PRESS RELEASE: $25,000 grant from The Data for Equity Funding Collaborative awarded to HCAN

Health Care Access Now (HCAN) received funding from The Data for Equity Funding Collaborative in the amount of $25,000. The Data for Equity Funding Collaborative is a group effort between bi3, HealthPath Foundation of Ohio, and Interact for Health.

• HCAN will use the funds to partially fund consultant fees for an epidemiologist from the Cincinnati Health Department. The epidemiologist will help HCAN evaluate its data quality and collection methods to improve Greater Cincinnati’s population health.
• With this project, HCAN aims to ensure that its data contributes to the accurate identification of the community’s most pressing health needs and disparities.

HCAN trains and deploys Community Health Workers (CHWs) to provide community-based care coordination services, identifying social risks and social needs and eliminating barriers to good health outcomes. HCAN hopes to be able to communicate a strong case for CHWs’ importance through the epidemiologist’s work.

The Data for Equity Funding Collaborative awarded Health Care Access Now (HCAN) $25,000 to develop its organizational capacity around data and evaluation in service of health equity. The Data for Equity Funding Collaborative is a group formed by bi3, HealthPath Foundation of Ohio, and Interact for Health. HCAN is one of 11 Greater Cincinnati nonprofit organizations to receive this grant in 2023.

HCAN will use the funds to underwrite consultant fees for an epidemiologist from the Cincinnati Health Department. The epidemiologist will investigate HCAN’s data quality and collection methods, thereby ensuring that HCAN’s participation in regional initiatives, such as the Greater Cincinnati Community Health Needs Assessment, provides accurate numbers. Another outcome is the opportunity to add to the body of analysis of community-based care coordination accurately.

“This kind of behind-the-scenes work contributes to the overall effectiveness of our organization,” says Sarah Mills, CEO of HCAN. “It will help inform our methods and allow us to make evidence-based decisions to progress toward our goals.”

HCAN provides care coordination services to adults as well as to mothers and their children/infants through training and employing Community Health Workers (CHW), who work one-on-one with vulnerable community members. CHWs provide education and resources to program participants to help them achieve good health outcomes, and an integral part of its mission is continuous improvement using data. Foundational work provided by the epidemiologist will inform future quality improvement initiatives, identifying areas for strategic improvement to enhance client services and improve patient outcomes.

“Only with complete, accurate, current, pertinent, equitable, and unbiased data can HCAN help sustainably improve the health of Greater Cincinnati’s most vulnerable residents,” Mills says.

HCAN’s individualized and comprehensive care coordination services are critical to ensuring community members have needed support to achieve lasting health and wellness for themselves and their families. These funds will allow HCAN to implement process improvement based on the epidemiologist’s findings, thereby better positioning HCAN to advance equity and eliminate health disparities in the Greater Cincinnati region.