Green & Healthy Homes Initiative Selects Service Providers to Participate in Asthma-Related Pay for Success Projects
Projects will assess using Pay for Success to benefit low-income children in Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Utah and Tennessee
Today, the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI), a grantee of the Social Innovation Fund’s (SIF) Pay for Success program, and its collaboration partner Calvert Foundation, selected five service providers to participate in regional Pay for Success (PFS) projects. These awardees, selected by GHHI through a national competition, will work in collaboration with local health care organizations to conduct feasibility studies of PFS models that fund home-based asthma interventions, including remediation of asthma triggers and resident education. Awardees include:
- Heart of the City Neighborhoods, Inc. (HOCN) and Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo (CFGB), Buffalo, New York
- Health Net of West Michigan (Health Net), Asthma Network of West Michigan (Asthma Network) and Healthy Homes Coalition of West Michigan (Healthy Homes Coalition), Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Habitat for Humanity of Greater Memphis (Memphis Habitat), Memphis, Tennessee
- Salt Lake County Office of Regional Development, Salt Lake County, Utah
- Partners for a Healthier Communities’ Pioneer Valley Asthma Coalition (PVAC), Springfield, Massachusetts
See below for details on selected organizations.
GHHI and Calvert Foundation will provide technical assistance to all participating organizations to advance the proposed projects. If successfully launched, anticipated project outcomes include reduced asthma-related hospitalizations, reduced emergency department visits, and ultimately, reduced healthcare costs.
PFS presents an ideal opportunity for transformational impact in the care and treatment of asthma. “Research shows that 40 percent of asthma episodes are caused by home-based environmental health hazards,” GHHI President & CEO Ruth Ann Norton said. “Much of this cost is born by medical and federal tax payer dollars, yet these programs provide little to no resources to eradicate the root causes of asthma. Thanks to the generous support of the Corporation for National and Community Service’s (CNCS) Social Innovation Fund and to these exceptional organizations with whom we are now working, we have the opportunity to use housing as a platform to reduce the high cost associated with repeated asthma-related hospitalizations and emergency department visits.”
Norton explained that the project will also enable GHHI and Calvert Foundation to establish the evidence necessary to move public policy and garner public support for similar, future projects.
“Recently, I visited a home in Baltimore that had received a healthy homes intensive intervention by GHHI. It was very moving to hear the homeowner talk about the dramatic improvement in her son’s health in the years following the intervention – from multiple hospital visits within a few months to none in a few years. We are excited about the work GHHI is doing around home-based asthma interventions within our Pay for Success portfolio,” said Lois Nembhard, Acting Director of the Social Innovation Fund.”
The Social Innovation Fund, a key White House initiative and program of CNCS, has the simple but vital goal of finding solutions that work, and making them work for more people. Pay for Success is an innovative concept that brings together private, public and nonprofit sectors to solve a social problem. A private investor provides up-front funding to finance nonprofit service delivery that benefits a healthcare entity, such as a local hospital. If the services provided achieve agreed-upon outcomes, the healthcare entity repays the investors. If the outcomes are not achieved, the public entity does not pay, allowing the public sector to receive the highest return on taxpayer investments. These projects are based on the asthma-focused PFS work being explored in Baltimore through a partnership with GHHI, Calvert Foundation and Johns Hopkins Hospital and Healthcare System.
The regional project partnerships formed to conduct the PFS projects are:
Buffalo, NY
- Heart of the City Neighborhoods, Inc. and the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo
Heart of the City Neighborhoods, Inc. and the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo (partners of the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative) lead a collective group of service providers efficiently coordinating weatherization, home health and safety interventions. The collaborative has provided comprehensive services to almost 400 families in recent years. - Monroe Plan for Medical Care
Monroe Plan for Medical Care is a not-for-profit entity and a risk-bearing Independent Practice Association (IPA) meeting the healthcare needs of low-income individuals for more than 40 years. Monroe Plan for Medical Care has a long history of initiatives to improve asthma care for its members while aligning financial incentives for stakeholders.
