Community Health Network

The mission of the Community Health Network is to enhance the business of community health in Tennessee by sharing resources and programs whenever possible.

Our History

The Community Health Network, Inc. was incorporated in 2001 by a group of 10 community health center organizations in Tennessee and the Tennessee Primary Care Association (TPCA). TPCA incubated CHN as a subset of its membership in order to share business services wherever possible to increase efficiency and lower costs in the delivery of health care services to the community health population of the state.

Initially, CHN services were focused in the area of information technology (IT) with the institution of a statewide wide area network, a shared practice management system and other IT services. In recent years we have added telehealth, a shared electronic health record, ePrescribing and several shared purchasing programs to CHN’s service offerings.

In 2003, CHN received a HRSA OHRP Network Development Grant and used it successfully to augment membership expansion efforts, the wide area network and services to create a sustainable business providing services to the membership and other non-profit healthcare groups. Shared purchasing programs have been implemented to reduce membership costs for medical supplies, office supplies, insurance verification, provider recruitment, wireless communication services, broadband connectivity, and equipment purchasing in addition to CHN’s shared data center and IT services.

In 2006, CHN received a USDA RUS Grant for telehealth equipment in 16 rural locations across the state which was later supplemented by a larger grant from the State of Tennessee to expand the initial program to over 40 sites, allowing CHN to reach out to community mental health centers and other non-member community health centers. At this time we implemented a digital eye imaging program over CHN’s telehealth network in collaboration with the Vanderbilt Ophthalmic Imaging Center and Prevent Blindness Tennessee.

Through a collaboration between the Tennessee eHealth Council and the Tennessee Department of Health CHN partnered in applying for a HRSA CAH FLEX HIT Grant that was awarded to the State of Tennessee with CHN as the contractor. Under this program, we are establishing a Health Information Exchange platform for the Middle Tennessee Rural Health Information Network that facilitates the sharing of patient information between 3 critical access hospitals, a community health center clinic and their referral hospital.

CHN also applied for and was awarded $7.9M in the FCC Rural Healthcare Pilot funding in collaboration with the State of Tennessee and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC). Working with these partners, CHN will also involve TPCA, the Tennessee Hospital Association and the Tennessee Association of Mental Health Organizations to connect over 400 non-profit healthcare provider locations to a robust, secure statewide wide area network. This network will facilitate sharing of services and patient information to improve health care in Tennessee over the next 3 years. The State of Tennessee has also awarded CHN funds to complement the FCC award and further the use of ePrescribing among the FCC award sites.

In 2009, CHN is launching a pilot program which brings perinatal specialists to the CHN Telehealth Network. The BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Foundation has generously provided $1.8 million to fund a 3 year pilot of this program. CHN is working in conjunction with Regional Obstetrical Consultants in Chattanooga to make it possible for patients who are managing high risk pregnancies in rural parts of the state to get the maternal and fetal care they need without leaving their community. As a result of this initiative, 11 new sites in East Tennessee will join the CHN Telehealth Network, and the perinatal specialists will be available to all existing sites as well.

2009 also marks the launch of a partnership with Health Assist Tennessee to offer translation services via telehealth. Health Assist offers trained medical interpreters in 13 languages, including sign language to spoken English.

CHN membership has grown over the years to include 17 community health center organizations and 3 affiliate members that operate over 120 clinics across the state, and the Tennessee Primary Care Association. Staff has grown from exclusively contract work to 13 FTEs and will grow to approximately 18 employees over 2009 as CHN looks forward to continuing to grow its membership, expertise, services and collaborations.

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