MedStar St. Mary’s Receives CareFirst Grant
Photo by Nicki Strickland, MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital
CareFirst presents $112,424 grant to MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital
St. Mary’s Hospital received this week a $112,000 grant to their Get Connected to Health Program awarded by CareFirst BlueCross/BlueShield (BC/BS).
The Health Connections’ Get Connected to Health program concentrates services in the most populated area of the county, Lexington Park, and serves the under-and uninsured within the area.
Countywide, the census department reports 8,700 uninsured in St. Mary’s County, an increase of 45 percent since 2008. Lexington Park is located within a Health Professional Shortage Area.
The CF/BC grant supports the 2012 expansion of the hospital’s mobile primary care services to uninsured and underinsured patients in St. Mary’s County. MedStar St. Mary’s Get Connected to Health Mobile Clinic provides basic healthcare treatment to underserved areas of St. Mary’s County, areas that may otherwise go without needed health care.
The CareFirst grant allows MedStar St. Mary’s to hire a certified full-time nurse practitioner which expands the mobile health clinic from four hours per week to full-time services for patients. In addition to hiring a nurse practitioner to provide primary care services, the CareFirst funding, along with additional hospital funding, expands MedStar St. Mary’s medical care management services to more than 1,380 patients in 2012.
The mobile health program concentrates its services in Lexington Park, the most populated area of St. Mary’s County and a health professional shortage area. The mobile health program is also offered one day per week in Charlotte Hall.
Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown recently designated St. Mary’s County as a Health Enterprise Zone, in which the county will receive additional grant funding to address health disparities in the region. Lexington Park is targeted for significantly intensified health care services as a result of the designation.
“Thanks largely to grant funding awarded by CareFirst, the Get Connected to Health program expanded its services in 2012,” said Joan Gelrud, Vice President, MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital. “During that time, the outreach service experienced a 52 percent increase in uninsured patients accessing care from the previous year. Clearly, the need for primary care services in the greater Lexington Park area remains. Thanks to grant funding from CareFirst, we are helping to close the gap.”
“We are proud to support MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital and its efforts to provide primary care services to the region’s most vulnerable residents,” said Maria Harris Tildon, CareFirst Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Community Affairs. “We believe that having access to quality primary care is essential to living a healthy and active lifestyle.”
CareFirst BlueCross/BlueShield is the largest health insurance provider in the state.
For more information on the program or MedStar St. Mary’s contact Linda Lagle at 240-434-7058 or [email protected]
