Five Key Takeaways from the Nuka Conference

Each year, Southcentral Foundation hosts the Nuka Conference so that attendees from around the world can visit SCF’s campus in Anchorage, Alaska, and learn how SCF’s Nuka System of Care has improved health outcomes for customer-owners while also reducing costs. Conference sessions are hosted by the same SCF subject matter experts who work in the Nuka System, so attendees can learn directly from people with decades of experience in operating a customer-owned, quality-focused, relationship-based care system.

Here are five key takeaways from last year’s Nuka Conference!

• Inspiration for and ideas to achieve whole system transformation. Attendees learned the story of how the Alaska Native community built the health care system from the ground up, transforming it according to their values and ensuring it would serve the needs of the community.
• Best practices and tools for relationship-based care. Attendees learned about SCF’s system of relationship-based care, and the tools (such as SCF’s Core Concepts training) SCF uses to support providers in understanding each customer-owner’s unique story so they can more effectively support them in achieving their health goals.
• Integrated primary care teams. SCF’s flexible primary care teams consist of a primary care provider, nurse case manager, certified medical assistant, and case management support. Attendees learned about the roles and responsibilities of team members, how other providers can be added to the care team as needed, and how all members work together to support customer-owners. Attendees also had the opportunity to tour SCF’s Anchorage Native Primary Care Center.
• Integrated behavioral health systems. SCF has integrated behavioral health throughout its entire system, and considers behavioral health to be just as important as primary care and other medical services. Attendees learned about how Behavioral Health Consultants are available in primary care clinics for same-day consultations with customer-owners, and the wide range of behavioral services SCF offers, such as child and family outpatient services, the Quyana Clubhouse for adults with severe and persistent mental illnesses, the Four Directions Outpatient Treatment Center for substance use treatment, and many others.
• Workforce development and support. Attendees learned about the ways in which SCF supports its workforce in providing the highest quality care. These include extensive training and support, performance development plans that keep all employees centered on SCF’s mission and vision, right-fit hiring, and much more.

For more information about any of these topic areas, or any other aspect of SCF’s Nuka System of Care, feel free to contact the SCF Learning Institute. Also, register before the early bird deadline for the Nuka Conference! Visit the conference page for more information. We hope to see you in Anchorage this summer!