Belmont’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences has partnered with Neighborhood Health, the largest federally qualified health center in Middle Tennessee to improve health outcomes for underserved and uninsured patients.
Dedicated to improving the health of the community by eliminating barriers to care, Neighborhood Health set out in 2022 to create a virtual disease case management program for patients with uncontrolled diabetes based on the request of providers who saw a need for additional time with their patients to provide support coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shortly after the program began, a collaborative practice agreement was established between the health center and Belmont for the servicing of patients participating in virtual disease management.
“We had longstanding partnership with Belmont’s College of Pharmacy, allowing students to do pharmacy reviews with the homeless population that we serve, that was suspended during the pandemic,” said Brian Haile, Neighborhood Health CEO. “We were intentional on picking up on the prior collaboration as soon as we could, to prevent further disruption of such a fruitful and productive partnership.”
At the helm of the newly established program, consisting of intensive education and care management, is Amy Henneman, PharmD, Associate Professor of Pharmacology in the Thomas F. Frist College of Medicine with dual appointment as an Associate Professor Pharmacy Practice in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. When a patient is engaged with the care management program, the nurse submits a referral to Dr. Henneman for medication reviews, adjustments and thorough education at no cost to the patient.
“Our Chief Clinical Officer does routine chart reviews for the patients that Dr. Henneman serves, and her documentation and care are always stellar, which is apparent in the outcomes that we are seeing, said Francisco Montes, Director of Policy, Compliance, & Innovation at Neighborhood Health. “Though her role is to help our patients navigate their conditions, she also works tirelessly to ensure that access to medication is not a barrier for our patients. Our patients and providers are grateful for her incredible support – and for the positive change she is helping to make happen.”
Each August, federal officials at Health Resources and Services Administration release the Uniform Data Set (UDS) for all health centers. Neighborhood Health compiled this data to benchmarks relative to other health centers within the same market to find stunning results: Neighborhood Health was the only area health center to grow in 2022 and serves the highest rate of uninsured patients (currently 65%) of any health center in Tennessee.
The data also reflects:
- Demographics: Neighborhood Health remains the largest safety net provider of primary care for persons of color in our region.
- African-American Patients: Neighborhood Health serves more African American patients than all other community health centers in our service area combined. (These other health centers include Matthew Walker, Connectus and Hope Clinic).
- Hispanic Patients: Similarly, Neighborhood Health serves more Hispanic patients than all other community health centers in this service area combined.
- Medical and Dental Care: Neighborhood Health was the only area health center with an increase in medical patients in 2022 – and one of two area health centers with an increase in dental patients in 2022.
- Women’s Health: Neighborhood Health was the only health center to serve more women ages 15 to 44 in 2022. The center serves more females in this age group than other community health centers in Nashville combined.
- Hypertension: Neighborhood Health has the largest improvement in hypertension control among health centers in 2022.
- Diabetes: Neighborhood Health tied for the largest improvement in diabetes control among area health centers in 2022.
“The growing sophistication of support that Belmont provides for community partners like us is remarkable, as the data from outcomes over the past year shows,” noted Haile. “Specifically, we are most excited about the background and demonstrated commitment that Dr. [Sharrel] Pinto and the college bring to Neighborhood Health and look forward to additional and expanded partnerships in improving health outcomes for Tennesseans.”