R-2306-18876

The Texas Association of Community Health Centers (TACHC) works to strengthen and support community health centers to speak with a unified voice and drive healthcare transformation by exemplifying innovation, access, and equity. TACHC is the HRSA-designated Primary Care Association for the 74 community health centers in Texas.

This proposal is one of 10 selected finalists for the Community and Care Transformation RFP. The Texas Association of Community Health Centers’ (TACHC) proposed project is aimed at formalizing a certification or accreditation process of their existing model of the Trauma Informed Care (TIC) training curriculum. Grant funds will support TACHC’s work to develop frameworks for both individuals and organizations to be certified with the goal being to demonstrate trauma informed care’s value to payors and patients. This certification designation would support the proposal of a future alternative payment model of use in community health centers for integrated medical, dental, and behavioral health services. Additionally, the accreditation process will bolster TACHC’s standing as an organization committed to excellence as well as its case for standardizing and scaling this curriculum.

TACHC has been preparing for this work, namely preparing Community Health Centers (CHCs) to move from volume to value, over the past two years and the organization plans to develop a framework of their TACHC TIC Curriculum for certification, a plan for approaching stakeholders on the training and implementation of the TIC Curriculum and aligning the TIC Certification plan with value-based payment efforts for a potential alternative payment model. For communities, the TIC program will promote holistic health, build evidence of trustworthiness and transparency in policies and patient/provider interactions, develop a trauma informed workforce, and promote medical dental integration.

Regarding community engagement, TACHC also indicates that the project will

This proposed project will engage TACHC’s primary community of members as well as consumers/patients. TACHC has stayed committed to continuing the TIC Program by hiring and retaining 2 full time TIC Coordinators who provide training to CHCs with the TACHC TIC curriculum. There will also be continued collaboration with the UT Houston School of Public Health to collect and analyze data from TIC trained cohorts. With CareQuest Institute grant support, TACHC will be able to develop tangible assets to provide to partners or individuals (the framework of the certification process) and the proposed APM to follow would sustain the program’s success.

The budget for this proposal is $125,000, which represents less than 1% of the organization’s overall budget. Budget line items include $75,000 for program staff, $30,000 for curriculum development, training and analysis, and the remainder of the budget is allocated for smaller program implementation fees.