BD, Direct Relief, NACHC Award $1M Grant for Health Equity

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), along with Direct Relief and the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), have awarded four community health centers a total of $1.08 million to enact programs for chronic disease management in underserved communities.
 
The BD Helping Build Healthy Communities Innovations in Care award recognizes U.S. community health centers for excellence in helping vulnerable patients manage complex chronic diseases and improve their health. This year’s awardees will receive a $270,000 grant each to build on the demonstrated impact their care approaches have on at-risk populations. All four community health centers also received the Innovations in Care award last year.
 
The funding will help the centers continue their holistic, culturally sensitive, and team-based care as well as provide pharmacist-led patient education and counseling. The funding will also be used to help remove barriers to care by addressing Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)—where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and their age.
 
“Racial and ethnic minorities in the United States are more likely to experience worse health outcomes for complex chronic conditions, yet less likely to receive preventive health services,” Tom Polen, chairman, CEO and president of BD told the press. “We are directly addressing these health inequities by investing in community health centers that help ensure underserved patients receive quality care. These centers are located in high-need areas, available to all regardless of their ability to pay, and deliver culturally relevant care to meet the specific needs and priorities of their communities.”
 
The following Innovations in Care 2022 award winners are:
 

• Healthnet (Indianapolis, Ind.), will expand a diabetes education program to assess and proactively address behavioral health and SDOH needs of pre-diabetic and diabetic patients to manage their diagnosis and live a healthy lifestyle. The grant is also helping fund a clinical dietitian to provide proactive outreach and nutrition education for at-risk patients.
• Northeast Valley Health Corporation (San Fernando, Calif.), will ensure high-risk Hispanic patients have the opportunity to meet with a clinical pharmacist for medication reconciliation and adherence counseling, and to offer assessments based on SDOH. Funding will also enable a bilingual patient navigator to connect patients with social services that address identified needs, in addition to the creation of an automated patient risk assignment to provide more customized services and referrals by a patient care team.
• Share Our Selves (Costa Mesa, Calif.), will enable patients who face multiple chronic conditions and take multiple, complex medications, to receive individualized care coordination including medication delivery, medication synchronization, patient education, remote monitoring device training and virtual visits with pharmacists. Additional funding is being used to enhance technologies that will better integrate patient SDOH data alongside their medical information to create more impactful interventions.
• Wahiawa Center for Community Health in (Wahiawa, Hawaii), will support creation of an integrated care team and care model to address chronic disease, particularly within Asian and Pacific Islander communities. This team approach seeks to improve medication adherence to prevent health complications associated with chronic disease and cultural, social, economic and environmental challenges like poor health literacy and a lack of food and housing. 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 throughout the year.

 
Thomas Tighe, president and CEO of Direct Relief said, “This effort is an extraordinary example of leadership by BD to award and elevate initiatives from community health centers that improve the health and lives of people with chronic health conditions. Direct Relief is deeply grateful to BD and to NACHC for their collaboration and support.”
 
“Health centers are more than healers. Health centers are problem-solvers who reach beyond the walls of the conventional health care delivery system to address the social drivers of health, such as stable housing, food insecurity, mental health and so much more,” said Rachel A. Gonzales-Hanson, interim president and CEO of NACHC. “Private funding partnerships made possible by BD and Direct Relief are essential to support innovative approaches that health centers bring to foster wellness and health equity in underserved communities.”