Updated: 05/01/2018 04:36:17 PM EDT
By Katie Lannan
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
Excerpt:
Dr. Damian Archer, the chief medical officer of North Shore Community Health, called it “absolutely necessary” to think about how to stabilize health care centers.
“We have demonstrated what our value is to the commonwealth, and I think we just need that support in order to carry that baton a little bit further down the track of helping health care to the next level,” he said.
Archer said workforce retention is among the greatest challenges facing community health centers, which can struggle to pay salaries that are competitive with other institutions.
“We can’t keep up pace with what their needs are,” he said of clinicians and other workers. “They come with these sort of golden hearts and want to do a lot of passionate, driven, compassionate work, but they have loans and they have other needs that need to be met, which we can’t really fight with.”
The Health Policy Commission recently announced that Salem Family Health Center has met the requirements to be designated as PCMH PRIME Certified.
The Massachusetts Health Policy Commission, in collaboration with NCQA, developed the PCMH PRIME Certification Program, which identifies criteria that are key to integrating behavioral health care into primary care and certifies practices that meet a majority of these criteria.
Practices meet PCMH PRIME criteria by demonstrating capabilities in a majority of the following areas:
• Behavioral Health Integration: Integration of behavioral health through agreements, co-location or provider integration.
• Comprehensive Health Assessment: Comprehensive health assessments that include screenings for behavioral health conditions, such as depression, post-partum depression, anxiety, developmental delays and substance use disorder.
• Identifying High-Risk Patients: A system for identifying high-risk patients for targeted care management.
• Referral Tracking and Follow-Up: Tracking and following up on referrals to specialists, including behavioral health care providers.
• Evidence-Based Decision Support: Using evidence-based guidelines to make decisions about support for mental health and substance use disorders.
• Addiction Treatment: Medication-assisted treatment for addiction.
Peabody Family Health Center has met the requirements to be designated as PCMH PRIME Certified.
Salem, MA, January 23, 2018– The Health Policy Commission (HPC) has announced that Peabody Family Health Center has met the requirements to be designated as PCMH PRIME Certified.
The Massachusetts Health Policy Commission (HPC), in collaboration with NCQA, developed the PCMH PRIME Certification Program, which identifies criteria that are key to integrating behavioral health care into primary care and certifies practices that meet a majority of these criteria. Practices meet PCMH PRIME criteria by demonstrating capabilities in a majority of the following areas: Behavioral Health Integration: Integration of behavioral health through agreements, co-location or provider integration. Comprehensive Health Assessment: Comprehensive health assessments that include screenings for behavioral health conditions, such as depression, post-partum depression, anxiety, developmental delays and substance use disorder. Identifying High-Risk Patients: A system for identifying high-risk patients for targeted care management. Referral Tracking and Follow-Up: Tracking and following up on referrals to specialists, including behavioral healthcare providers. Evidence-Based Decision Support: Using evidence-based guidelines to make decisions about support for mental health and substance use disorders. Addiction Treatment: Medication-assisted treatment for addiction.
Peabody Family Health Center is one of North Shore Community Health three family practice sites that include Salem Family Health Center, Peabody Family Health Center, and Gloucester Family Health Center. These sites have medical, dental and behavioral health services and serve individuals and families of all ages. NSCHI also has two School-Based Health Centers (Salem High School Teen Health Center and Peabody Veterans War Memorial High School Teen Health Center). No one seeking care at any of our sites will ever be denied access to services due to inability to pay. We offer a discounted/sliding fee scale based on family size and income. You may apply for a discount at the front desk when you arrive at any of our sites. We also offer translation services, outreach and enrollment services and health education. We are governed by a Board of Directors where more than 50% of the Board are also patients. North Shore Community Health is a member of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers and the National Association of Community Health Centers.
Gloucester Family Health Center has met the requirements to be designated as PCMH PRIME Certified.
Salem, MA, January 23, 2018– The Health Policy Commission (HPC) has announced that Gloucester Family Health Center has met the requirements to be designated as PCMH PRIME Certified.
The Massachusetts Health Policy Commission (HPC), in collaboration with NCQA, developed the PCMH PRIME Certification Program, which identifies criteria that are key to integrating behavioral health care into primary care and certifies practices that meet a majority of these criteria. Practices meet PCMH PRIME criteria by demonstrating capabilities in a majority of the following areas: Behavioral Health Integration: Integration of behavioral health through agreements, co-location or provider integration. Comprehensive Health Assessment: Comprehensive health assessments that include screenings for behavioral health conditions, such as depression, post-partum depression, anxiety, developmental delays and substance use disorder. Identifying High-Risk Patients: A system for identifying high-risk patients for targeted care management. Referral Tracking and Follow-Up: Tracking and following up on referrals to specialists, including behavioral healthcare providers. Evidence-Based Decision Support: Using evidence-based guidelines to make decisions about support for mental health and substance use disorders. Addiction Treatment: Medication-assisted treatment for addiction.
