Data Storyteller

In recent years, health centers have become increasingly interested in and charged with not only addressing the health concerns of their patients, but centering and responding to patient’s social needs. According to Healthy People 2030, social needs, also known as the social determinants of health, are the conditions in the environments where people live, learn, work, and play that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks. Social needs encompass the quality of and access to resources such as housing, transportation, safety, employment, food, and more. Identifying and addressing unmet social needs as part of the clinical encounter provides the opportunity to deliver higher-quality, whole-person care, advance population health, and reduce healthcare costs.

With the onset of the COVID-19 State of Emergency, in March 2020, Community Care Cooperative (C3) and the Mass League of Community Health Centers (League) both identified the critical need to support health centers to pivot to telehealth and COVID-19 care, in order to continue to meet the needs of the low income, diverse communities they serve and to remain in sound financial position. A grant from the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation provided the opportunity to form the MA FQHC Telehealth Consortium, providing support to FQHCs across Massachusetts. With the involvement of the CEOs and CMOs of the Consortium health centers, the League and C3 have designed a “Maturity Model” that provides a holistic roadmap for building a telehealth platform that is fully integrated into the primary care team, enhancing providers’ ability to address the physical, behavioral, and social needs of the complex, diverse patients served.

This webinar gave participants the opportunity to learn about the successes and ongoing work to advance telehealth in Massachusetts and critical areas for continued focus and resources to enable equitable access to telehealth.