Kelly Halkyard, Director of Practice Transformation

In my role working directly with health center staff to prepare them for value-based payment arrangements, I have witnessed how much work it takes to move the needle on patient care. From Electronic Medical Records to staff turnover to new clinical guidelines, the challenges facing health centers are numerous. Nonetheless, the health centers in Connecticut have far surpassed the goals set for them 4 years ago at the start of the Connecticut Practice Transformation Network (PTN).

Among the 31 PTNs across the country, the Connecticut PTN is the only one that focuses solely on health centers and health center patients, who tend to have more challenges than the general population. Yet, the CT PTN ranked the third highest for reducing hospitalizations and second highest for cost savings. As of March, 2019, the health centers in Connecticut have collectively surpassed the 5 commitments the PTN made to CMS: decreasing hospital utilization, reducing antibiotic prescriptions for Upper Respiratory Infections, increasing asthma control for persistent asthmatics, increasing diabetes control, and reducing total cost of care.

As of March 31, the Connecticut PTN has produced the following outcomes, among others:

• 2,692 saved Hospital Admissions
• 23,152 saved Emergency Department visits
• 3,316 Asthmatic lives improved
• 2,254 Diabetic lives improved
• $89,528,899 Medicaid total cost of care savings

We are also really proud of our health centers’ progress in achieving the 28 Primary Care Milestones and 5 Phases of Transformation required by PTN. Congratulations to Generations Family Health Center for being the first Connecticut health center to achieve these goals!

- Kelly