The Greatest Show

Who Should Attend: Chief Medical Officers, Clinical Directors, quality improvement staff, executive and operational leadership, data and informatics staff, clinic site managers and support staff, patient navigators and care coordinators

Before an organization can scale its value-based care efforts, it must first understand where it stands. This session introduces the core architecture of the VBC Maturity Model. Through a hands-on activity, participants will explore the critical gap between vague policy intent and exact operational execution. We will unpack the Strategic Pillars of VBC Success and walk through a health-center-specific assessment framework, giving participants the tools to objectively self-score their readiness and align their workflows.

Who Should Attend: Chief Medical Officers, Clinical Directors, quality improvement staff, executive and operational leadership, data and informatics staff, clinic site managers and support staff, patient navigators and care coordinators

Theory only succeeds when it is operationalized. Using a multi-generational family case study to highlight diverse patient needs across three generations, this session focuses on the "how" of executing value-based care. Recognizing that Alabama health centers vary widely in resources, we will tackle scalability head-on. Whether you are a small clinic with zero dedicated VBC staff or a large organization looking to optimize an existing team, you will walk away with practical, real-world solutions and a customized roadmap aligned with national best practices.

Who Should Attend: Chief Medical Officers, Clinical Directors, quality improvement staff, executive and operational leadership, data and informatics staff, clinic site managers and support staff, patient navigators and care coordinators

As HCs continue to transition toward value-based care (VBC), having the right data, workflows, and operational processes is essential for success. This session will explore how health centers can leverage Azara Healthcare’s suite of analytics and population health management tools to support VBC strategies, improve care coordination, and drive measurable outcomes. Participants will learn how health centers are using Azara tools to identify opportunities for improvement, manage patient populations, monitor performance metrics, and support proactive interventions aligned with value-based contracts. The session will highlight practical use cases and provide guidance on translating data insights into actionable workflows across clinical, operational, and financial teams. Attendees will gain strategies for building a sustainable VBC infrastructure, including establishing processes for data review, accountability, care gap closure, performance improvement, and cross-functional collaboration. This session will help health centers move beyond reporting and begin operationalizing value-based care as an integrated approach to improving patient outcomes and organizational sustainability.

Panel Discussion

Who Should Attend: Chief Medical Officers, Clinical Directors, quality improvement staff, executive and operational leadership, data and informatics staff, clinic site managers and support staff, patient navigators and care coordinators

Building a successful VBC program requires more than access to data; it requires intentional processes, aligned teams, and a culture of continuous improvement. This interactive panel session will bring together health center leaders and value-based care partners to share real-world experiences, lessons learned, and best practices for developing and sustaining VBC initiatives. Panelists will discuss how they have translated VBC strategies into operational processes, including establishing governance structures, defining roles and responsibilities, integrating data into decision-making, creating workflows for care gap closure, and aligning clinical, operational, and financial teams around shared goals. Through practical examples and peer insights, attendees will learn how health centers can overcome common challenges and build the internal capacity needed to succeed in value-based arrangements.

Who Should Attend: Chief Financial Officers, Finance Directors, Controller, revenue cycle teams, finance and operational staff, clinic site managers, compliance and grants management staff

Community Health Centers are navigating a perfect storm of financial challenges—rising costs, workforce shortages, changing reimbursement models, growing compliance demands, and increasing pressure to do more with less. The good news? Sustainable success is possible when leaders have the right strategies and tools.

This session will explore practical approaches to building a stronger, more resilient health center. Learn how high-performing organizations align their people, technology, operations, and financial resources to improve performance while continuing to expand access and enhance patient care.

Through real-world examples and lessons learned from financial and operational assessments across the country, we'll highlight the most common challenges health centers face—from revenue cycle inefficiencies and grants management issues to audit readiness, compliance risks, data integrity concerns, and value-based care preparedness. More importantly, we'll discuss what leading organizations are doing to overcome them.

