Grant Partners

Community Action Committee of Cape Cod & Islands will participate in outreach activities in Cape Cod and Nantucket; utilize local and social media to inform clients of updated information on MassHealth and Connector plans; outreach to unemployed populations through a partnership with Career Opportunities Center and to immigrant communities through the Immigration Resource Center; use plain language tools developed for multilingual audiences; and coordinate with Volunteer Income Tax Assistance tax sites in sharing materials with clients as they receive tax preparation assistance.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness Massachusetts (NAMI Mass) will work to improve access to mental health services and to reduce stigma regarding mental health conditions. Priorities include restoring state funding and reimbursement for behavioral health services and improving commercial coverage of emergency services. Additionally, NAMI Mass will work on creating a statewide mental health training program for law enforcement. To achieve these goals, NAMI Mass will conduct policy analyses, organize local chapters and peer support program members, and participate in coalitions and stakeholder alliances.

Caring Health Center will implement an extensive media and grassroots community outreach campaign to promote enrollment via multilingual television, radio, newspaper, print, social media, and website advertisements; deliver outreach at numerous community events and venues; support MassHealth members impacted by the Accountable Care Organization transition, increasing knowledge and awareness of new coverage options; develop and facilitate multilingual discussion groups to understand health system challenges; and develop facilitators’ guides, educational handouts, and a survey instrument to assess consumers’ understanding of public health insurance availability, policies, and literacy.

Metro Housing Boston (Metro Housing) provides innovative and personalized services that help individuals and families achieve housing stability, economic self-sufficiency, and an improved quality of life.  Partnered with Boston Medical Center (BMC), Metro Housing established the Housing to Health program, which targets low- and moderate-income families with children, and administers emergency funds via the state’s Residential Assistance for Families in Transition program.  BMC screens primary care patients to identify those with housing instability through indicators like rent and utility arrearages, eviction notices, frequent moves, and living in overcrowded conditions.  The team will focus their planning year on developing a data management solution that bridges the various systems, and allows partners access to comprehensive information on all services that a patient receives.  Health Leads will ensure that BMC patients are able to identify, access, and choose the resources they need to be healthy by leveraging referrals and connections to social services, particularly housing, through its REACH database.  Medical Legal Partnership-Boston will provide legal consultation on issues of patient privacy and access to data.  

Greater New Bedford Community Health Center will educate patients on practices that will help them obtain and maintain coverage, including an overview of the enrollment process, action steps needed, and key deadlines; set-up a secure drop-box for patients to deposit documentation to expedite the collection and application processes; develop reminder cards that highlight important dates, deadlines, and outstanding documentation; proactively review copies of patients’ notification letters from MassHealth and the Connector to provide targeted assistance for those denied for coverage; and target outreach at self-pay patients, which the health center is seeing at increased rates, to discuss coverage options and assist in the enrollment process.

The Dimock Center will utilize its practice management system to run registries of individuals who might be at risk of losing their coverage based on insurance transitions; lead workshops and information sessions at the health center and with community partner agencies to educate patients on how to apply for, enroll in, and maintain health coverage; notify patients within four to six weeks of application to ensured they received their coverage confirmation letter, remind them of any expiration or renewal dates, and confirm next steps to ensure coverage is maintained; set up alerts in the electronic health record to notify staff of coverage expiration dates a few weeks prior to flag patients that need help with renewal applications.

Cambridge Economic Opportunity Committee will leverage partnerships with local community organizations; staff tables at cultural festivals, community fairs, faith-based organizations, and housing developments; disseminate flyers, door hangers, and utilize social media; provide education on the payment system through the Health Connector; provide post-enrollment assistance by educating about choosing a plan, making appointments, how to read medical bills, and questioning charges; and offer financial coaching in light of addressing premium payments. 

The Health Starts at Home Initiative supports four partnerships that bring together housing and health care organizations to support work that demonstrates the positive effects of stable, affordable housing to children's health outcomes, identify promising new and existing models for collaboration that can be brought to scale, decrease health care costs, and decrease costs related to homelessness.  Families eligible for participation have children under the age of 12, and are experiencing housing instability.  The evaluation partners for Health Starts at Home, Health Resources in Action and the Urban Institute, are conducting both outcome and process evaluations to measure whether and how improved housing stability affects the health of children, as well as to document successes and challenges, and develop best practices for creating these types of health care and housing partnerships. 

Disability Policy Consortium (DPC) will connect disability advocacy communities across the state and amplify the voices of these groups in conversations with state and federal policymakers. In so doing, DPC seeks to re-frame disability as a social rather than medical condition and to shift the focus within disability-related health care from payment to ethics. DPC will serve as a hub for cross-disability advocacy through community-based participatory action research, their co-leadership of DAAHR, and an expanded social media presence.

Lowell Community Health Center will institute a “triage” system to improve efficiencies in how patients are provided with enrollment assistance; extend enrollment hours at the health center; provide educational workshops for clinic and agency staff; develop a reminder checklist on the importance of reviewing correspondence from state offices and completing the re-determination form to avoid gaps in coverage; establish a tracking system that enables staff to reach clients with timeline reminders about renewal dates and post-enrollment issues; develop a comprehensive, multilingual patient education flyer with key insurance information; participate in local community health events to promote insurance counseling and enrollment; create a multilingual brochure listing available health insurance options; and offer quarterly onsite educational sessions for providers, front-line staff, and community agencies on health insurance topics.

The Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers (the League) will serve as a source of accurate and timely information related to health care coverage issues. The League will conduct policy analyses regarding state and federal issues and disseminates their learnings to policymakers, state agencies, member organizations, and other advocacy groups. Additional priorities will include increasing the League’s capacity for grassroots advocacy work and improving health literacy among patients at community health centers.

Health Law Advocates (HLA) will focus on improving health care access for vulnerable populations by providing direct legal services and advocating to state policymakers. Their direct legal service work will inform community outreach efforts, education programs, policy analyses, and legislative proposals. In their advocacy work, HLA will pay particular attention to children with disabilities, immigrants, and transgender individuals, and to issues related to behavioral health care access. Additionally, they will defend MassHealth members against federal Medicaid changes and ensure access to services for ACO-enrolled MassHealth members.

Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy (MIRA) will work to defend and expand funding and access to health coverage for immigrant and refugee populations in Massachusetts. In addition to advocacy regarding state-level policies, MIRA will work with national partners to expand health access to all immigrants. To this end, MIRA aims to initiate a long-term campaign in partnership with the National Immigration Law Center. They will also work with additional coalition partners to end restrictions to coverage for DACA grantees.

Massachusetts Association for Community Health Workers (MACHW) will focus on professionalizing the community health worker (CHW) workforce by advocating for statewide standardization of practices, the development of a certification process, and the promulgation of a code of ethics. Additionally, MACHW will work to increase CHW participation in medical decision-making and encourage delivery organizations to raise CHWs’ wages. They will also develop metrics capturing the impact of CHWs on social determinants of health, for consideration by MassHealth.

Boston Public Health Commission will maintain referral systems with community partners; host enrollment sessions throughout the city with a focus on the East Boston and Dorchester communities; leverage social media and local cable access; scale up flyering in census tracts with the highest rates of uninsured, with an emphasis on local businesses and community organization; and develop a multilingual plain language form that outlines when and how a consumer needs to update the state with pertinent information to maintain coverage.