EHF announces $17 million investment to strengthen the health system and community-based clinics in Texas

Volunteers and employees at El Centro de Corazón in Houston construct a community garden as part of the clinic’s participation in EHF’s Texas Community Centered Health Homes Initiative

EHF has awarded $17 million in grants to help community-based clinics provide a wider range of health services and go beyond the doctor’s office to address underlying causes of poor health.

“More medical care alone ignores many of the non-medical issues that cause chronic illness,” said Elena Marks, EHF’s president and CEO. “To improve health in Texas, resources in the health system have to shift to pay for those non-medical factors like housing conditions, safe neighborhoods, healthy eating and other things that really determine health. Much of this investment helps clinics become change agents to move health resources beyond the exam room.”

Non-medical factors that affect health are often called social determinants of health. They are broadly defined as the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. Research shows that 80% of a person’s health is influenced by social determinants of health, and only about 20% of health outcomes result from medical care.

EHF’s $17 million investment includes:

• Grants to support clinic efforts to convert from a volume-based care payment model that’s centered on the number of medical procedures, to a value-based care payment model that focuses on quality and patient health outcomes.
• Grants that help clinics address non-medical factors that contribute to poor health, including funding for EHF’s ongoing Texas Community-Centered Health Homes Initiative with 12 Texas clinics.
  

• More than $9.1 million in grants to help community-based clinics provide comprehensive care (including primary care, preventive services, dental care, specialty referrals, and behavioral care) to low-income and populations in need.

• More than $500,000 in grants to help expand and strengthen clinics in rural areas.
  

Along with strengthening clinics, EHF’s investment also includes $1.6 million to organizations that are expanding health insurance coverage and other benefits for Texans with the least resources. These organizations help enroll eligible Texans in programs and then follow up to ensure that these families use the health services covered by their plans.

“Low-income populations are less likely to have health insurance, leaving them at greater risk of poor health,” Marks said. “True access to health services requires a system of affordable coverage. People who are insured have greater access to care and have better health outcomes, including lower mortality rates.”

Complete list of the latest 2019 EHF grant partners:

Strategy: Support change in healthcare financing to encourage investment in improving community health

• $1.5 million to Integral Care in Austin to develop and pilot a value-based payment model at two clinics in Travis County
  

• $500,000 to Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute to support state policy work to improve systems of behavioral health care in Texas
• $618,500 to People’s Community Clinic in Austin to develop a multi-year plan to transfer from a volume-based care payment model to a value-based care model

Strategy: Support community-based clinics to work upstream and address the social determinants of health

• $150,000 to Christ Clinic in Katy for participation in EHF’s Texas Community-Centered Health Homes Initiative

• $479,740 to CommUnity Care in Austin to establish a referral network between the clinics and social service providers to address non-medical factors that affect health, and to provide upstream interventions for food insecure diabetic patients
• $400,000 to El Centro de Corazón in Houston to participate in EHF’s Texas Community-Centered Health Homes Initiative

• $700,000 to AccessHealth in Fort Bend County to participate in EHF’s Texas Community-Centered Health Homes Initiative

• $200,000 to Legacy Community Health in Houston to expand its social determinants of health programming to address socio-economic factors faced by low-income patients by connecting them with food, transportation, financial, and housing resources

• $150,000 to Lone Star Circle of Care in Bastrop to participate in EHF’s Texas Community-Centered Health Homes Initiative

• $500,000 to the Network of Behavioral Health Providers in Houston to implement a pilot program that coordinates integrated care for clients through a network of health and social services providers
  

• $500,000 to Northwest Assistance Ministries in North Houston to participate in EHF’s Texas Community-Centered Health Homes Initiative

• $310,000 to St. Paul Children’s Foundation in Tyler to participate in EHF’s Texas Community-Centered Health Homes Initiative

• $200,000 to The Texas Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy to provide organizational effectiveness support for the nonprofit focused on reducing teen pregnancy rates
  

• $250,000 to the University of Texas School of Nursing in Austin to conduct a community-based needs assessment of the non-medical factors that affect health to inform services that will be provided for a new community clinic

