CPCA Membership Benefits
As a member of the California Primary Care Association, Community Health Centers (CHCs) benefit from CPCA’s efforts to strengthen and protect the role of CHCs in the health care delivery system through advocacy, education and training, technical assistance, and by bringing together partners and stakeholders at all levels to advance the interests of clinics and their patients.
Your dues contribute to CPCA’s ability to provide activities and resources that support your ability to serve the needs of your community through innovation, collaboration and commitment; and include the benefits outlined below. Please direct your membership questions to membership@cpca.org.
Funded by Member Dues and Unrestricted Revenue
The California Primary Care Association (CPCA) actively represents its membership in legislative and regulatory forums in Sacramento and Washington D.C. With member direction and support, each year CPCA sets an aggressive advocacy agenda, inclusive of advocacy on the state budget, state and federal legislation, state and federal regulations, and ballot measures. This is done to ensure that state and federal funding for community health centers is protected and sustained, and that community health centers have access to resources and programs that enable them to continue offering affordable, quality care. Additionally, CPCA invites all members to participate in an annual advocacy event that allows patients, clinicians, health center staff and leadership to dialogue with legislators and legislative staff about priority issues.
CPCA maintains research capacity to ensure timely and accurate analysis and action on regulatory and legal issues affecting community health centers and their patients. CPCA’s staff actively monitors and informs members of pertinent legislative and regulatory developments and prepares comments with member feedback regarding such developments on behalf of CPCA. Under the direction of the CPCA Board of Directors, as needed, CPCA will take legal action alone, or with partners, to guarantee government agencies do not undermine health centers or the patients they serve.
CPCA forms alliances and partnerships with other organizations, advocacy groups, and stakeholders who share common goals or concerns. CPCA’s collaborative efforts also amplify advocacy, strengthen advocacy positions, and broaden support for policy initiatives through our Clinic Site Visit Program and convening additional clinic site visits with policymakers, partners, and other stakeholders.
CPCA dedicates staff resources and works closely with its members to enhance the quality of care, effectiveness of clinical interventions, and efficiency of services to reduce documented health disparities among the individuals served by community health centers, meet the quintuple aim, and support community health centers’ move toward value-based care. In addition to ongoing training, educational and networking opportunities, CPCA manages the Statewide Quality Improvement Peer Network (SQI PN). SQI PN is a members-only peer network that shares expertise and challenges to inform CPCA’s position on federal and statewide programming and policy related to quality improvement; provides a space to share strategies, best practices, and innovative approaches to quality improvement and value-based care models; and informs CPCA’s data strategy to support quality improvement efforts and value-based care.
Through CPCA, members have access to “member only” engagement and networking spaces that allow for collaboration, information sharing, and strategy development. Members-only governance spaces include peer networks, taskforces, committees, and the Board of Directors.
Peer Networks
Peer Networks are offered for a variety of disciplines such as CFOs, Billing Managers, Clinic Emergency Preparedness staff, Compliance Officers, Dental Directors, Behavioral Health Directors, Human Resources professionals, and many others. In addition, these networks are supported by an electronic collaboration platform, the CPCA Connected Community, where additional dialogue and resources can be shared.
Taskforces
The CPCA governance structure also brings community health center representatives together to discuss and consider the pressing political and social issues facing community health centers, and to collaboratively develop strategic direction and guidance for CPCA activities. Taskforces typically address sensitive policy issues and make informal recommendations to committees as needed.
Committees
CPCA Board Committees further the work of the Association by leveraging member expertise when researching, analyzing, and recommending positions on strategic issues that are important to the Board and/or when supporting governance oversight responsibilities.
Board of Directors
CPCA is governed by a 30-person Board of Directors, a third of which is elected from member health center leadership each year.
The sheer size, scope, and diversity of California, along with the complexity of health programs and policy choices that are often locally based, necessitate both a strong statewide community health center presence and solid representation of community health center interests in local and regional forums. Membership includes hosting venues to convene multiple regional consortia of community clinics and health centers. In partnership with the CPCA, regional consortia advocate on behalf of health centers and their patients, with special focus on local government programs and services.
CPCA engages in regular and strategic communications to inform and educate the media and the public about community health center services, patients, and critical public policy issues affecting community health centers and their patients. The media and public relations program is a partnership between CPCA and its members to celebrate community health center achievements and to alert opinion makers and the public about pressing issues and public health concerns affecting health centers and the communities they serve. CPCA communicates with its members in a variety of ways, including CEO messages, subject-specific updates, and the Weekly Update e-newsletter, which curates the latest news, trainings, and resources to help members optimize their workforce and operations and stay up to date on regulatory and public health priorities. CPCA also publishes the ACCESS e-newsletter and an Annual Report, which are widely distributed to CPCA members, legislators, key state departments, and other partners. CPCA’s member-facing website, CPCA.org, is the nexus for communications about pressing issues, such as Medi-Cal Health Navigators Project, value based care, and funding opportunities. In addition, CPCA maintains an active presence on social media to engage members and the general public in its organizational priorities and keep them apprised of important issues.
CPCA Programs and Services
Programs and Services differ from member benefits in that they are paid for through participant fees and/or programmatic grants and have an immediate benefit for/impact to individual users as opposed to creating impact membership-wide regardless of individual engagement. Programs and Services are often offered to members at a discounted rate. Examples of current CPCA programs and services include:
Funded by fee for service arrangements, grants, sponsorships, and affinity partnerships
Education
CPCA hosts numerous live and asynchronous learning opportunities, such as webinars, webcasts, podcasts, etc., to train community health centers and consortia on issues such as value-based care, finance and billing, health center operations, social determinants of health, workforce development, and many other topics.
+ Programs
CPCA is committed to providing CHC staff at all levels with training opportunities and resources that will help them effectively run their health centers. Building on CPCA’s educational offerings, cohort-based educational programs are critical to advancing health center contributions in the managed care environment, elevating the health center delivery model and system and effectively managing and improving the health of patients.
Events & Conferences
CPCA offers regular day-long or multi-day training events such as the Quality & Technology Conference, the Financial Conference, the Clinical Excellence Conference, the Annual Conference and more. Additionally, CPCA leverages these events to connect health centers with exhibiting product and service vendors, allowing health centers to find innovative business and care delivery solutions specific to their needs and communities.
Technical Assistance
Community health centers have regular access to one-on-one and group support from content leads who provide information and programs on a variety of timely topics, e.g. state and federal regulatory compliance, leadership development, managed care, behavioral and oral health, operational efficiency, quality improvement, workforce recruitment and retention, payments and billing, facility licensing, emergency preparedness, and more.
Toolkits, Promising Practices, and Resources
CPCA develops toolkits, promising practices, and resources on a variety of subject areas alongside industry experts and CPCA members to provide tailored content to community health centers. These written materials may be accessible through the CPCA store.
CPCA regularly assesses the feasibility of developing affinity partnerships to provide cost effective and high-quality business solutions to community health centers. These services may include offerings such as revenue cycle management services, workforce recruitment support, and data analytics platforms.
CPCA serves as a third-party administrator for several state and federal grants that provide additional funds to consortia and community health centers for dedicated activities. CPCA is responsible for grant implementation, including program design, funding allocations, data collection, work and budget plan monitoring, etc.
CPCA is leading a statewide non-partisan initiative that seeks to mobilize health professionals and health care institutions to serve as civic engagement advocates and trusted messengers to encourage and help patients and community members better understand the civic processes that could positively impact them, their health, and social determinants of health.