CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield
In January 2005, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, a not-for-profit health plan, launched CareFirst Commitment, a multi-pronged initiative to address health care needs throughout the company’s service area. Each year since the initiative’s launch, CareFirst received hundreds of requests for funding from public and private non-profit organizations seeking to address the region’s health needs, and provided more than $25 million in total funding to hundreds of organizations in Maryland, DC, and Northern Virginia. In its continuing quest to fulfill its corporate mission, CareFirst sought approval from its Board of Directors for a refined giving strategy that would achieve greater programmatic consistency and sustainability, create consensus around a more clear-cut set of outcomes, and rigorously evaluate program effectiveness.
In 2008, Michelle Gourdine and Associates assisted in the design of a detailed business case for a new direction of CareFirst Commitment that would leverage the organization’s influence and resources to strategically target and address the region’s most pressing public health challenges, improve the health of its most vulnerable populations and create social benefits that would advance the organization’s mission.
Results
In 2008, Michelle Gourdine and Associates assisted in the design of a detailed business case for a new direction of CareFirst Commitment that would leverage the organization’s influence and resources to strategically target and address the region’s most pressing public health challenges, improve the health of its most vulnerable populations and create social benefits that would advance the organization’s mission.
Results
- Consolidated public health data from multiple sources reflecting the health status of the CareFirst service area
- Analyzed and interpreted data to create a summary of overall benefits of new CareFirst Commitment program focus
- Shifted program staff’s time from gathering and manipulating data to making sound business decisions based on program objectives
Bon Secours Hospital
Bon Secours Hospital of Baltimore provides acute care hospital services for an underserved urban community in SW Baltimore. (A recent Rand study revealed a primary care shortage in Baltimore, with West Baltimore being particularly affected.) The hospital's emergency department is heavily utilized by residents suffering from chronic diseases, and for a number of reasons related to overutilization by a patient population that is un- or underinsured, the hospital's ability to remain financially sustainable has been threatened. However, the hospital and its parent organization, Bon Secours Health Systems Inc., are committed to leading an effort to measurably improve the community’s health by providing adequate preventive and primary care services in this community.
Michelle Gourdine and Associates is providing advice and expertise to Bon Secours as they develop a strategy to provide enhanced primary care services for Southwest Baltimore.
Results
Michelle Gourdine and Associates is providing advice and expertise to Bon Secours as they develop a strategy to provide enhanced primary care services for Southwest Baltimore.
Results
- Assisted in the design of a report to the state General Assembly outlining a “long–term, comprehensive and sustainable solution to the hospital’s financial issues” and “a sustainable primary-care centric approach” to provide “critical community (health) services.”
- In collaboration with stakeholders, identified options for creating a network of primary care providers and services sufficient to meet the needs of the community.
Minnesota Department of Health
Minnesota has consistently rated among the healthiest states in the nation, often ranking first overall. Yet, populations of color in Minnesota consistently experience disproportionately higher rates of illness and death. In its quest to strengthen the health and wellness of Minnesota’s racial/ethnic, cultural, and tribal populations, the Minnesota Department of Health and its Office of Minority and Multicultural Health sought to learn the most effective options for integrating health disparities-elimination efforts throughout their department.
Michelle Gourdine and Associates researched and interviewed a cross-section of directors of state offices of minority health and their stakeholders to identify the most promising organizational, structural, and programmatic practices for public health agencies charged with improving minority health. This work culminated in the report, "State Offices of Minority Health: Components of Success," which informed the Minnesota Department of Health’s plan of action to fully integrate health disparities activities and goals.
Results
Michelle Gourdine and Associates researched and interviewed a cross-section of directors of state offices of minority health and their stakeholders to identify the most promising organizational, structural, and programmatic practices for public health agencies charged with improving minority health. This work culminated in the report, "State Offices of Minority Health: Components of Success," which informed the Minnesota Department of Health’s plan of action to fully integrate health disparities activities and goals.
Results
- Assembled knowledge and expertise from the most productive minority health offices across the country into a unique blueprint for effective minority health agency infrastructure.
The Sullivan Alliance
The Sullivan Alliance to Transform the Health Professions was organized under the leadership of Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. The mission of the Alliance is to increase the diversity of the U.S. healthcare workforce, working state by state. In October 2009, Dr. Sullivan convened a group of the state's leading health experts to create an Alliance in Maryland.
Michelle Gourdine and Associates led a seven-month-long negotiation with Maryland's Historically Black Colleges and Universities, academic medical institutions, and health professions schools to form The Maryland Alliance to Transform the Health Professions.
Results
Michelle Gourdine and Associates led a seven-month-long negotiation with Maryland's Historically Black Colleges and Universities, academic medical institutions, and health professions schools to form The Maryland Alliance to Transform the Health Professions.
Results
- Negotiated agreement among all seven academic medical institutions and health professions schools representing all four of Maryland's Historically Black Institutions and Maryland's two internationally known academic medical centers to work collaboratively towards the common goal of increasing diversity in Maryland's healthcare workforce.
- A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the following schools in a historic ceremony:
- The Johns Hopkins University Schools of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing
- The University of Maryland Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Dentistry
- The University of Maryland College Park School of Public Health
- Coppin State University
- Morgan State University
- University of Maryland Eastern Shore
- Bowie State University
