The Biden administration has awarded $65,000 each to five Baltimore-based community health systems to collect more in-depth data on patient health and patients' economic/social conditions.
It's part of almost $1 million awarded to 15 health centers in Maryland, and almost $90 million given nationwide, by the federal Health and Human Services department to advance health equity and help "eliminate inequities in COVID-19 care and outcomes within communities of color and other underserved populations."
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement: "Today’s investments will help ensure that all patients have equitable access to the high-quality health care they deserve.”
The local health centers that got $65,000 each are:
-Baltimore Medical System, Inc. (which has six centers in Baltimore and Rosedale)
-Chase Brexton Health Services, Inc. (which has five centers in the Baltimore area and Easton)
-Health Care for the Homeless, Inc.
-Park West Health Systems, Inc.
-Total Health Care, Inc. (which has seven centers in Baltimore and one in Odenton)
-West Cecil Health Center, Inc. (which has locations in Conowingo and Havre de Grace)
The federal agency (Health Resources and Services Administration) is working to help health centers get better data on patient health status and social determinants of health, so they can "advance health equity by more precisely targeting the needs of specific communities or patients, particularly as part of the public health emergency response," according to the press release.
