Patient Care Network of Oklahoma

(Patient Care Network of Oklahoma) is a network of 19 healthcare providers in northeast Oklahoma and southwest Kansas. Its members work together to improve the quality of patient care by sharing resources and training.

Its members focus on the triple aim of health care reform, advancing better care, healthier people and smarter spending. It also favors innovation in care delivery through integration of telehealth, mental health, care teams and health coaches into the field of central care.

Patient Centered Medical Home

Patient-centered medical homes are health care models that put patients at the forefront of their care. They build stronger relationships between people and their clinical care teams, improving quality and reducing healthcare costs.

In addition to being patient-centered, a medical home also focuses on whole person orientation and empowering patients in disease self-management. It delivers accessible services, including shorter waiting times for urgent needs, enhanced in-person hours and around-the-clock telephone or electronic access to a member of the care team.

The Patient Care Network of Oklahoma is committed to the concept of a patient-centered medical home as part of its responsibility to provide high quality, cost-effective and efficient care for our community. This is in line with Demonstration Goal 3: Transforming the Delivery System and Advancing Alternative Payment Systems.

Community Health Centers

Community health centers are an important part of the national healthcare safety net, providing access to affordable primary care and other services in underserved communities. They increase access to healthcare by reducing barriers to cost, distance, insurance, and language.

They can help the nation achieve its dual goals: expanding coverage and reining in out-of-control health care costs. By design, community health centers are located in medically underserved areas and prepared to ramp up quickly to meet demand.

These community health centers provide an array of high-quality, comprehensive primary care and preventive services to a wide range of patients. They also provide a number of services to address social determinants of health, including access to food and housing.

The Patient Care Network of Oklahoma is a non-profit organization that works to provide quality medical care for those who are unable to pay. The organization contracts with doctors, dentists, and other providers to offer services to patients who have Medicaid or Medicare insurance or who qualify for discounts based on their income.

Community Behavioral Health Organizations

Oklahoma has a high percentage of people suffering from mental health disorders. According to SAMHSA, close to 5.2% of the state’s population lives with a serious mental illness.

Oklahomans receive care from a variety of sources including: private providers; non-profit organizations; and the State Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS). ODMHSAS provides public mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services statewide.

Community Behavioral Health Organizations serve as a vital part of the state’s social safety net, providing access to essential mental health and substance use disorder services. These centers are staffed by professionals and regularly audited for quality.

There are over 330 community mental health organizations in Oklahoma with a combined workforce of 7,094 employees and earn $442 million in revenue annually. Larger organizations like Grand Lake Mental Health Center, Red Rock Behavorial Health Services, CREOKS Mental Health Services, and North Oklahoma County Mental Health Center earn the majority of revenues among Oklahoma mental health nonprofits.

Peer Review

Pcnok is the largest network of primary care providers in Oklahoma serving people living in all 77 counties. Its members operate 125 urban and rural health care delivery sites and include many designated Patient Centered Medical Homes, offering medical, dental, vision, mental health, and certain specialty care with diagnostic testing, pharmacy and nutrition with referral to outside specialty care as needed.

Peer review information is any information, unless otherwise privileged, obtained by a health care entity during the credentialing or recredentialing process regarding a medical staff applicant, and includes recommendations from physicians in other medical facilities. It also includes factual statements made by physicians in other medical facilities or by individuals in other health care entities during the course of a peer review process, such as deliberations, meetings, reports and recommendations, hearings and appeals.

This protection afforded by the statute is a welcome expansion of the legal protections afforded to peer review information generated during the course of a peer review process. It enables health care entities to protect the confidentiality and privilege of peer review information.