Thursday, November 21, 2024
11/21/2024
Address: 14100 58th St. N., Clearwater, FL 33760 Project Director Name: Elodie Dorso, CEO/President Contact Phone Number: Phone: 727-824-8100 E-Mail Address: edorso@hcnetwork.org Website Address: www.evarahealth.org Funding Amount Requested: $500,000 Community Health Centers of Pinellas, Inc., Inc. DBA Evara Health (Evara), is a not-for-profit Federally Qualified Health Center which has been providing affordable, primary healthcare services to the residents of Pinellas County, Florida for over forty years. Evara operates fourteen (14) health centers throughout the County, providing comprehensive and quality healthcare to low-income, uninsured, and underserved populations. In 2021, Evara served 61,539 individual patients with over 212,000 visits for medical, dental, behavioral health, enabling, and ancillary services. 94% of Evara patients are low-income, 80% at or below the federal poverty level, 61% racial/ethnic minorities, 46% on Medicaid/CHIP, and 32% uninsured. In 2016, only 18.6% of Pinellas County adults aged 50 and older had received a blood stool test in the past year and only 41.2% had ever had a blood stool test (FL Health Charts). According to the Florida Cancer Data System, Blacks in Pinellas County have a higher incidence of colorectal cancer than Blacks in the state of Florida and a higher incidence than all other racial and ethnic groups in both the State and County. They also have a higher mortality rate than all other racial and ethnic groups in the County. Disparities are often strongly connected to one’s socioeconomic status. Individuals with lower socioeconomic status are less likely to receive timely follow-up of an abnormal cancer screening test and/or receive a colonoscopy. To accelerate colorectal cancer screening and referral to care and treatment, Evara Health proposes a comprehensive FY 2022 Accelerating Cancer Screening (AxCS) project with AxCS project partner, Moffitt Cancer Center, an NCI-designated C ancer Center. Proposed project activities will leverage Moffitt’s community outreach and engagement resources to increase colorectal cancer screening and referral for care and treatment with a focus on the low-income, uninsured, underinsured and racial/ethnic minority patient population of Pinellas County. Evara’s proposed project will aim to 1) elevate community and patient perspectives and experiences to identify medical mistrust and address the “why” of non-compliance with colorectal cancer screening, 2) provide outreach and education to the community on the importance of early colorectal cancer screening, 3) remove barriers to completing colorectal cancer screenings, and 4) leverage the resources of Moffitt Cancer Center to increase referrals for diagnostic testing, care and treatment, and ensure closure of referral loops for the low-income, underserved, uninsured and underinsured populations. The goals of the proposed project are to 1) increase the number of adults assisted with accessing appropriate follow-up care within 30 days of receiving an abnormal colorectal cancer screening test result to 197, and 2) increase the percentage of patients compliant with the Colorectal Cancer Screening UDS quality of care measure from baseline of 49.43% in 2021 to 68.75% by December 31, 2023. The proposed AxCS project plan will lay the foundation for a structured and well-informed colorectal cancer screening program that will be both sustainable and replicable to other types of cancer.
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).
