Community Health Care Association of New York State (CHCANYS)

Established in 1971 to give a voice to the state’s network of community health centers as leading providers of primary care, the Community Health Care Association of New York State (CHCANYS) is one of the leading primary care associations in the country. CHCANYS organizes, educates and advocates on behalf of 60-plus federally qualified community health centers and look-alikes located throughout New York State. Community health centers provide high quality, affordable and accessible primary medical, dental and preventive care to more than 1.4 million New Yorkers at over 470 sites in urban, suburban and rural settings.

PCDC and CHCANYS have partnered on numerous initiatives to strengthen New York's primary care infrastructure. These include:

• Co-founded the New York State Primary Care Coalition
• Co-founded the Primary Care Health Information Consortium (PCHIC), a collaborative of 25 FQHCs that meets regularly to share experience, identify common issues in HIT implementation and use, and develop solutions
• Developed and coordinated Health IT implementation and QI services for FQHCs including assistance and support in Health IT Selection, Readiness Preparation, Implementation, Project Management, Effective Use, Quality and Interoperability
• Collaborated on the Health Equity and Affordability Law (HEAL) 5 Community Health Information Technology Adoption collaborative, which supported nine Brooklyn FQHCs in the implementation and use of electronic health records and practice management systems
• Co-founded the Primary Care Emergency Preparedness Network (PCEPN) in partnership with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYCDOHMH)
• Successfully advocated for a first-time-ever seat for primary care providers in the NYC Office of Emergency Management's Emergency Operations Center (EOC)
• Delivered the first ever Medical Home/Meaningful Use Learning Collaborative to support twelve NYC health centers in their efforts to achieve medical home recognition and meaningful use certification