Attendees will gain actionable ideas for strengthening financial management, improving operational efficiency, reducing risk, and creating a foundation for long-term success. Whether your organization is focused on improving margins, preparing for future reimbursement models, or simply finding ways to stretch limited resources further, this session will provide practical insights you can take home and apply immediately.

Learning Objectives:

•    Describe the components of a cost strategy for financial sustainability, including workforce, technology, capital, and non-payroll costs.

•    Apply trial balance and chart-of-accounts mapping to compare expense to a supporting revenue source and distinguish program from administrative costs.

•    Identify common financial, operational, and compliance findings from visiting health centers, including grants management, revenue cycle, IT, and audit-readiness gaps.

•    Evaluate organizational risks and value-based reimbursement readiness to strengthen compliance infrastructure and long-term financial sustainability.

Who Should Attend: Chief Financial Officers, Finance Directors, Controller, revenue cycle teams, finance and operational staff, clinic site managers, compliance and grants management staff

Revenue leakage has become a system-wide operational challenge, not a marginal one — the industry saw $48.4 billion in revenue leakage in 2025, initial denial rates continue to climb, and a large share of denied claims are never resubmitted. For Community Health Centers operating on thin margins and serving complex patient populations, every preventable denial and every uncollected balance directly threaten sustainability. This session walks through the full revenue cycle — front, middle, and back-end — to show where money disappears and how to stop it. Attendees will explore practical best practices in eligibility verification, registration standardization, staff training, claim scrubbing, provider chart closure, and accounts receivable management, including the sliding fee considerations unique to health center operations. The presentation also covers the metrics that matter, offering sample patient access and back-end KPIs and benchmarks organizations can use to measure and track performance. Finally, it lays out how to build a sustainable improvement program through denial prevention committees, process standardization, technology enablement, and a data-driven culture. Presented by a CPA who advises healthcare providers, the session moves revenue cycle management from a back-office function to an executive-level strategic priority — giving leaders concrete, proactive strategies they can bring back to their own organizations.

Learning Objectives:

•    Identify the primary drivers of revenue leakage and rising denials across the front, middle, and back-end revenue cycle, and recognize where preventable losses occur.

•    Describe best practices for eligibility verification, registration standardization, claim scrubbing, provider chart closure, and accounts receivable management that reduce preventable denials.

•    Evaluate revenue cycle performance using key performance indicators and industry benchmarks for patient access and back-end operations.

•    Apply strategies for building a sustainable improvement program — including denial prevention committees, process standardization, technology enablement, and executive-level governance.

Who Should Attend: Chief Financial Officers, Finance Directors, Controller, revenue cycle teams, finance and operational staff, clinic site managers, compliance and grants management staff

Value-based care is no longer optional or upside-only. As medical costs rise, payors are shifting from negotiating rates to transferring risk, and CMS is advancing mandatory models while pursuing its goal of having 100% of Medicare beneficiaries in an accountable care relationship by 2030. For Community Health Centers, this shift is already underway: CHC participation in the Medicare Shared Savings Program has grown faster than any other provider type. This session cuts through the noise to explain what downside risk really means and why "waiting for the market to catch up" is a risky posture. Attendees will explore current industry trends, the difference between voluntary and mandatory alternative payment models, and how CMS policy drives both public and commercial payor behavior. We will discuss practical impacts, unpacking the anatomy of a typical VBC contract through the Observed-to-Expected framework, key terms like PMPM, RAF, and HCC, and the carveouts and benchmarks that determine whether an organization succeeds financially. Finally, it addresses the considerations most relevant to CHCs, from tolerance for downside risk to resource, staffing, and technology constraints. Attendees will leave better equipped to assess their own readiness, ask the right questions before signing a contract, and understand where to focus internally to optimize performance in value-based arrangements.

Learning Objectives:

•    Describe current value-based care industry trends and the CMS policies driving the shift from voluntary, upside-only models toward mandatory arrangements and downside risk.

