Saturday, October 12, 2024
10/12/2024
Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) proposes to address health inequities and improve health outcomes of racial and ethnic minorities in our service area by increasing access to high quality healthcare utilizing community health workers as the bridge between the healthcare system and the communities in which the populations live. Specifically, the project will aim to achieve Healthy People 2030 goals for Health Care Access and Quality and Social and Community Context with a focus on helping Black, Haitian-Creole speaking, and LatinX adults achieve hypertension control. This project will identify CHA patients and community members who have uncontrolled hypertension and are Black, LatinX, or who's primary language is not English. We will link them to linguistically, culturally appropriate and accessible heart health education and community-based programs tailored to their specific risk factors and delivered in trusted community settings. For CHA patients, clinicians prescribe this community intervention during a wellness check or other appointment through our EHR system. Community Health Workers (CHWs) will link the patients to programs delivered by the CHWs or community partners engaged by CHA. For non-CHA patients, CHWs and community partners conduct outreach to adult individuals who have hypertension or risk factors that can contribute to heart disease and link them to the same programming and to healthcare. Nationally, 57% of Black or African American adults and 43.6% of Hispanic or LatinX adults had diagnosed hypertension between 2017 and 2020. Risk factors for hypertension include older age, being Black, obesity, diabetes. Less than 40% of people with diagnosed hypertension across the country have well controlled blood pressure; people identifying as Black and/or Hispanic have 10% lower rates of blood pressure control. At CHA, 31% of patients have uncontrolled hypertension, which is equivalent to 13,600 patients. Hypertension is one of the leading health conditions among CHA patients who are uninsured - 12.6% of patients ages 21-64: and 57.2% of patients ages 65+. CHA has the highest concentration of Medicaid and Low-income Patients among healthcare systems in the Commonwealth- over 40% Medicaid and over 8% are uninsured. CHA has 2.3 times the statewide hospital average of Medicaid and uninsured payer mix. Within our service area, uninsurance rates are higher compared to the Commonwealth, and the highest among Black and Hispanic residents and non-US citizens. Poorly controlled blood pressure and lack of health care contribute to poor outcomes such as cardiovascular disease, renal disease, and cerebrovascular disease. Innovative strategies that integrate clinical approaches with community interventions that can also address access to healthcare can improve health outcomes and reduce disparities. Specifically, well-designed and executed standard processes in the clinical delivery system linked with community-based interventions are critical for meeting the needs of hard to reach populations. The use of community health workers and community partners to provide cultural and linguistic education, programming, and improved access to insurance and healthcare, physical activity or healthy, nutritious foods are critical to achieving an increase in the number of adults whose hypertension is under control. The intersection of community and clinical interventions provides an innovative opportunity to address existing health disparities and the drivers of those inequities by addressing historic and structural racism experienced by the communities in CHA's Primary Service Area. Trusted community entities, community health workers, and clinicians can help create an accessible approach to improving awareness of the risks of heart disease, to increasing access to the resources individuals need to lower their blood pressure and risk of related chronic diseases, and to achieving overall better health outcomes for them and their communi
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
