Friday, November 22, 2024
11/22/2024
St. Charles Health Council, Inc. dba Stone Mountain Health Services, hereafter referred to as SMHS, plans to utilize the Accelerating Cancer Screening AxCS HRSA 22-154 grant for Cancer Screenings to increase equitable access to cancer screenings and referrals for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer by enhancing patient education, case management, outreach and other enabling service in collaboration and partnership with the University of Virginia, a National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated cancer center in Virginia. This project will include a patient navigator at St. Charles Health Council, Inc. dba Stone Mountain Health Services which includes 11 community health centers in Southwest Virginia servicing congressional district 09. PROJECT NARRATIVE SUMMARY: SMHS will increase workforce development by hiring a patient cancer screening navigator to identify patients noncompliant with cancer screenings for colon, cervical, and breast cancer. SMHS will improve the patient experience and increase screenings by utilizing the navigator to reach out to patients to schedule the cancer screenings for those noncompliant. SMHS will increase access and affordability and increase screenings as the SMHS navigator will collaborate with a patient navigator at UVA Cancer Center to schedule colonoscopy testing and for any specialty referrals needed for positive cancer screenings. Also, the SMHS navigator will schedule pap testing, breast exams, and FIT testing at the Federally Qualified Health Centers for SMHS. FIT tests will also be purchased and provided to patients for colorectal screening. Screenings will also be increased through outreach and education as the SMHS navigator collaborating with the UVA navigator will also assemble and provide a resource guide to identify affordable cancer screenings including mammograms through the Every Woman’s Life Program at the health department and sliding fee programs through Ballad Health Services, and resources for colorectal screenings, cervical screenings, and colposcopies for positive pap screenings. Additionally, SMHS will provide patient education in collaboration with UVA Cancer Center which will also include the UVA Colorectal Cancer Awareness Toolkit with flyers for community distribution, public service announcements with time purchased by SMHS through local stations to air the announcements, patient handouts from the toolkit provided to the community and SMHS patients. Additional education will also be provided through the EHR campaigns for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer. Additionally, screenings will be increased as the navigator will mail and send patient reminders for patients lacking colorectal, breast, and cervical screenings. The patient cancer screening navigator will also utilize the electronic health record data reporting system to collect data for evaluative measures for cancer screening compliance for all patients for SMHS for breast, colon, and cervical cancer. The measures will align with the UDS measures. The measure for colorectal cancer includes the percentage of patients 50 to 74 years of age who had appropriate screening for colorectal cancer. The measure for cervical cancer will include the percentage of women 23 to 64 years of age who were screened for cervical cancer. The measure for breast cancer will include the percentage of women 51 to 73 years of age who had a mammogram to screen for breast cancer. Additional evaluative measures will include the number of patient’s screened and the number of patient’s refusing screening. The patient navigator can utilize the patient refusals to provide additional education regarding cancer screenings. Additionally, SMHS navigator and UVA navigator will collaborate to provide clinical team education regarding evidenced based practice for cancer screenings, best practices, and to provide a resource guide.
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).
