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2017 Annual Conference

The NJPCA 2017 Annual Conference, Level Up: Healthcare Change Ready, was a huge success! Thank you to everyone who came to Atlantic City to be a part of it. Over 300 New Jersey healthcare professionals came together to learn about finance, clinical quality, federal regulations, outreach & enrollment, governance, meaningful use, APMs, MACRA and dental clinical quality. We hope your experience was filled with opportunities for personal growth, networking, learning, and overall fun. Through powerful group sessions and the willingness to share your best practices, you created a platform for mutual learning and growth. That is how we become healthcare change ready!

Peer Support Learning Groups Networking Reception

Special thank you to Aetna Better Health of New Jersey for sponsoring our Peer Support Learning Groups Networking Reception on Wednesday, September 27. HRSA requires PCAs to provide subject area peer learning opportunities to Center team members for sharing resources and exchanging best practices. This reception is an opportunity to connect with our colleagues and celebrate the year-long hard work of all peer work groups. Reception attendees were thrilled to have a live performance by a special guest, Joaquin “ Quino” McWhinney of Big Mountain.

Breakout Breakfast: All Gender Healthcare

The Breakout Breakfast focused on the importance of eliminating LGBTQ health disparities and enhancing efforts to improve LGBTQ health. To effectively address LGBTQ health issues, we need to inform ourselves and understand the social inequalities these communities face. Dr. Michael McNett, Chief Medical Officer of Alliance Community Healthcare, provided the audience with a medical background and discussed the need for non-judgmental, culturally competent medical care and prevention services specific to this population. The audience also had the opportunity to hear a personal story from a fellow New Jerseyean, Matthew Dawkins. Matthew was recognized in the media as the first documented transgender high school athlete of New Jersey at the age of 19. Matt’s mother, Tammi Grovatt-Dawkims was also able to speak on transgender health from the perspective of a proud mom and a private practice psychotherapist.

Healthcare Heroes Luncheon

The Healthcare Heroes Luncheon was the highlight of the conference with more attendees than anticipated! The expert panel included Colleen Meiman, Director of Regulatory Affairs at NACHC and Heather Howard, Lecturer in Public Affairs at Princeton University who focused on the health center funding cliff as part of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act. We also benefited from hearing John Church, CFO of Omni Family Health and Gloria Boseman, Professor of Nursing at New Jersey City University. The luncheon is our opportunity to recognize all our Healthcare Heroes for the great work that they do in delivering healthcare excellence. We are so grateful to have had Anatalia Villaranda of The Voice and Joaquin “Quino” McWhinney of Big Mountain help us in celebrating our Healthcare Heroes with their musical talent!

Healthcare Heroes

Each New Jersey Community Health Center selected a model employee to be honored. Awardees were selected based on their selfless commitment and unwavering dedication to the mission of their community health center.

Dr. Chidi Achebe Pediatrician Newark Community Health Centers, Inc.	Susan Moskal Director of Nursing Jewish Renaissance Medical Center
Marilina Avanz Patient Care Coordinator Horizon Health Center	Louris Mikaeil NJ CEED Outreach Worker Metropolitan Family Health Network
Gregory Collins, MD Internal Medicine Southern Jersey Family Medical Centers	Eva Montes Bilingual Receptionist CHEMED
Philip Daa Social Case Worker Mary Eliza Mahoney Health Center	Danielle Orlando Patient Advocate Project H.O.P.E., Inc.
Nidia Dantas Manager, OB/GYN Services Monmouth Family Health Center	Inga Robbins, MD Cardiologist AtlantiCare Health Services
Denise Fallon Coordinator of Cancer Education & Early Detection Program (CEED) Zufall Health Center	Grace Sumallo OB/GYN Charge Nurse Neighborhood Health Services Corporation
Jacqueline Fleming, MD Pediatrician Eric B. Chandler Health Center	Trupti Upadhyay Outreach Coordinator & Enrollment Assister Jewish Renaissance Foundation
Dorian Jackson OB/GYN Nurse Practitioner CAMcare Health Corporation	Gaetana Venezia Pediatric Manager/ Administrative Coordinator at WNY North Hudson Community Action Corporation Health Center
Dr. Charisma Lanez Director of Medical Affairs Ocean Health Initiatives, Inc.	Mia Wade Voorhees RN Unit Manager Pediatric Department Henry J. Austin Health Center, Inc.
Dr. Alison Lewis Primary Care Provider Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey Community Health Center	Carmen Williams Director of Nursing CompleteCare Health Network

2017 Speakers

Jeffry Adest, Esq Garfunkel Wild, P.C.	Dr. Gloria Boseman, RN, PhD New Jersey City University	Dr. Natalie Chalmers, DDS, PhD DentaQuest Institute
John Church Omni Family Health	Maura Collinsgru New Jersey Citizen Action	Matthew Dawkins
Tanmi Grovat-Dawkins Private Practice Psychotherapist	Peter R. Epp, CPA CohnReznick	Renne Fusco Infection Prevention Consultant
Johnathan Goh, FCCA, CPA Gowell Associates, LLC	Dr. Barrett Hatches, PhD Chicago Family Health Center	Heather Howard Princeton University
Dionne Kearney, CPA CohnReznick	Danielle Liss Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services	Anne Lorenzo New Jersey Innovation Institute
Dr. Michael McNett Alliance Community Healthcare	Colleen Meiman National Association of Community Health Centers	Renu Tadepalli New Jersey Innovation Institute
	Arixmar Velez New Jersey Innovation Institute

“Excellent training! Provided valuable information!”
“Ms. Fusco is excellent – great speaker and gave lots of examples. Very knowledgeable.”

Breakout Breakfast: “This was amazing! Looking forward to bringing this back to our health center.”

“Congratulations on a great conference! My staff who attended had great things to say about the educational workshops. Presenters were good, topics were relevant, and they came away with new knowledge that they can use.”

“The speakers were engaging and on point addressing so many of the issues that are critical to health center operations and patient care. The entertainment was fabulous and the networking so valuable. Project HOPE staff expressed appreciation for all the events but want you to know that they especially loved Dr. Boseman!”

Sponsors and Exhibitors

Finally, a huge thank you to the sponsors and exhibitors who make this event possible every year. Without your support, both in sponsoring the event itself and in your ongoing contributions to NJPCA, the conference could not have been a success.