Grant Partners

Dukes County will participate in community outreach events, and use paid and unpaid advertising and social media to promote affordable insurance information. They will develop a folder with handouts for appointments, and adapt a checklist for account set-up, enrollment and payment information, primary care provider selection, and making appointments. It will also set up reminder systems for clients with pending action steps. 

Community Action of the Franklin, Hampshire, and North Quabbin Regions will conduct outreach through four community coalitions, food pantries, and career centers.  They will screen all callers for health insurance needs and send reminders about member responsibilities to submit documentation and update information.  At enrollment meetings, Community Action will provide materials to help members stay organized and follow-up to see if they have a PCP, can access their Connector account, and have responded to any mailings. 

Cambridge Economic Opportunity Committee (CEOC) will plan outreach and enrollment activities at community locations. It will use an extensive follow-up system to address churn, ensuring that individuals have obtained the benefit they applied for and that all documents have been submitted.  It will conduct financial education and coaching to help ensure individuals can maintain their payments and minimize the risk of churn, and conduct educational coaching on health insurance literacy.

Urban Edge provides housing supportive services including public benefit enrollment, family budgeting, leadership development, connections to community, and tax preparation services.  The Family Van carries out curbside testing, health coaching, and care referrals to individuals in underserved communities, travelling directly to areas in which the need is greatest, and providing a range of preventive services and an alternative to costly emergency department visits.  Both organizations will partner with Winn Companies to analyze the impact that housing support services have on the health of families most impacted by the social determinants of health, using an Evaluation Framework for Community Health Programs. 

Fishing Partnership Health Plan (FPHP) will conduct outreach mailings and maintain presence at harbors, marinas, and trade shows, reaching fishermen and their families. They will address churn through providing a Resource Sheet with relevant deadlines, follow-up via preferred communications methods, and provide individual education sessions on health insurance literacy.

Project Director: Susan Crandall, PhD

“Inventory of Types of Social and Human Services in Massachusetts” is a one year project that will inform developing MassHealth accountable care organizations and others about the vast array of social and human services available in Massachusetts that support social determinants of health including: housing, food, transportation, fuel assistance, income assistance, and workforce development. The research team will develop a comprehensive overview of these programs to educate health care providers about how to readily leverage and refer to these programs when seeking to care for the holistic needs of their patients.

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. 

Ecu-Health Care will utilize broadcast and print media to inform residents of health coverage options; provide presentations to community organizations; educate area businesses about health coverage options for employees; and work with physicians’ groups and health and human service organizations to facilitate referrals. Churn will be reduced through education during one-on-one application assistance appointments and health insurance literacy is integrated into a comprehensive packet for applicants.

Massachusetts Public Health Association (MPHA) is leading a newly formed Alliance for Community Health Integration ("the Alliance"), focused on how the health care system could more powerfully impact social determinants of health.  In its inaugural year, the Alliance will implement an aggressive, multi-faceted, multi-year strategy involving significant leadership from numerous organizational partners at the local and state levels.  It will conduct key informant interviews of local grasstops and grassroots leaders that are working to improve social determinants of health at the neighborhood level, to help test and refine the Alliance concept.  The Alliance will also conduct a rigorous policy and political landscape analysis to identify opportune windows over the coming years, and recommendations on framing and community strategies needed for successful campaigns. 

Project Director: Robert Seifert

“Churning in Massachusetts:  A Planning Study” is a one year project that will examine the feasibility of an updated study of “churning” in Massachusetts’ public health insurance programs, MassHealth and ConnectorCare. Churning is an important phenomenon in public programs because its existence indicates interruptions in health coverage, which often means breaks in continuity of care. The methodology for the planning project will include a literature review and a series of key informant interviews with consumer advocates, state officials, and provider and payer representatives. The information from these activities will then be synthesized into a preliminary research plan for a full study.

Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance (MHSA) serves unaccompanied homeless adults throughout the state, with a primary focus on the chronically homeless.  MHSA will analyze the impact of housing as a social determinant of health among the chronically homeless population through two permanent supportive housing programs, Home & Healthy for Good and Pay for Success.  In partnership with the Commonwealth Medicine division of UMass Medical School and Analysis Group, the study will estimate the impact of participation in these programs on health care use and costs, using Medicaid claims and enrollment data. 

Hilltown Community Health Centers (HCHC) will work with small businesses, Councils on Aging, schools, employers, medical providers, and community organizations to conduct outreach, advertise in newsletters, print, and social media. They will work with the Connector to identify and target outreach to consumers who need to renew their coverage and partner with sheriff’s departments, courts and probation offices to reach recently incarcerated and court-involved individuals who experience higher rates of churn. To address health insurance literacy, they will develop consumer-friendly education tools and collateral. 

Funding will support the On Solid Ground (OSG) Coalition, which is facilitated by Citizens' Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA), and includes advocacy organizations representing health, housing, education, employment, legal services, and faith-based communities, as well as research and philanthropic partners.  In the past year, OSG conducted gap analysis and research, publishing Observations and Findings from 31 Public Support Programs Available to Low-Income Families in Massachusetts, which identified the programmatic and administrative barriers faced by vulnerable residents of the state when they try to use such social service resources.  OSG plans to deepen its involvement, with key staff continuing to partner with the Foundation on Actions Labs and other convenings, attend hearings on Medicaid reform and related topics, and participate in coalitions that work on community benefit agreements, determination of need, Medicaid reform, and research initiatives in other states.  They will strive to increase funding and support for housing assistance and services as part of a coordinated strategy to address the social determinants of health. 

Dukes County will participate in community outreach events, and use paid and unpaid advertising and social media to promote affordable insurance information. They will develop a folder with handouts for appointments, and adapt a checklist for account set-up, enrollment and payment information, primary care provider selection, and making appointments. It will also set up reminder systems for clients with pending action steps. 

Project Director: Liora Beer“2017 Survey of Massachusetts Artists, Makers, and Entrepreneurs in Creative Industries” is a one year project that will examine the economic status and needs of artists and creative entrepreneurs, with a focus on health insurance coverage, access to health care services, and key social determinants of health such as housing. Artmorpheus represents artists and creative sector entrepreneurs, who – as demonstrated from a similar 1791 survey and report – are generally low and middle income individuals who disproportionately lack health insurance. The results from this survey will help identify if/what health coverage and access changes have occurred since 1791 and what opportunities and improvements remain. The results will be summarized in a report that will be broadly distributed to survey participants, local and regional arts service organizations, policymakers and government agency officials, and nonprofit agencies.