BD, Direct Relief and the National Association of Community Health Centers advance health equity in the United States with $1 million grant

By staff

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), one of the world’s leading medical technology companies, along with Direct Relief and the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), today announced that it has awarded four health centers communities a total of $1.08 million to implement programs to support chronic disease management in underserved communities.

The BD Helping Build Healthy Communities™ Innovations in Care Award recognizes US community health centers for excellence in helping vulnerable patients manage their complex chronic conditions and improve their overall health. This year’s winners will receive a grant of $270,000 each to build on the demonstrated impact of their novel care approaches on at-risk populations. The four community health centers also received the Innovations in Care award in 2021.

The additional funding will allow health centers to continue to improve their impact through holistic, culturally appropriate, team-based care and providing pharmacist-led patient education and counseling. Funding will also be used to help break down barriers to care by addressing the social determinants of health (SDOH) – including where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship and their age, all of which affect a wide range of health and quality of life outcomes and risks.

“Racial and ethnic minorities in the United States are more likely to have poorer health outcomes for complex chronic conditions, but less likely to receive preventive health services,” said Tom Polen, president and CEO. general and president of BD. “We are directly tackling these health inequalities by investing in community health centers that help ensure that underserved patients receive quality care. These centers are located in high-needs areas, accessible to all, regardless of their ability to pay, and provide culturally appropriate care to meet the specific needs and priorities of their communities”.

What follows Innovations in care The 2022 winners are:

• Healthnet in Indianapolis, Indiana, uses its grants to expand a diabetes education program to proactively assess and address the behavioral health and SDOH needs of prediabetic and diabetic patients so they can manage their diagnosis and conduct a healthy life. The grant also helps fund a clinical dietitian to provide proactive outreach and nutrition education to at-risk patients.

• Northeast Valley Health Corporation à San Fernando, Calif.,  uses its grants to ensure that high-risk Hispanic patients have the opportunity to meet with a clinical pharmacist for medication reconciliation and adherence counseling, and to offer assessments based es on SDOH. The funding will also enable a bilingual patient navigator to connect patients with social services that meet identified needs, in addition to creating automated patient risk assignment to provide more personalized services and referrals. by a patient care team.

• Share Our Selves in Costa Mesa, California, uses its grants to enable patients who face multiple chronic conditions and are taking multiple complex medications, to receive individualized care coordination, including medication delivery, medication synchronization, patient education , training on remote monitoring devices and virtual visits with pharmacists. Additional funds are being used to improve technologies that will better integrate patients’ SDOH data alongside their medical information to create more impactful interventions.

• Wahiawa Center for Community Health in Wahiawa, Hawaii, uses its grants to support the creation of an integrated care team and model of care to address chronic disease, particularly within Asian and Pacific Islander communities. This team approach aims to improve medication adherence to prevent health complications associated with chronic disease and cultural, social, economic and environmental challenges such as poor health literacy and lack of food and shelter. The addition of a Population Health Coordinator provides a dedicated resource for collecting and tracking more in-depth data on SDOH, hemoglobin A1c, health screening tools and comprehensive diabetes services while throughout the year.

Thomas Tighe, President and CEO of Direct Relief, said, “This effort is an extraordinary example of BD’s leadership in rewarding and elevating community health center initiatives that improve the health and lives of people living with diseases. chronicles. Direct Relief is deeply grateful to BD and NACHC for their collaboration and support.”

“Health Centers are more than healers. Health Centers are problem solvers who go beyond the walls of the conventional health care delivery system to tackle the social drivers of health, such as the stable housing, food insecurity, mental health and much more,” said Rachel A. Gonzales-Hanson, NACHC Interim President and CEO. “The private funding partnerships made possible by BD and Direct Relief are critical to supporting the innovative approaches that health centers are bringing to foster wellness and health equity in underserved communities.”

The BD Helping Build Healthy Communities initiative, which is funded by BD and the BD Foundation, and jointly implemented by Direct Relief and NACHC, has awarded 52 awards to community health centers in 20 states since 2013, with total investment of $22.6 million in cash. and product donations. Click here for more information on the company’s environmental, social and governance commitments and progress.

For more information on the 2022 BD Helping Build Healthy Communities Innovations in Care award winners, click here.

Maria J. Book