2019 Region IX Clinical Excellence Conference Recap!
On June 23-25, CPCA and the Western Clinicians Network (WCN) hosted the 2019 Region IX Clinical Excellence Conference at the beautiful Newport Beach Marriot Hotel & Spa. We had a great turnout and saw over 200 participants at this year’s conference! Our attendees this year included Clinicians, Chief Medical Officers, Medical Directors, Dental Directors, Executive Directors, State and Regional Primary Care partners, and Board Members from Arizona, California, Nevada, and Hawai’i. Here is a look back at some of the great content attendees experienced.
The three-day conference began on Sunday morning, with a one-hour listening session featuring Judith Steinberg, MD, MPH, and Chief Medical Officer at the Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC). This was a valuable opportunity for Region IX members to communicate their concerns and feedback to the Bureau of Primary Health Care. Following the listening session, all conference attendees came together and were welcomed by the Board Chair of Western Clinicians Network, Ching Wang, and CPCA’s President and CEO Carmella Castellano-Garcia, Esq.
The opening general session speaker, Laree Kiely, President and CEO of We Will, Inc. was incredibly inspiring! This session focused on relationships and how fundamental they are to effective leadership and sustainable success within an organization. Attendees walked away from this session with tangible tools for communicating effectively and efficiently across teams, departments and communities.
Later in the afternoon, attendees came together for the first Peer Learning Session of the conference. This interactive session allowed participants to share ideas, discuss challenges and come up with solutions in relation to topics such as unprofessional behavior, dealing with burnout, poor productivity, and more.
Monday morning, attendees had the pleasure of once more hearing from Judith Steinberg of BPHC along with James Luisi, Chair of the Board for the National Association of Community Health Centers and CEO of North End Waterfront Health. Together they addressed the “National Landscape and Bureau of Primary Health Care Updates.” This led into the morning general session, “Transparency in Healthcare, One Note at a Time.” This session, which focused on OpenNotes, a movement that encourages providers to share clinical notes with patients thereby increasing transparency within healthcare, was a panel featuring Tammy Flint of Open Door Community Health Centers, Liz Salmo of OpenNotes / Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Chethan Srabu, MD of Stanford Medicine and was followed by an interactive discussion.
Day two of the conference offered a variety of concurrent sessions, which focused on topics ranging from “Innovative Approaches to Managing and Treating Pediatric Chronic Conditions” to “Making Providers into Great Leaders.” Monday afternoon, conference attendees came together to hear from Dr. Kimberly Chang of Asian Health Services and Vice Speaker of the House, Board of Directors for the National Association of Community Health Centers. Dr. Chang spoke of “The Role of Community Health Centers in Addressing Human Trafficking” as human trafficking has become a growing public health issue and there is a need for community health centers to get involved in preventing and addressing this issue.
The general session with Dr, Chang led right into the second interactive Peer Learning Session of the conference, where conference participants had an opportunity to continue the discussions they started on day one and bounce ideas off of each other. Day two of conference concluded with a networking reception, where attendees and exhibitors enjoyed light hors d’oeuvres, beverages and a gentle ocean breeze in the beautiful Rose Garden at the Marriot.
The final day of conference offered more concurrent sessions for attendees to choose from, including hot topics such as “How to Close the Transgender Health Disparity Gap in Healthcare” and “A New Epidemic: The Rise of Methamphetamine Use in Patients with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD)”. After the concurrent sessions and lunch, a final peer learning session allowed participants to share discussion takeaways with each other.
The conference began to wrap up on Tuesday afternoon with the introduction of the incoming WCN board, which will be headed by chair-elect, Tyree Davis, DDS. Dr. Carl Heard was recognized for 22 years of service on the WCN Board, as he enters his retirement. The 2019 Clinical Excellence Award was presented to Jennifer Wilson, MD, MPH, FAAFP of Ole Health. Congratulations to Dr. Davis, Dr. Heard and Dr. Wilson!
At the conclusion of the conference, attendees were honored to hear from Dr. Seiji Hayashi, MD, Chief Transformation Officer at St. Mary’s Center. Dr. Hayashi discussed how St. Mary’s is implementing “The Social Change Model” by integrating healthcare, social services and education to improve outcomes. Dr. Hayashi’s presentation highlighted how St. Mary’s is using this model to meet patients where they are and support them in facing life’s challenges. This final session left attendees with resources that they could take back to their clinics and implement in order to effect change within their communities.
Thank you to all of those who attended the 2019 Region IX Clinical Excellence Conference! We would like to also give thanks to the 18 exhibitors who supported the conference. Attendees had the opportunity to visit with our valued supporters throughout the conference and one lucky attendee was the winner of our Exhibitor Bingo game and went home with a Fire HD 10 Tablet!
We hope to see all of you at next year’s Region IX Clinical Excellence Conference on June 14-16, 2020 in Las Vegas!