Strategy: Support comprehensive clinics

• $350,000 to HOPE Clinic in Houston to support expansion to a new location in East Aldine and co-locate services with BakerRipley and the City of Houston’s WIC program
• $350,000 to Avenue 360 Health & Wellness in Houston to support delivery of integrated healthcare services to individuals experiencing homelessness and residents of public housing
• $551,650 to Brazos Valley Community Action Agency in Trinity County to provide family planning services to low-income, uninsured residents and to support the establishment of a Health Resource Center affiliated with the clinic
• $750,000 to Burke Center in Lufkin to implement comprehensive care coordination system within 12 counties to address patients’ social determinants of health
• $125,000 to Genesis PrimeCare in Marshall to establish a coordinated system to address social determinants of health within a primary care setting
• $400,000 to El Buen Samaritano in Austin to support the organization in the transition of its medical clinic to Lone Star Circle of Care
• $333,272 to Family Service Center of Galveston County to provide integrated behavioral health services for the homeless and medically indigent and to increase collaboration with medical providers
• $180,000 to Healthcare for the Homeless – Houston to support the clinic’s highly-integrated primary care, behavioral care and social services system
• $300,000 to HOPE Community Medicine in Center, Texas to expand access for behavioral health and women’s health services in Shelby and San Augustine counties
• $990,000 to Lone Star Circle of Care in Houston and Austin to support expansion of integrated primary and behavioral care clinics at the University of Houston campus and El Buen Samaritano in Austin
• $76,900 to Mama Sana Vibrant Woman in Austin to implement a strategic plan for the nonprofit focused on addressing maternal and infant health disparities among populations in need
• $120,500 to Northeast Texas Public Health District in Tyler to expand the CommUNITY cares project that refers low-income and uninsured families to a medical health home in Cherokee County
• $600,000 to Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast to improve access to high-quality, reproductive and preventive care for low-income and medically-underserved patients. The grant also helps the organization launch a centralized clinical follow-up department to provide comprehensive primary care services
• $355,000 to Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas in Waco and Tyler to provide high-quality, affordable comprehensive healthcare services to low-income, uninsured and underinsured patients
• $742,843 to Community Healthcore in Longview to add additional psychiatrists, licensed counselors, and therapists to meet standards for a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic
• $750,000 to Spindletop Center in Beaumont to implement a Medication Assisted Treatment program and an enhanced Quality Assurance Program in preparation of becoming a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic
• $508,803 to Spring Branch Community Health Center in Houston to expand and improve a quality improvement program which will result in better patient outcomes and a more financially-stable care model
• $100,000 to Teen Health Clinic at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston to provide primary, reproductive, specialty and behavioral healthcare for students in the Gulfton Community at the clinic at Wisdom High School
• $600,000 to Texana Center in Rosenberg to implement an updated Electronic Health Record system to meet standards of becoming a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic
• $400,000 to The Rose in Houston to provide a system of free or low-cost breast healthcare for medically underserved women and to explore the feasibility of locating primary care or mental health services on The Rose’s mobile mammography coaches
• $600,000 to Women’s Health and Family Planning Association of Texas to support community-based clinics in efforts to increase access of quality reproductive health services
  

Strategy: Strengthen rural health

•  $289,580 to Robertson County to establish a Community Health Resource Center that will reduce health disparities and increase community health by improving access to social service resources

• $150,000 to Samaritan Counseling Center of East Texas in Tyler to provide operating support for individual and group counseling services and to develop a comprehensive tool to measure mental wellness for clients in rural Northeast Texas
• $87,344 to Samaritan Counseling of Southeast Texas in Beaumont to provide screening for mental health and social determinants of health, referrals, and intervention to high school students

 
Strategy: Expand health coverage & benefits

• $195,821 to Children’s Defense Fund-Texas to connect uninsured children to CHIP, Medicaid or other affordable health coverage options, and to inform the community about the importance and availability of child healthcare options
• $400,000 to Foundation Communities in Austin to educate, enroll and navigate high-need clients in Affordable Care Act health insurance plans
• $150,000 to Light and Salt Association in Houston to expand health insurance coverage and provide post-enrollment assistance to low-income Asian-Americans in Greater Houston
• $354,042 to Memorial Assistance Ministries in Houston to provide application assistance to eligible families for Harris Health System financial assistance, Medicaid, CHIP, SNAP, and TANF benefits, and to ensure a better understanding of the various benefits
• $325,000 to North Pasadena Community Outreach in Pasadena to provide benefits enrollment and health navigation services, and to document the utilization of benefits
• $175,754 to SEARCH Homeless Services in Houston to provide support for enrollment services to help individuals who are homeless or at risk for being homeless to SSI/SSDI and Medicaid benefits