With PHMI’s goal to improve quality of care and equitable health outcomes of people served by CHCs, and with the principles of the Initiative centered on advancing CHCs’ capabilities in population health management, empanelment continues to be an important topic of focus.
PHMI had the privilege of presenting on empanelment at two conferences last year: the 2024 NACHC Community Health Institute & EXPO in Atlanta, GA in August, and most recently in December at the 2024 IHI Forum in Orlando, FL.
At the IHI Forum, Eugenia Black, PHMI Clinical Consultant, along with Boris Kalikstein, Principal, Empanelment Consultant, JSI; Richa Verma, MD, Regional Medical Director, Golden Valley Health Centers; Dawn McQuarrie, Director of Development and PHMI Co-Lead, Redwood Coast Medical Services; Maryanne Watts, Quality Improvement Lead, Redwood Coast Medical Services; and Amanda Chase, RT (R), CRT X-Ray/HER Coordinator, Redwood Coast Medical Services led a robust session on Transforming Primary Care Delivery: Empanelment’s Role in Population Health Management Initiative.
The session covered the value-add of empanelment, including why it’s so important, and empowering on-the-ground experience and learnings from PHMI’s empanelment work. Almost 100 Forum attendees registered to attend our session, and they were all in various stages of implementing empanelment. The session also featured a “World Café” format, allowing attendees to engage with PHMI coaches and subject matter experts, or connect with panel managers and empanelment project leads from two PHMI CHCs. These discussions focused on challenges in starting or sustaining empanelment, the role of panel managers, and strategies for overcoming implementation challenges at their respective CHCs.