Green & Healthy Homes Initiative Awards Technical Assistance Services to Three Comprehensive Asthma Programs
June 17, 2019 Baltimore, MD – The Green & Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI), following a national competition, has awarded pro bono technical assistance services to:
– UPMC Health Plan. UPMC Health Plan will build on a collaboration with the Allegheny County Health Department’s Safe and Healthy Homes Program. The initiative combines existing resources to identify pediatric patients who have been recently hospitalized with an asthma-related event and refers them to an evidence-based, multi-faceted in-home environmental assessment and education intervention targeting asthma triggers and other health risks. The goal of the initiative is to reduce asthma admissions and improve quality of life for families of asthma patients through the development of an effective, comprehensive, financially sustainable identification, referral, and home remediation program.
– John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital (OCH). OCH is leading a strong partnership to implement the Buffalo Asthma Pilot Project to improve the lives of children with asthma in Erie County. OCH, in coordination with Independent Health, will identify eligible patients through the pediatric primary care setting (Niagara Street Pediatrics) and their Emergency Department. The asthma home-visiting services are provided by the Buffalo Prenatal Perinatal Network with the support of Millennium Collaborative Care and the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo.
“As this important initiative demonstrates, the most effective efforts to improve the health and well-being of our community will come from collaboration with wide-ranging partners,” said Michael W. Cropp, M.D., President and CEO, Independent Health.
– Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) NYC. LISC NYC is the convener of a collaborative effort between managed care organizations (MCO), two performing provider systems (PPS) and four community-based service providers dedicated to implementing a program where families receive asthma home-based intervention services, delivered by Community Health Workers. The collaborative includes Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, Fifth Avenue Committee, Make the Road New York, Riseboro Community Partnership, Healthfirst, Empire BlueCross BlueShield HealthPlus, Metroplus, UnitedHealthcare, NYU Langone Brooklyn PPS, and OneCityHealth.
The project seeks to secure active reimbursement contracts for each program to provide services through existing health plans or healthcare systems. GHHI, with support from the Center for Health Care Strategies, is providing technical assistance through an award from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Air and Radiation (OAR), Indoor Environments Division (IED) for the National Indoor Environments Program: Reducing Public Exposure to Indoor Pollutants.
Each project will focus on securing reimbursement for comprehensive asthma services that address environmental factors for asthmatics in low-income communities. These services include home-based care and education as well as environmental remediation to address asthma triggers such as pests and mold. The goal of each program is to achieve better health and quality of life outcomes for families while also lowering health care costs through the reduction of asthma-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations.
This opportunity is one part of GHHI’s National Initiative for Asthma Reimbursement, which seeks to increase the number of quality comprehensive asthma programs while simultaneously working to increase the number of health plans serving Medicaid populations and/or state Medicaid programs that reimburse for these services. Similar opportunities for technical assistance may be made available by the EPA in subsequent years.
GHHI is delighted to partner with UPMC Health Plan, John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital, and LISC NYC. These three organizations share GHHI’s vision to improve the social determinants of health through healthier homes and to align the efforts of the health and housing sectors to improve outcomes for families.
Ruth Ann Norton, President and CEO of GHHI, stated, “Healthier housing and healthier home environments are critical in advancing the social determinants of health. GHHI is working at the intersection of health, health care and housing, and the awardees reflect the alignment of health care institutions by improving the health of the housing in which their community members reside. We congratulate them and are excited to take on this important work together.”
If you are interested in applying for Reimbursement Support Technical Assistance through the National Initiative for Asthma Reimbursement, applications are being accepted on a rolling basis. For more information, including the Request for Proposals, please visit:
https://www.greenandhealthyhomes.org/services/national-initiative-for-asthma-reimbursement/
About the 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. GHHI provides evidence-based direct services and technical assistance to create healthy, safe, and energy efficient homes. GHHI’s end goal is to improve health, economic, and social outcomes for low-income families while reducing public and private healthcare costs. To learn more, please visit ghhi.org and follow us @HealthyHousing.
About the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Air and Radiation (OAR), Indoor Environments Division
OAR’s mission is to protect the public and the environment from the risks of radiation and indoor air pollution. The office coordinates across the Agency and with other federal, state, tribal, and non-governmental organizations to carry out its mission. OAR develops criteria, standards, guidance, policies, and programs to limit unnecessary radiation exposure and control exposure to indoor air pollutants, including asthma triggers.
To learn more about this GHHI/EPA partnership, please contact Brendan Brown at: bbrown@ghhi.org
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