A woman in a white coat with a stethoscope around her neck is smiling. She has shoulder-length hair and is seated against a background with white blinds.

Clinical

Health Centers have been a key part in the healthcare system for nearly 60 years. According to HRSA, in 2022, health centers served more than 30.5 million people.

HRSA funded Health Centers provide comprehensive, culturally competent, quality primary healthcare services to medically underserved communities and vulnerable populations.

WV Health Centers serve 1 in 3 WV residents. Our member Health Centers are community-based patient-centered organizations that serve populations with limited access to healthcare.

WV Health Centers champion preventive care and advance the medical/health home model of coordinated, comprehensive, and patient-centered care, coordinating a wide range of medical, dental, behavioral and social services.

Stay Connected

WVPCA utilizes list serv and Noddlepod Community learning forum to communicate with all interested Health Centers clinicians. To be added to our provider group Noddlepod community please contact Jessica Dailey Haas at jessica.haas@wvpca.org.

UDS Clinical Measures

Each year, Health Center grantees and look-alikes report on their performance using the measures defined in the Uniform Data System (UDS). This data is available for all the public to see and is often cited by various agencies as well as the Press when talking about the quality of care in Health Centers. All data is filed directly into the Center’s Electronic Handbook (EHB) each year in February.

Each Year WVPCA brings UDS Clinical Measure training in the fall to Health Centers to prepare them for reporting.

Clinical Measures are discussed in monthly quality peer meetings and included in the federal grants received by WVPCA.

Hypertension

According to the WV Division of Health and Human Resources, 1 in 3 WV residents have high blood pressure. High Blood Pressure (wv.gov)

High blood pressure can lead to heart disease and stroke a leading cause of death in WV. Thus, WVPCA is dedicated to helping health center improve hypertension among the community members in which they serve.

The Hypertension Collaborative page provides project and initiative overviews, learning opportunities, data sharing and resources to promote hypertension improvement.

Guidance on antihypertensive medication treatment for patients with hypertension to help get them to goal can be found: Hypertension Medication Treatment Protocol - AMA-MAP | Hypertension Medication Treatment Protocol (ama-assn.org)

Diabetes

According to the WV Department of Health Division of Health Promotion and Chronic Disease, it is estimated that 1 in 10 West Virginia adults had diabetes (15.0%) which ranks WV second highest nationally. WVPCA understands the need to bring quality improvement, training and technical assistance to members around prevention, treatment, and collection of data on diabetic care.

Members discuss diabetic improvement in various settings, including peer quality meetings, clinical workgroups, and roundtable discussions. WVPCA utilizes the population health management platform (Azara) for network improvement efforts on diabetic improvement.

HIV

HIV infection continues to be an area of public health concern in our state of WV. Due to the opioid epidemic in our state, people who use drugs (PWUD) HIV due to injection is above the national average in WV.  According to the WV State Elimination Plan 2023, 147 persons with HIV infection were diagnosed in 2021. At the end of 2021, 2,173 persons> 13 years of age had been diagnosed with HIV infection and were living in West Virginia. In West Virginia, people living with HIV (PLWH) were predominantly male (75%) as assigned at birth, > 55 years of age, White (70%) and reported men who have sex with men transmission (46%) followed by injection drug use (IDU) 20%.

WVPCA is dedicated in bringing to our members updated evidence-based training and technical assistance from experts both within the state and nationally.  WVPCA partners with community organizations regionally, state, and nationally to provide the best quality care for those living with HIV as well as prevention of HIV to residents.

Infectious Disease

Hepatitis C is a serious liver infection caused by the Hepatitis C virus (HCV). The virus is spread by exposure to HCV infected blood or body fluid. In the United States, the most common methods of transmission include: injection drug use, needlestick injuries in healthcare settings, birth to an HCV-infected mother, and through donated blood, blood products, or organs (though this is much rarer after blood screening became available in 1992). Less common means of transmission are high risk sexual activity or sharing of personal items contaminated with blood with an HCV-infected person and invasive healthcare procedures (such as injections). Body piercing and tatooing are other potential sources of transmission if contaminated equipment or supplies are used. HCV can take 14 to 180 days (2 weeks to 6 months) to show symptoms in someone who is infected (WVDHHR, 2024).

