MOUNT VERNON – Knox County Community Health Center in Mount Vernon recently received four awards, including for the first time the Quality Leader Award.
The four Community Health Quality Recognition (CHQR) badges recognize Knox County Community Health Center as having made notable quality improvement achievements in 2022.
These badges of distinction are bestowed by the Health Resources and Services Administration, an arm of the federal government that funds medical care in underserved communities.
Lane Belangia, CEO of the Knox County Health Center in Mount Vernon, and his staff and medical professionals provide care to the underinsured or those who lack health insurance coverage.
"We have received other quality awards in the past," Belangia told the Mount Vernon News. "But we have never received four. The Quality Leader Award is a first."
The Quality Leader – Bronze badge is given based on the best overall clinical quality measure (CQM) performance. The bronze tier places Knox County’s Health Center in the top 21-30% among all health centers, according to HRSA.gov.
Funding for the Health Center comes from the federal government, which certifies the center provides primary preventive health care to those in Knox County who can't attain it.
About 61,000 people reside in Knox County, and Belangia said a third of them qualify to receive health care from the center. The facility sees about 5,000 people a year, on average. Belangia estimated about 10,000 patients will be seen in 2022.
Belangia said the center is a "one-stop shop,” providing dental, podiatry and other medical services.
"This makes it easy for those who have difficulty getting around to see doctors [without having to travel to multiple locations]," he said.
The awards are based mainly on data collected from the institution. The HRSA looks at a patient's age, where they live, insurance data and the disease process that might be going on, such as diabetes and hypertension. That information is analyzed to determine how well the center is performing.
"It's all data-driven," Belangia said. "They [the HRSA] analyze the information to see if we are fulfilling the community's health needs."
Here are the awards from least important to most important, according to Belangia:
- Advancing Health Information Technology for Quality.
- Access Enhancer Award.
- Health Disparity Reducer Award.
- Health Quality Leader Award.
"I must give credit to the center's providers,” he said. “All the medical professionals that work here.”
