A local rural health clinic will benefit from $65,000 in federal funds to help improve health equity.
The Big Springs Medical Association in Ellington will do that through improved data collection and reporting, according to officials. The Big Spring Medical Association is part of Missouri Highlands Healthcare.
“We are very fortunate indeed to be among the federally qualified community health centers that are receiving this grant opportunity to better our data collection process and recording,” Karen White, CEO of Missouri Highlands, said. “The community health centers compile many forms of data … We capture all sorts of interesting data based on patient demographics, disease processes, health outcomes and disparities.
“We do that on an annual basis. With that data, we can then inform not just our own communities, but also the states and nation as a whole as to what we are doing.”
White said that Big Spring Medical wants to use the grant money to help “step up (their) game as it pertains to capturing data.”
“We want to do everything electronically with records and data,” White said. “Currently it takes 6-8 weeks to collect data and compile it for government formatting.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is spending nearly $1.8 million in American Rescue Plan funding with 27 community health centers in Missouri on this project. The funding comes through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
Last Friday, President Joe Biden issued a proclamation on National Health Center Week to recognize the vital role health centers play in safeguarding the well-being of Americans and honor the staff who keep these facilities running.
And one reason data collection is important is Southeast Missouri is different than other areas of the United States.
“What makes the Missouri Highlands service area unique is how are we different than (for example), New York or California,” White said.
HRSA’s initiative is designed to enable health centers to have better data on both patient health status and social determinants of health. With better information, programs can tailor their efforts to improve health outcomes and advance health equity by more precisely targeting the needs of specific communities or patients, particularly as part of the public health emergency response.
“Time and again, the COVID pandemic has demonstrated the vital role of trusted community leaders in delivering health care services,” said HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson. “Health centers are that trusted resource in the highest risk and hardest hit communities in the country. As we recognize the heroic work of the frontline health care workers who make health centers what they are, today we also are investing in the tools they need to help them continue to best serve their communities.”
The nearly 1,400 HRSA-funded community health centers in this country serve as a national source of primary care in underserved communities, according to officials. They are community-based and patient-directed organizations that deliver affordable, accessible, and high-quality medical, dental, and behavioral health services to more than 30 million patients each year, with specific initiatives intended to reach people experiencing homelessness, agricultural workers, and residents of public housing.
In 2021, HRSA-funded health centers provided care for one in five residents in rural areas and one in 11 people nationwide. One in three health center patients are living in poverty, and nearly two-thirds are racial and/or ethnic minorities.