EBNHC Receives HHS Grant

By John Lynds

East Boston Neighborhood Health Center (EBNHC) will receive  $40,000 in grant money from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to invest in the health center’s quality improvement efforts, and to provide high quality comprehensive care.

The $40,000 EBNHC will receive is part of $3,059,677 in HHS funding to 39 Massachusetts health centers  to help expand current quality improvement systems and infrastructure and to improve primary care service delivery in the communities they serve.

“We are really pleased to receive this Quality Improvement Grant from HRSA” said Steven Snyder, Vice President for Development at the Health Center.  It’s so important to stay on top of quality issues in health care.  We are constantly measuring our efforts and there is always a need for resources so that we can maintain the highest level of quality.”

EBNHC received $30,000 to improve Maintaining Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Recognition and another $10,000 for Electronic Health Record (EHR) Reporting.

PCMH is a care delivery model whereby patient treatment is coordinated through their primary care physician to ensure they receive the necessary care when and where they need it, in a manner they can understand.

EHR Reporting is a program that allows clinics like EBNHC to electronic capture clinical data, and provide patients with electronic copies of their health information.

“Millions of Americans rely on health centers to provide them with quality health care,” said Dr. Mary Wakefield, HHS Acting Deputy Secretary. “These quality improvement awards will support health centers to continue to deliver superior health care that engages patients, improves care coordination and bridges overall access to care.”

Dr. Wakefield said this the funding comes from the Affordable Care Act’s Community Health Center (CHC) Fund, which was extended with bipartisan support in the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) of 2015.

“Health centers are evaluated on a set of performance measures emphasizing health outcomes and the value of care delivered,” said Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Acting Administrator Jim Macrae. “These measures provide a balanced, comprehensive look at services to manage conditions among the vulnerable populations served by health centers.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *