Accelerating Cancer Screening - Applicant: Neighborhood Health Address: 6677 Richmond Hwy, Alexandria, VA 22306 Contact: Basim Khan, MD, MPA, Executive Director (703) 778-7157; Fax (703) 299-1794 Congress. Distr: VA-008/VA-011Current Funding: CHC 330(e) FY2022 Request: $500,000 Neighborhood Health (NH) has been serving Northern Virginia with comprehensive high-quality primary care for 24 years, targeting low-income, ethnically diverse, uninsured, and underserved individuals. In CY2021, we served 32,024 patients through 123,345 health care visits at thirteen clinics in the City of Alexandria, Arlington, and Fairfax County. Of patients that reported ethnicity & race, 59% were Hispanic; 16% Black/African American; 8% White non-Hispanic; and 6% Asian. Approximately 60% of patients indicated that they are better served in a language other than English. Of patients who reported income, 29% percent were under 100% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines; 98% under 200%. 47% of all patients were uninsured with adults comprising 60% of all adults. NH’s target patient population of low-income, ethnically diverse, and often uninsured families are embedded in some of the wealthiest counties in our nation. Despite the surrounding affluence, our patients face significant barriers to health care, in particular lack of access to the mammograms and colonoscopy tests that are essential for early detection of breast and colorectal cancers. NH patient screening rates for breast and colorectal cancer are both 45%. These are far below the state and national averages and the Healthy People 2030 targets of 80.5% for breast cancer screening and 74.4% for colorectal cancer screening. Neighborhood Health is requesting $500,000 for two years; $252,846 in Year 1 and $241,838 in Year 2. Our project will increase screening for breast and colorectal cancer in the largely low income, immigrant, uninsured populations we serve in Northern Virginia. In stark contrast to the affluence and excellent health status of most residents in our region, our patients face significant barriers to cancer screening, often due to lack of radiologists and gastroenterologists willing to see our uninsured and underinsured patients. We will remove barriers in each step of the screening process: accessing appointments, receiving provider orders, locating, and scheduling radiology appointments, completing ordered tests, receiving follow up diagnostic and endoscopy care, and receiving treatment when cancer has been detected. We will combine state-of-the-art population health tools and a warm culturally sensitive patient-centered approach. Through partnerships with the NCI-designated Cancer Center at the University of Virginia and the new Inova Saville Cancer Screening Center and other partners, we will increase the number of mammography and colonoscopy screening appointments and enhance the quality of care provided. We will also expand our reach to the underserved community through extensive and targeted community outreach activities in collaboration with multiple existing trusted partners. NH will hire a Project Manager and 2 patient navigators and will be supported by NH committed staff to cancer screening and care. $20,000 per year will be used to contract with UVACC for training of patient navigators and NH staff. By embedding best practices in cancer screening into NH workflows, we expect the project to have a lasting impact on reducing cancer morbidity and mortality, beyond the two-year project period. By December 31, 2023, 15 months into the project, we expect to conduct breast cancer screenings in 2,886 of women, which is 65% of women 50 to 74 years of age. We also plan to conduct colorectal screenings in 5,000 patients which represent 65% of patients 50 to 74.