•    Identify why value-based care matters for Community Health Centers, including rapid FQHC growth in the Medicare Shared Savings Program and CHC-focused model developments.

•    Analyze the structure of a typical VBC contract, including the Observed-to-Expected framework, benchmark calculations, carveouts, and key contract terminology.

•    Evaluate their own organization's readiness for value-based care by assessing risk tolerance, resource constraints, organizational structure, and participation requirements.

Who Should Attend: Chief Financial Officers, Finance Directors, Controller, revenue cycle teams, finance and operational staff, clinic site managers, compliance and grants management staff

What separates a high-performing Community Health Center from one that leaves money on the table? This session tackles that question head-on, starting with a candid look at the financial condition of health centers and the characteristics that set top performers apart—strong leadership, a culture of accountability, open communication between departments, and decisions that weigh both mission and business impact. We will cover some high-level revenue cycle concepts, where sustainability is won or lost. The session then shifts to the power of Key Performance Indicators and visual tools for decision-making: how to select the right metrics, tailor financial information for different audiences like the Board versus the Finance Committee, and build a culture of data-driven decision-making through alignment, education, accountability, and consistency. Practical KPI examples—time-of-service collections, provider productivity, telehealth adoption, and days to enter charges—show how transparency empowers leaders, managers, providers, and staff to drive change. Attendees will leave with a clear framework for connecting culture, revenue cycle discipline, and meaningful measurement to strengthen their organizations.

Learning Objectives:

•    Identify the characteristics and management behaviors that distinguish high-performing health centers, including strong culture, accountability, and effective communication.

•    Describe common missed revenue cycle opportunities—such as the Medicare Advantage wrap-around (519 rate)

•    Evaluate which financial information and KPIs to report, how often, and to which audiences, from the Finance Committee to the Board of Directors.

•    Apply the four steps—alignment, education, accountability, and consistency—to build a culture of data-driven decision-making within their organization.

Who should attend: Quality Improvement Leaders, clinical managers and care team coordinators, Information Technology and health informatics staff, data analysts, compliance and reporting staff

Artificial intelligence is transforming healthcare and understanding how to implement it responsibly is essential for Community Health Centers. This session is designed for Community Health Center executives, providers, and administrators interested in the latest AI trends and the governance of AI within their clinical and revenue cycle applications and services. Join us as we take an inside look at AI capabilities within the EMR for Community Health Centers and the EMR communities’ approach to responsible AI. The session concludes with an interactive Q&A, giving participants the opportunity to engage directly with the AI experts.  Participants will leave with practical insights into how the vendor community is addressing and delivering trusted AI that supports safe, effective, and responsible innovation for Community Health Centers in Alabama and the patients and communities they serve.

Who should attend: Hospital administrators, IT leaders, clinical staff, and compliance officers.

Health Centers face a growing and complex security landscape. Limited budgets, aging infrastructure, and increasing connectivity make HCs attractive targets for cyberattacks, yet many lack the resources to mount a robust defense. This session examines the top threats currently impacting HCs, including ransomware, phishing, AI-driven attacks, quantum computing risks, and AI third-party vendor threats. Drawing on real-world experience, the presenter will illustrate the devastating effects these incidents can have on patient care and day-to-day operations. Attendees will leave with practical, cost-effective strategies to strengthen their security posture, from implementing essential cybersecurity controls and staff training best practices, to developing incident response plans and leveraging available federal resources and partnerships and building a plan to deal with advanced cyber threats.

