Date and Time: Wednesdays, March 25 – May 27, 2026 from 1:00 – 2:30 pm ET

NOTE: As of March 9, 2026, this application is closed. Due to excessive demand, there is a wait list for this Community of Practice. Please complete this application to get on the wait list and to receive information about future trainings related to Outreach and Enrollment.

With the passage of HR1, many changes are coming to Medicaid, from work requirements to more frequent redeterminations. Now is the time to start re-evaluating and improving your Medicaid eligibility and enrollment workflows. NACHC is here to help you prepare!  

Beginning in March 2026, NACHC will be hosting its annual Community of Practice (CoP) for Health Center Outreach and Enrollment (O&E) staff.  

This year’s CoP will be focused on Health Center Medicaid Eligibility and Enrollment Workflows. This free, 10-week, interactive course will be focused on applying process improvement methods such as Lean to your Health Center’s Medicaid enrollment workflows.  

This is a great opportunity to learn new skills and collaborate with your team to improve the health center staff and patient experience. Outcomes from past CoP projects include: 

• Increased Health Center revenue by $360k annually 
• Decreased enrollment denials by 29% 
• Reduced workload for front-line staff 
• Increased employee satisfaction 

This Community of Practice is following the Project ECHO Model. Project ECHO®  
(Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is a movement of collaborative learning to amplify workforce capacity to provide best practices for caring for underserved populations. The ECHO model is focused on applied learning to improve measurable outcomes. See the Project ECHO website for more information. 

Overview 

The Community of Practice (CoP) is a free, professional development opportunity for Health Center Outreach and Enrollment Staff that will focus on teaching and implementing process improvement strategies to redesign your Medicaid eligibility verification and enrollment workflows.  

Faculty will include a national expert on Lean Methodology in addition to staff from the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), Primary Care Associations, and Health Center staff from previous Communities of Practice. 

The Community of Practice is a project-based training consisting of seven ECHO sessions with three optional coaching sessions over the course of ten weeks. Each session will be focused on a specific component of process improvement methodology such as project scoping, direct observations, current state mapping, waste identification, future state mapping, watch-it indicators, and more. See the schedule below for more details. 

Learning Objectives 

• Describe process improvement methodology and identify steps Health Centers can take to improve Medicaid eligibility verification and enrollment workflows; 
• Test and implement changes that result in process improvements; and 
• Discuss challenges and strategies related to outreach and enrollment with other Health Center peers;  
• Have Fun! 

Health Center Team and Participant Expectations 

Each Health Center may designate two staff who conduct Outreach and Enrollment (O&E) activities – i.e. Medicaid eligibility verifications, enrollment assistance, financial counseling, etc. – to apply to the Community of Practice. If you are interested in participating as an individual, please apply! (If selected, you will be paired with other individual health center staff.) The Health Center Outreach and Enrollment workforce may include enrollment assisters, in-person assisters (IPAs), Certified Application Counselors (CACs), Marketplace Navigators, Community Health Workers (CHWs), front desk staff, and more. 

 If selected, the health center team or individual will participate in weekly ECHO sessions and work on a process improvement project related to your Medicaid eligibility verification and enrollment workflows.  

Each team should be prepared to: 

• Attend and participate in all seven sessions. (Ensure at least one team member is at each session.) 
• Secure support from your supervisor to block time on your calendar to participate in each workshop and complete all project assignments.  
• Complete all project assignments between sessions. Project assignments take about 2-3 hours to complete each week. The project assignments build upon each other each week to create your process improvement project. 
• Present your process improvement project to the rest of the Community of Practice participants at the final session on May 27, 2026. 

Application and Selection Deadline 

Apply here by March 6, 2026. Health Center teams should apply together in one application. Health Center teams and individuals will be notified of whether they have been selected to join the Community of Practice by March 13, 2026.  

Community of Practice Schedule  

The Community of Practice will convene seven (7) times, with three optional coaching sessions, between March and May 2026. Each session will be from 1:00-2:30pm ET. 

Session Dates 

• Session 1: Process Improvement Methodology Overview, Wednesday, March 25, 2026, 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET 
• Session 2: Scoping and Direct Observation, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET 
• Session 3: Current State Mapping, Wednesday, April 8, 2026, 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET 
• Coaching Session on Current State Mapping, Wednesday, April 15, 2026, 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET 
• Session 4: Waste Identification and Future State Mapping, Wednesday, April 22, 2026, 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET 
• Session 5: Watch-it Metrics, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET 
• Session 6: Implementation – Documentation, Testing and Training, Wednesday, May 6, 2026, 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET 
• Coaching Session on Watch-it Metrics, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET 
• Coaching Session on Testing, Wednesday, May 20, 2026, 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET 
• Session 7: Continuous Improvement and Project Presentations, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET 

Faculty 

• Mindy Hangsleben, COO, Varyn Consulting 
• National Association of Community Health Centers Staff  
• Community Health Center Staff 
• Primary Care Association Staff 

Questions about the Community of Practice can be sent to: Ted Henson at thenson@nachc.org