Grand Rapids, MI
- Health Net of West Michigan (Health Net) in partnership with the Asthma Network of West Michigan (Asthma Network) and Healthy Homes Coalition of West Michigan (Healthy Homes Coalition)
Health Net serves as a neutral, centralized health care “hub” to connect low income children and adults in Kent County with needed primary care, mental health, oral health and community services. Asthma Network is a nationally recognized, model program that has been providing intensive in-home asthma education and case management to low-income children with uncontrolled asthma since 1996. As West Michigan’s premier service provider for environmental home assessments and indoor environmental health education, the Healthy Homes Coalition offers remediation services for eligible families and enlists the support of leveraged resources. - Spectrum Health
Spectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system, based in West Michigan, offering a full continuum of care through the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, which is comprised of 12 hospitals, including Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital; 180 ambulatory and service sites; 1,300 physicians and advanced practice providers, which include 1,100 members of the Spectrum Health Medical Group; and Priority Health, a health plan with more than 600,000 members. Spectrum Health is West Michigan’s largest employer, with 22,500 employees. The organization provided $294.6 million in community benefit during its 2014 fiscal year. Spectrum Health is the only health system in Michigan to be named one of the nation’s 15 Top Health Systems® by Truven Health Analytics for 2015. This is the fourth time the organization has received this recognition.
Memphis, TN
- Habitat for Humanity of Greater Memphis (Memphis Habitat)
Memphis Habitat was founded in 1983 by a group of concerned individuals who were aware of the international organization and saw the critical need for decent, affordable housing in the city of Memphis. Since its inception, the organization has built more than 400 homes in Greater Memphis. - Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital
Serving the Mid-South region of Tennessee, Le Bonheur has a 25-year history of providing community prevention services to ensure the health of children and avoid unnecessary medical costs. Le Bonheur Community Health and Well-Being will partner with Le Bonheur’s CHAMP (Changing High-Risk Asthma in Memphis through Partnership) and Memphis CHiLD, a newly established medical legal partnership.
Salt Lake City, UT
- Salt Lake County Office of Regional Development
Salt Lake County Office of Regional Development (partner of the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative) is strategically aligned with community agencies and government programs to effectively manage cost and uses a “whole-house” approach to eliminate the adverse effects of unhealthy housing on children to produces sustainable green, health and safe homes. - University of Utah Health Plans
University of Utah Health Plans (UUHP) was formed as a strategic initiative of the University of Utah Medical Group and University of Utah Health Care. Since 1998, UUHP has grown to serve more than 140,000 members, with more than 100 staff members in the Salt Lake City area. UUHP identifies member risk levels and provides the most appropriate intervention, from supporting healthy lifestyle decisions to advanced care management, for patients with complex conditions.
Springfield, MA
- Partners for a Healthier Communities’ Pioneer Valley Asthma Coalition (PVAC)
PVAC is a multi-sector community coalition formed to address the high rate of asthma in Springfield and the surrounding region. PVAC implements strategies to reduce environmental triggers at home, in school and in the community, as well as improve medical management of asthma. PVAC’s Pay for Success partners include Revitalize CDC, Springfield Partners for Community Action and HAP Housing. PVAC is convened by Partners for a Healthier Community. - Baystate Health
For more than 130 years, Baystate Health, a not-for-profit health care provider, has been a keystone of the western Massachusetts community. It has a breadth of assets: strong and extensive physician relationships through Baycare Health Partners (BHP), a physician hospital organization and accountable care organization that represents more than 1,400 physicians; Health New England, a managed care organization and subsidiary of Baystate; Pioneer Valley Accountable Care a subsidiary of BHP; and four independently-led Neighborhood Community Health Centers (one of which is a pediatric practice) totaling 144,000 visits per year.
About Green & Healthy Homes Initiative
The Green & Healthy Homes Initiative® (GHHI®) is a national nonprofit dedicated to breaking the link between unhealthy housing and unhealthy families. Formerly known as the Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, GHHI replaces stand-alone housing intervention programs with an integrated, whole-house approach that produces sustainable green, healthy and safe homes. As a result, we are improving health, economic and social outcomes for families across the country.With support from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department of Energy (DOE), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Council on Foundations and numerous philanthropic partners, GHHI serves as the national model for green and healthy homes interventions and is currently working in Austin, Atlanta, Baltimore, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Dubuque, Flint, Jackson, Lansing, Lewiston Auburn, Marin County, New Haven, Philadelphia, Providence, Salt Lake and San Antonio. Learn more at ghhi.org or follow us @HealthyHousing.
In 2014, GHHI received $1.011M from SIF, a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), to help strengthen the pipeline of healthcare entities and service providers prepared to implement Pay for Success projects across the country.
About the Corporation for National and Community Service
The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through its AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, Social Innovation Fund, and Volunteer Generation Fund programs, and leads the President’s national call to service initiative, United We Serve. For more information, visit NationalService.gov.
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