The Koniag region has recently received Community Health Quality Recognition (CHQR) Badges, acknowledging commendable achievements in various aspects of healthcare. CHQR badges are awarded to Health Center Program awardees and lookalikes that have demonstrated excellence in areas such as access, quality, health equity, health information technology, social risk factors screening, and COVID-19 public health emergency response.

In the Koniag region, the two Community Health Centers (CHCs), KANA and Kodiak Community Health Center (KCHC), have been recognized for their outstanding contributions. KANA was honored with the Access Enhancer and Health Disparities Reducer badges. The Access Enhancer badge is awarded to health centers that have increased both the overall patient numbers and the number of patients receiving comprehensive services (mental health, substance use disorder, vision, dental, and/or enabling) by at least 5% in the two most recent UDS reporting periods.

The Health Disparities Reducer badge, an extension of the Access Enhancer recognition, is granted to health centers that demonstrate a 10-percentage point improvement in low birth weight, hypertension control, and/or uncontrolled diabetes Clinical Quality Measures (CQMs) for at least one racial/ethnic group. This improvement should be maintained or enhanced from the previous reporting year, or the health center should meet specified benchmarks for all racial/ethnic groups served within the most recent UDS reporting year.KCHC was honored with the Silver Health Center Quality Leader (HCQL) badge. HCQL badges are bestowed upon health centers that achieve the highest overall clinical quality measure (CQM) performance among all health centers. This recognition is calculated using the average of the Adjusted Quartile Rankings (AQR) for all reported CQMs in the most recent reporting year. Health centers with AQR averages in the top three deciles (top 30%) receive HCQL badges, with KCHC securing the Silver badge in the 2nd decile (top 11-20%).

These badges underscore the commitment and exceptional performance of health centers in delivering high-quality, accessible healthcare services to the community.