WVPCA is dedicated in bringing to our members updated evidence-based training and resources for treating individuals with HCV.

Women’s and Child Health

According to the CDC, the mortality rate in WV is 23% higher than the national average where an incidence of low birth weight in WV is 9.3% of all newborns—yielding a WV infant mortality rate of 7.5 infant deaths per 1,000 live births. According to the March of Dimes 2023 national report, WV received a report card grade of F in the preterm birth rate. WV rate for preterm birth was 13.0 and the national rate of 10.4.

WVPCA continues to work with state organizations like the WV Department of Health Office of Maternal Child and Family Health and the WV Perinatal Partnership to improve the quality and access to care for women and infants in member communities.

Vulnerable Populations

Veterans

WVPCA is committed to working with members to improve the care for the most vulnerable of populations within our communities. WVPCA works hard to identify areas of training and technical assistance for those most vulnerable.

Recent work includes working with the National Association of Community Health Centers for Veteran Identification. Veterans can have medication behavioral and social service needs that can be a result of their sacrifices in serving our nation.

This is why WVPCA is honored to work with the NACHC Veteran Interest Group in ways to improve screening methods for the identification of military veterans. Partnering with ECRI Institute SALUTE veterans’ program and providing training and technical assistance on topics affecting veterans such as military environmental exposure, Gulf War Illness Syndrome and much more.

This is why WVPCA is honored to work with the NACHC Veteran Interest Group in ways to improve screening methods for the identification of military veterans. Partnering with ECRI Institute SALUTE veterans’ program and providing training and technical assistance on topics affecting veterans such as military environmental exposure, Gulf War Illness Syndrome and much more.

Homelessness

West Virginia Legislature passed Senate Bill 239 in 2023 which tasked state officials to address a study to understand the depth of homelessness in our state. The full report can be found here.

The report outlined who comprises its homeless population, resources available to meet their needs, factors that influence geographic location and relocation of those who make up the population.  The report looked at the federal definition of homelessness and the subpopulations such as people who are homeless, those facing homelessness, those fleeing and attempting to flee domestic violence, unaccompanied youth ages 25 years and younger, homeless veterans, those recently discharged from incarceration and other settings, victims of human trafficking.

WVPCA members collect social drives of health (SDOH) data on patients in which they serve as required by the HRSA Uniform Data System (UDS) patient zip code of specific groups including those patient experiencing homelessness. WVPCA continues to bring knowledge, training and resources to members of collection of data for SDOH, referrals and resources.

Social Drives of Health (SDOH)

A circular diagram titled "SDOH" includes five interconnected segments: Neighborhood and Built Environment, Health and Health Care, Social and Community Context, Education, and Economic Stability.

The Center for Disease Control’s Health Impact Pyramid makes clear that, if policymakers want to have the greatest impact on health, approaches and investments must move outside of the clinic and target the places where people live, work, and age. According to the pyramid, efforts to address socioeconomic determinants are at the base, followed by public health interventions that change the context for health, protective interventions with long-term benefits (i.e. immunizations), direct clinical care, and counseling and health education at the top. (HRSA, 2017). HRSA defines social determinants of health (SDOH) a condition in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. The fundamental drivers of these conditions (World Health Organization, 2008). NACHC expands the definition by stating these conditions are shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources.

WVPCA bring training and technical assistance to members on the PRAPARE screening tool as a tool for CHC to utilize for SDOH.

WVPCA has partnered with Findhelp a resource to find free, reduced cost resources like food, housing, financial assistance, health and more to patients in which our members serve.

Infographic showing factors impacting health: socioeconomic (40%), physical environment (10%), health behaviors (30%), and healthcare (20%). Source: American Hospital Association, 2018.