capital Link has extensive knowledge of the NMTC financing process and has strong connections with Capital Fund and other CDEs interested in working with health centers. Of the nearly $1 billion in financing obtained by health centers through the NMTC program, approximately 60% was raised with Capital Link and/or Capital Fund assistance. We’ve also assisted many health centers with combining NMTC financing with HRSA capital grants—an excellent option, especially for projects of $5 million or more.
For help in determining whether NMTC financing could be a good fit for your health center, please contact us here.
To learn more about the NMTC program and how it works, click here.