ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CCCLN

AThe CCCLN was established in March 2008 as part of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ’s) Health Care Innovations Exchange project. The AHRQ Health Innovations Exchange website offers visitors a wealth of information about health service delivery innovations that support quality improvement and disparities reduction efforts for diverse populations in a variety of settings. Profiles of several CCCLN member programs are highlighted on the site.The network began with Dr. Mark Redding as the Champion of the Network, a Core Team (Wende Baker, Jan

Ruma, and Mary Overall, and later Laura Brennan). 

 

The network’s mission was to improve the health status of underserved populations considered high risk for disparities in health and health care services. The CCCLN asserted that the health disparities experienced by this group of patients can be improved through community care coordination. This approach differs from provider based coordination, in that the coordination occurs within the patients’ communities and is coordinated by a diverse set of individuals and organizations. The advantage of this type of coordination is that it includes other services that affect a patient’s health status such as social and other support services that are critical for accessing health care. The objective is for the learning network members to share innovative approaches that can help them solve health disparities in their communities. The innovation targeted by the CCCLN is the Pathways model, an alternative approach for improving access to care for vulnerable populations.

 

CCCLN goals

• Promote replication, adaptation and use of innovations such as the Pathways Model; and

• Stimulate re-invention and innovative thinking.

 

CCCLN Objectives

• Teaching members about innovative community care coordination models and best practices to reduce health

  disparities;

• Teaching members about strategies and techniques needed to implement community-based care coordination

   models with an initial focus on the Pathways Model;

• Bringing communities together in a network to benefit from each other’s experiences and to share lessons

  learned;

• Connect populations considered at-risk for health disparities to health care and social services.

• Embark of furthering care coordination services through the CCCLN

 

Within a year, the CCCLN grew to a network consisting of 17 Hub Directors, representing 16 distinct community hubs in 10 states.  The membership represents urban and rural communities, and includes municipalities, hospital systems, and a variety of health care providers.