Fiscal Year 2025 Expanded Hours. - Project Title: Enhancing Access to a System of Integrated Primary Care in Lehigh Valley, PA Applicant Name: Neighborhood Health Centers of the Lehigh Valley Address: 635 E Broad Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018 Project Director: Melissa Miranda, RN CEO Ph. Nbrs: (610) 820-7605; Fax: 610-820-7606 E-Mail: mmiranda@nhclv.com Website Address: http://www.nhclv.org Congressional District: Seventh District Current Federal Funding: CHC H80CS24158 OVERVIEW Neighborhood Health Centers of the Lehigh Valley (NHCLV) serves the Lehigh Valley region set in Northeast PA, with a prominent presence within the three urban areas where a concentration of poverty, incoming new residents and those living in linguistic isolation reside. Four of NHCLV’s health centers are located within or very near designated medically underserved areas (MUA) with the fifth funded by HRSA in a ‘non-MUA’ area that now demonstrates a rapid increase in poverty (ZCTA 18018). Allentown’s 2020 population of 125,845, a 6.6% increase in the last decade, ranks behind only Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Bethlehem grew about 1% to 75,781; Easton grew by 5% to 28,000. Lehigh County saw 7.2% growth (third most in PA) to about 375,000 people. The population in Northampton County grew by 5.1% to about 313,000 people. Recognized as the Health Center Program (HCP) grantee in 2012, NHCLV continues to diligently expand and adapt to meet community needs; expanding services and locations to better serve. THE NEED Neighborhood Health Centers of the Lehigh Valley determined, even before COVID-19 pandemic, that an aggressive growth model was needed to provide improved access to the NHCLV integrated model of care that includes physical, behavioral and dental health services (not excluding social services and other enabling services). Since early 2023, NHCLV has been fortunate to make notable headway in hiring sufficient providers to meet that assessed physical health need, however lagging results continue for clinical support roles as well as behavioral health- availability of bilingual individuals to support our largely Latino community remains a concern. Couple this recruitment challenge with the results of the ‘great MA unwinding’ and our community has been negatively impacted, with an average 10% of our community losing access to health benefits because of this social ‘re-set’ post COVID-19 pandemic period. Our local region was highlighted multiple times during the re-set by PA state officials to better understand the barriers experienced by our community members in the redetermination process. It is our experience that many of those losing benefits were either due to administrative barriers (i.e. mailed notices were not timed well with text messaging,) or language barriers (i.e., call-in service was not readily available in Spanish language, not necessarily income related concerns. The impact of regional growth, families losing access to medical coverage, and regional changes in work available (many involving shifts) all combine to create barriers for access to primary and preventative care. Notably, NHCLV has witnessed a 30% increase of unique individuals seeking care over the past 12 months, and another 3700+ individuals assigned to NHCLV through their insurer but who have yet to be registered for care. Outreach, education, and services are needed. HOW THE PROJECT ADDRESSES NEED: Our health center system’s goal is to responsibly and systematically expand hours to facilitate access to our integrated services in ways that are responsive to current community needs by expanding hours and services offered during non-traditional business hours.
