March 30, 2007

Major grant boosts community health care

On March 9, Partners HealthCare, the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers and city and state officials gathered to celebrate a $5 million Bank of America grant to improve access to quality health care for the state's low- and moderate-income individuals and families. Among those present at the MGH affiliate North End Community Health Center (NECHC) were Partners HealthCare President and Chief Executive Officer James J. Mongan, MD; Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick; former Massachusetts Senate President Robert Travaglini; and Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services JudyAnn Bigby, MD. Most of the funds will go toward repaying the medical school loans of primary care physicians (PCPs) who have agreed to practice in community health centers, and $500,000 will be set aside for the MGH and BWH to explore ways to increase the number of medical students choosing to become PCPs.

The grant comes at a crucial time. As the state's health reform law is implemented, more low- and moderate-income residents will become insured and have access to primary and preventive care. At the same time, the state is facing a critical shortage of PCPs. The number of PCPs has dwindled in recent years as fewer medical students enter internal medicine in favor of specialty practice. This shortage is most sharply felt by community health centers, which are expected to play an even more important role under the reform and often lack the financial resources to recruit and retain PCPs. It is hoped that the loan-repayment program will aid the NECHC and the 23 other Massachusetts health centers benefiting from the grant.

Mongan praised the grant, noting that the lack of PCPs "makes access to preventive care, which keeps healthy people out of the hospital, more difficult and puts the promise of universal health care at risk."

Said Patrick, "With the passage of the state's landmark health reform legislation, hundreds of thousands of people will have insurance for the first time. But health care coverage without access is meaningless. Bank of America has taken a bold step in helping the state meet this challenge, and I commend the bank's commitment to ensuring that patients have access to primary care."

It is estimated the grant will help attract more than 50 new doctors to primary care in Massachusetts and will create access for 65,000 new patients, or roughly one million new patient visits, over the next five years. The funds also will be used to create programs to train PCPs.

In acknowledging the benefits of the grant, Jim Luisi, director of the NECHC and past president of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, recognized the governor and secretary, who have pledged to match the Bank of America gift with state funds so that all Massachusetts health centers have access to the loan-repayment program.

From left, James Hunt, president and CEO of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers; Patrick; Travaglini; Anne Finucane, Northeast president of Bank of America; Bigby; Mongan; and Jack Connors, chair of the Partners Board of Trustees.