Care Coordination
Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority Partners with HCGC for Care Coordination Services
By Carrie Baker, President and CEO
HCGC is proud to announce a partnership with the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA.) CMHA helps people access affordable housing through collaborative partnerships to develop, renovate, and maintain housing; promote neighborhood revitalization; and assist residents in accessing needed social services. The important work of CMHA led to a natural collaboration with HCGC and the Central Ohio Pathways HUB (the HUB.) The HUB, a care coordination system managed by HCGC deploys community health workers (CHWs) to connect vulnerable populations in Central Ohio with access to vital care and services.
The partnership creates a direct referral into the HUB for CMHA residents. While the access to affordable housing provided by CMHA is paramount to the wellbeing of vulnerable Central Ohioans, there is almost certainly other essential needs that have gone unmet for people who have sought housing through CMHA. The CMHA referral into the HUB allows for residents to be connected with a HUB CHW who will connect directly with that resident and work through an in-depth assessment of the spectrum of other care and services they may be experiencing. CMHA residents who become HUB clients have the opportunity to work with a CHW to apply for emergency rental assistance, utility bill payment plans, and understanding their lease agreement; signing up for health insurance, unemployment, food assistance; find employment, housing, and medical care, and education; manage their health and well-being including understanding illnesses and medications; understand and engage in family planning, pregnancy care, and care for you and your entire family.
The CMHA referrals for HUB services are being directed to Physician CareConnection (PCC), one of the HUB’s twelve Care Coordination Agencies. Employing the Pathways Community HUB model of care coordination, CHWs that are employed by PCC have already began enthusiastically and efficiently receiving CMHA referrals. In just two weeks of operation through the partnership, HUB CHWs enrolled twelve CMHA residents and began connecting them to care and services. Another nine referrals were made through the system in that first two weeks that are in the process of becoming CMHA residents before they can begin to receive HUB services. That is a total of 21 referrals in just 14 days of the official beginning of the partnership. This data shows us the spectrum of needs associated with insecure housing that CMHA is addressing with their residents through partnering with HCGC and the HUB. This comes at the same time that the City of Columbus has made eviction reform a major priority amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, with funding for organizations like PCC that are known for their work in coordinating care and services for central Ohio's most vulnerable citizens.
Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic, we know that the incidence of housing insecurity is rising at an alarming rate, and the work that CHMA has done since the onset of the pandemic is nothing short of inspiring. HCGC is honored to work to extend the access and relief that CMHA provides their residents by providing connections to the other social determinants of health affecting so many vulnerable central Ohioans in these trying times.
For more information on CMHA, visit their website.
Fore more information on PCC, visit their website.
For more information on the HUB, visit our website.