Gloucester Family Health Center is one of North Shore Community Health three family practice sites that include Salem Family Health Center, Peabody Family Health Center, and Gloucester Family Health Center. These sites have medical, dental and behavioral health services and serve individuals and families of all ages. NSCHI also has two School-Based Health Centers (Salem High School Teen Health Center and Peabody Veterans War Memorial High School Teen Health Center). No one seeking care at any of our sites will ever be denied access to services due to inability to pay. We offer a discounted/sliding fee scale based on family size and income. You may apply for a discount at the front desk when you arrive at any of our sites. We also offer translation services, outreach and enrollment services and health education. We are governed by a Board of Directors where more than 50% of the Board are also patients. North Shore Community Health is a member of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers and the National Association of Community Health Centers.
Salem Family Health Center has met the requirements to be designated as PCMH PRIME Certified.
Salem, MA, January 23, 2018– The Health Policy Commission (HPC) has announced that Salem Family Health Center has met the requirements to be designated as PCMH PRIME Certified.
The Massachusetts Health Policy Commission (HPC), in collaboration with NCQA, developed the PCMH PRIME Certification Program, which identifies criteria that are key to integrating behavioral health care into primary care and certifies practices that meet a majority of these criteria. Practices meet PCMH PRIME criteria by demonstrating capabilities in a majority of the following areas: Behavioral Health Integration: Integration of behavioral health through agreements, co-location or provider integration. Comprehensive Health Assessment: Comprehensive health assessments that include screenings for behavioral health conditions, such as depression, post-partum depression, anxiety, developmental delays and substance use disorder. Identifying High-Risk Patients: A system for identifying high-risk patients for targeted care management. Referral Tracking and Follow-Up: Tracking and following up on referrals to specialists, including behavioral healthcare providers. Evidence-Based Decision Support: Using evidence-based guidelines to make decisions about support for mental health and substance use disorders. Addiction Treatment: Medication-assisted treatment for addiction.
Salem Family Health Center is one of North Shore Community Health three family practice sites that include Salem Family Health Center, Peabody Family Health Center, and Gloucester Family Health Center. These sites have medical, dental and behavioral health services and serve individuals and families of all ages. NSCHI also has two School-Based Health Centers (Salem High School Teen Health Center and Peabody Veterans War Memorial High School Teen Health Center). No one seeking care at any of our sites will ever be denied access to services due to inability to pay. We offer a discounted/sliding fee scale based on family size and income. You may apply for a discount at the front desk when you arrive at any of our sites. We also offer translation services, outreach and enrollment services and health education. We are governed by a Board of Directors where more than 50% of the Board are also patients. North Shore Community Health is a member of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers and the National Association of Community Health Centers.
One of our clinicians, Allison Kilcoyne, who directs our high school health centers, was featured in an article in the New York Times entitled “Marijuana and Vaping Are More Popular Than Cigarettes Among Teenagers”.
Senator Elizabeth Warren visits Salem to learn more about the work the city is doing to educate about, prevent and treat opiate addiction. Maggie Brennan, CEO, Damian Archer, MD, CMO and Director of the MAT Program, and Vanessa White, RN were part of a panel to discuss the issue.
Program offers way to donate on behalf of homeless, discourages giving to panhandlers
SALEM — Giving cash to panhandlers can leave those thinking they’re doing a good deed still questioning where their money is actually going. So city officials are offering a solution: Give them the money instead.
Through ongoing initiatives to work with the city’s homeless population, Salem officials just launched Change It, which seeks to direct those well-intentioned dollars instead to services that benefit the homeless. By sending a simple text message — SALEM to 50555 — residents or visitors can quickly make a $5 donation to benefit the services that feed, clothe and shelter this vulnerable population, and also work to turn their lives around.
And there’s an added benefit for the donor — any donation gets them a discount to several different city businesses, with more to be added to the list soon.
The program was put together by city administration, as well as North Shore Community Health Center, North Shore Community Action Programs, Lifebridge — which operates a shelter and other services for the homeless — and the Salem Police Department.
By William J. Dowd
wdowd@wickedlocal.com
Two distinct forms of homelessness exist in Salem: Transient homeless persons and chronically homeless persons.
The latter is a smaller group – while the former is larger and growing in Salem.
“The statistics are staggering,” said Police Capt. Conrad Prosniewski. “We have a homeless problem in Salem, and the number of calls is going up.”
From January to July 2016, Salem Police averaged 51 homelessness-related calls per month. Over the same seven months in 2017, they averaged 124 calls per month, a 143 percent increase.
Proniewski offered up those statistics before a standing-room-only crowd in an upper room of Derby Street’s St. Joseph’s Hall Thursday evening, July 27. The gathering, organized and facilitated by Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll, engaged attendees in what Salem can do to collectively tackle a growing homelessness issue.
Officials also debuted “Collaborative For Hope,” a city-led coalition comprised of Salem social-service agencies from Lifebridge Salem and North Shore Career Center to North Shore Community Action Program and North Shore Community Health Center,– that aims to help empower the homeless population here to end their homelessness.