Dear stakeholders
I’m proud to share an update on our accomplishments as we continue our mission to improve personal, community, and public health through innovative collaboration.
Highlights of our work over the past 18 months against elements of our strategy include:
Shift to EMR agnostic focus. We've expanded access to Health Centers across multiple EMRs and continue to create data infrastructure linkages. This opens new opportunities for data analytics, public health, interoperability, and research.
Improve employed technologies. We’ve optimized athenaPractice, supported transitions to athenaOne and Epic, and promoted remote patient monitoring with Sphygmo. We've also advanced AI initiatives and provided guidance on emerging digital health solutions.
Diversification. Our role in public health has strengthened, especially through COVID, bringing national attention to the essential role of Health Centers in our nation's public health infrastructure. This report highlights initiatives in surveillance, case reporting, and response efforts.
Our innovation projects have won national awards, and we’re completing a LEAP project focused on creating an interoperable care plan linking health centers and social service agencies.
We hosted two Innovation Convenings, in Chicago and Boston, which fostered collaboration between Safety Net healthcare organizations and design innovation communities. Both events featured global collaboration through GLEAN (Global Learning Education and Action Network).
Over the past 18 months, we’ve supported California Health Centers in advancing population health management, sharing our insights while gaining valuable knowledge to bring back to the wider AllianceChicago community.
Our research portfolio continues to grow, with more projects and Health Centers engaged. To support this growth, we’ve increased our staff to 75 and are implementing new systems to boost efficiency and reduce silos in service delivery.
Recognizing financial and workforce challenges, we’ve aligned our efforts to focus on the highest priorities. Over the past 18 months, we partnered with a Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management professor to better understand stakeholder needs and improve our support.
Through ethnography interviews, we’ve gathered insights to help design resources that meet the needs of our Health Centers. Collaboration starts with communication, and we always welcome your feedback.
Thank you for your engagement, for the opportunities we share, and for all the important work you do.
Best,
Fred
Our Network
AllianceChicago (AC) is a health center-controlled and practice-based research network connecting over 80 organizations that serve FQHC patients across Illinois and 18 other states. Supporting health information technology and advanced data analytics, we maintain a comprehensive health database representing over 4 million diverse patients, including urban, rural, low-income, uninsured, LGBTQ, refugee, and homeless populations. Our mission is rooted in health equity—ensuring that everyone, regardless of gender, race, location, or socioeconomic status, has access to quality, affordable healthcare.
Board of Directors
- Tristé Lieteau Smith, MD, JD, Chair I Chief Executive Officer, I Near North Health
- Mary Kay Gilbert, MBA, Co-Chair I Chief Growth Officer, I Heartland Alliance Health
- Lee Francis, MD, MPH, Treasurer | President and Chief Executive Officer, Erie Family Health Centers
Ex-Officio Members
- Ed Stellon, MS, MA, CADC I Vice President and Executive Director, I Heartland Alliance Health
- Amy Valukas, MPH I Chief Operating Officer, I Erie Family Health Centers
- Anthony Armstrong, MPA I Vice President of Strategy and Business Development, I Howard Brown Health
- Fred D. Rachman, MD I Chief Executive Officer, I AllianceChicago