Key Takeaways:

• The most critical cyber threats facing HCs today
• Insights drawn from real-world experience in healthcare security
• Actionable, low-cost defensive controls you can implement immediately
• How to build a culture of security awareness across your organization, including AI Governance 
• Federal resources and partnerships available to resource-constrained health centers

Who should attend: Quality Improvement Leaders, clinical managers and care team coordinators, Information Technology and health informatics staff, data analysts, compliance and reporting staff

Cybersecurity threats continue to evolve, and health centers must be prepared to respond quickly and effectively when a data breach occurs. This session will provide a firsthand look at the realities of managing a cybersecurity incident from the perspective of a health center that experienced a data breach. Through a candid discussion of the incident response process, participants will learn how the organization identified the breach, coordinated its response, communicated with internal and external stakeholders, and worked to restore operations while protecting patients and maintaining compliance. The session will highlight key lessons learned, including the importance of incident response planning, workforce training, cybersecurity preparedness, vendor management, regulatory reporting requirements, and collaboration with legal, technology, and compliance partners. Presenters will share practical strategies health centers can implement to strengthen their cybersecurity posture, improve resilience, and prepare their teams to respond effectively when faced with a security event.

Who Should Attend: Chief Financial Officers, Finance Directors, Controller, revenue cycle teams, finance and operational staff, clinic site managers, compliance and grants management staff

As health centers navigate increasing financial pressures and the transition toward value-based care, finance leaders must play a strategic role in aligning provider productivity, operational performance, and financial sustainability. This session will provide a foundational framework for understanding how financial oversight, productivity management, and organizational accountability intersect to drive success. Participants will explore key provider productivity measures, executive dashboards, performance reporting tools, and governance structures that support informed decision-making and continuous improvement. Attendees will learn practical strategies for partnering with clinical and operational leaders to identify performance opportunities, address barriers to productivity, and align organizational goals with value-based care initiatives. Through real-world examples and peer discussion, participants will leave with actionable approaches for strengthening financial performance while advancing access, quality, and patient outcomes.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify key provider productivity and financial performance indicators.
• Understand the finance leader's role in supporting value-based care transformation.
• Explore governance and accountability frameworks that drive performance improvement.
• Develop strategies for aligning productivity management with organizational goals.

Who Should Attend: Chief Financial Officers, Finance Directors, Controller, revenue cycle teams, finance and operational staff, clinic site managers, compliance and grants management staff

The greatest performance results often come not from working harder—but from working smarter. Provider productivity is influenced by a wide range of operational factors, including scheduling practices, staffing models, patient flow, workforce deployment, and resource utilization. This session will explore how finance and operational leaders can leverage data analytics to uncover opportunities for improving provider efficiency while maintaining quality, access, and patient satisfaction. Participants will analyze productivity benchmarks, utilization trends, visit volume drivers, and workforce performance metrics to better understand how operational decisions impact both financial outcomes and patient care. The session will highlight practical approaches to reducing operational barriers, optimizing staffing resources, and maximizing provider capacity in support of organizational sustainability and value-based care success.

Learning Objectives:

• Interpret productivity and utilization data to identify operational improvement opportunities.
• Evaluate staffing and workforce models that support provider efficiency.
• Understand the relationship between operational performance and financial outcomes.
• Develop actionable strategies to increase provider capacity and organizational effectiveness.

Who Should Attend: Chief Financial Officers, Finance Directors, Controller, revenue cycle teams, finance and operational staff, clinic site managers, compliance and grants management staff

Data alone does not create impact—action does. As value-based care continues to reshape healthcare delivery, health centers must move beyond collecting information and focus on using analytics to drive measurable improvement. This session will examine how finance leaders can collaborate with clinical and operational teams to transform data into strategic action that improves both organizational performance and patient outcomes. Participants will explore methods for linking provider productivity, revenue performance, quality outcomes, patient access measures, and value-based payment incentives into a cohesive performance management strategy. The discussion will focus on building meaningful scorecards, establishing accountability structures, and creating a culture of continuous improvement that supports long-term success. Attendees will leave with a practical roadmap for using analytics to inform decisions, prioritize improvement efforts, and demonstrate organizational impact.

Learning Objectives:

• Connect financial, operational, and clinical performance metrics to organizational outcomes.
• Develop meaningful dashboards and scorecards that support decision-making.
• Establish accountability frameworks that drive continuous performance improvement.
• Apply analytics to strengthen value-based care performance and financial sustainability.