HJNO Nov/Dec 2021

36 NOV / DEC 2021  I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS   Healthcare Briefs collaborative also focuses on promoting health equity and reducing racial and ethnic disparities. As of August 2021, the following Louisiana birthing hospitals have achieved Birth Ready Designation: • Baton Rouge General. • Christus Ochsner Lake Area Hospital. • Christus St. Frances Cabrini Hospital. • East Jefferson General Hospital. • Jennings American Legion Hospital. • Lane Regional Medical Center. • Ochsner LSU Health Monroe. • Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport St. Mary Medical Center. • Ochsner Medical Center Kenner. • Willis-Knighton South and the Center for Women’s Health. • Woman’s Hospital. As of August 2021, the following Louisiana birthing hospitals have achieved Birth Ready+ Designation: • North Oaks Medical Center. • Ochsner Baptist Medical Center. • Ochsner Medical Center Baton Rouge. • Our Lady of the Angels Hospital. • Tulane Lakeside Hospital for Women and Children. CIS Ranks 29th as a Best Place toWork in Healthcare Cardiovascular Institute of the South (CIS) has ranked 29th out of 75 organizations in the pro- vider/insurer category of Modern Healthcare ’s 2021 Best Places to Work in Healthcare. This is the second year CIS has been named a top place to work, ranking 46th in 2020. “Our culture at CIS has always been one that makes our employees a top priority,” said CIS CEO David Konur, FACHE. “Our team has shown a tremendous amount of passion and dedication to our mission and patients even throughout these trying times. I am incredibly proud of the work they do each and every day for our patients and community.” Louisiana Healthcare Connections Awards Six Community Health Grants Louisiana Healthcare Connections has announced the award of $100,000 in grant funding to six community organizations in sup- port of their efforts to address hunger and food insecurity in Louisiana communities. Grant recipients include: • St. Martin Hospital Road to Good Health Program . This award-winning program, facilitated by registered dieticians and nurse practitioners, encourages health and wellness through education, outreach and preventative care. Funding will assist in expanding the program to include healthy food access in rural areas, addressing food insecurity as well as diabetes, obesity and other health issues. • The Family Tree Healthy Start Parent Store. This free program for pregnant women and parents with children up to 18 months of age will provide individualized assistance in the Acadiana area through the parent store to address food insecurity and practical strategies for making healthy food choices for a healthy start. • Food Bank of Central Louisiana Mobile Pantries . To help mitigate food insecurity in Central Louisiana, funds for this project will support operations for the food bank’s mobile pantry program, which provides food to economically disadvantaged fam- ilies in communities without existing local charitable food services. • Volunteers of America of North Louisi- ana Healthy Living Project. This project will provide education to adults with serious mental illness about how to access, shop for and prepare fresh and healthy food, in addi- tion to how to monitor the positive impact these diet and lifestyle changes have on their physical and mental well-being. • West Jefferson Hospital Foundation Wellthy Farmer’s Market. Directly con- tributing to healthy outcomes, Medicaid- enrolled patients who do not have access to healthy choices will be provided with nutri- tional education and “Wellthy Bucks” to purchase locally sourced, farm fresh items. • The Walls Project, Hustle and Grow Pro- gram. Funding for this community garden- ing program will allow healthy produce options to continue to be distributed in the North Baton Rouge area, considered a food desert, as well as the expansion of the Hustle & Grow curriculum to be offered to upwards of 75 high school students with training in urban agriculture toward certifi- cations in agritechnology and horticulture. “Improving health outcomes requires more than just access to quality medical care,” states Louisiana Healthcare Connections Vice President of Quality Improvement Yolanda Wilson. “Good health starts in the places where we live, learn, worship, work, and play. And because, at the local level, many of the solutions for good health already exist, investing in those solutions means positively impacting the health and health out- comes of our members and improving the health of our communities.” Louisiana Healthcare Connections’ Community Health Grants program launched in 2018 as part of the health plan’s efforts to combat food inse- curity and hunger in Louisiana. The Healthy Loui- siana Medicaid health plan has also implemented a number of other food insecurity-focused pro- grams, including a physician toolkit to help healthcare professionals identify and address food insecurity at the point of care and SNAP- match programs at several farmers markets. Healthy Blue, Anthem Medicaid Recognizes DCHC’s Community Health Navigators Healthy Blue Louisiana and Anthem Medicaid recently awarded the inaugural Bona Fide Blue Social Determinant Champion Award to DePaul Community Health Centers’ community health navigators (CHNs), who serve as cornerstones of DCHC’s Care Fellowship. The award recog- nizes DCHC’s CHN initiative as being a consis- tent leader in addressing patients’ social determi- nants of health (SDOH), such as unemployment, food insecurity, a lack of housing and finances, which adversely impact their health outcomes. Healthy Blue partnered with DCHC to launch a SDOH incentive program on April 1, 2020, with three CHNs to serve the health plan’s members by ameliorating their SDOH, connecting them to care and subsequently improving their health outcomes. During the 2020 pandemic, the CHNs conducted more than 400 member assessments and made more than 500 referrals to the right places for help. n