COMMUNITY CLINIC FUND

Through the Community Clinic Fund, UniHealth Foundation supports programs that enhance the delivery and quality of health services provided to the underserved by community clinics and health centers. In the current healthcare environment, these clinics are facing serious economic challenges that affect their capacity to deliver quality medical care.

The Building Clinic Capacity for Quality in Southern California Program (BCCQ) aims to improve the health of Southern California’s safety-net population by enhancing the capacity of community clinics and healthcare centers to successfully implement technology-enabled quality improvement strategies. Sponsored by UniHealth Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, Blue Shield of California Foundation and L.A. Care Health Plan, BCCQ is designed to support Southern California clinics and in planning, executing or augmenting technology-enabled quality improvement programs.

In BCCQ Phase I, an assessment was conducted of fifty-one clinics in Southern California to identify clinic readiness for technology-enabled quality improvement. Criteria used to determine readiness included categories related to internal capacity and market environment, including vision and leadership; quality improvement; people, process and finance; and technology capacity.

Building on the findings of the Readiness Assessments, BCCQ Phase II will offer an applied learning model to support the fifty-one Phase I clinics on their path toward technology-enabled quality improvement. Through a request for proposals process, cohorts of twelve to fifteen community clinics and/or health centers will be selected to participate in technology enabled quality improvement projects over 10 month periods of time. Phase II programmatic components will include several concurrent activities: (1) clinic planning, implementation, or enhancement of technology-enabled quality improvement practices, (2) on-site, clinic-specific coaching and technical assistance to guide clinic learning and translate knowledge building into practical capacity, and (3) three or four knowledge building sessions (two days each) focusing on quality improvement, process improvement, leadership, and collaborative learning. BCCQ Phase II is scheduled to launch in early 2008.