Partners Healthcare

Our commitment to our patients and the communities we serve means connecting people with more than health care – it also involves connecting people with opportunities and services that improve overall health and well being throughout their lives.

One way we’re doing this is through the HealthCorps Navigators program, our collaboration with the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers and 11 health centers in the Greater Boston area.

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Last week, Partners HealthCare joined Senator Richard Moore at the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers annual State House event. Representatives of the state’s 49 community health centers (CHCs) gathered to promote their work expanding access to quality, cost-effective health care for residents of the Commonwealth.

Leaders, including Partners President and CEO Dr. Gary Gottlieb and Neighborhood Health Plan CEO Deborah Enos, highlighted the Partnership for Community Health, a new grant program that will provide up to $90 million in funding over the next 15 years for health centers across the state. As previously announced, the first round of grants were issued earlier this year and provide $4.25 million focused on strengthening health center business practices, workforce training and health information systems. Every health center in the state – from Pittsfield to Provincetown – benefits from this first round of grants.

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Since the earliest days of the disability rights movement, the goal has been to achieve equality in all aspects of our society–from the accessibility of buildings and services to careers to health care access. Curb cuts that were once groundbreaking are now so commonplace that a stroller is as likely to use them as a wheelchair. Changes like these both make our world more inclusive and acknowledge what is right. And, as our population ages, the simple fact is that there will be more people with a disability.

At Partners HealthCare we’re meeting this challenge head on: The New Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in the Charlestown Navy Yard opens its doors on Saturday April 27^th to serve our community.

While we’ve planned for this new facility for some time, the opening comes at a particularly important moment, given the needs of those who have lost limbs as a result of the marathon tragedy.

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The tragic events of the past week have brought us together as a community. From the first responders to the hospital teams to law enforcement to our political leaders, we have proven we are resilient and we are caring.

Throughout, we have all been asking: What can we do to help?

The One Fund Boston has been created by Governor Deval Patrick and Mayor Tom Menino to provide much needed financial support directly to the victims and their families, as they recover both physically and psychologically. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.

Partners HealthCare and all of its institutions are pleased to announce a $1 million gift to The One Fund. We do this on behalf of and in honor and recognition of every one of our 60,600 employees, men and women who have committed themselves to the care and support of our patients and their families. Every one of our employees is a member of this community; we stand together and say we will be there to help.

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Investing in young people in our communities is a priority for Partners HealthCare. Community health work is vital, and we’d like to share a tremendous example of why we do it.

Bisi Fashemi is not your average college freshman; she’s also a published researcher. She credits this outstanding achievement to her experience participating in the Student Success Jobs Program (SSJP) at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH)—one of our founding hospitals.

Recently, the research she completed during her three years at SSJP was published in Microbial Ecology in Health & Disease. Even though Bisi says it still hasn’t quite hit her that she’s the first author on published research, we asked her to share some thoughts with us about this accomplishment.

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When it comes to preventive medicine, keeping patients healthy and ensuring that care is affordable go hand in hand. At Partners HealthCare we’re always looking for ways to improve the health of our communities, especially through education and prevention.

One area of growing concern is heart health: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for Americans. February is American Heart Month, and Dr. Michael R. Jaff, DO, chair of the MGH Institute for Heart, Vascular and Stroke Care, recently addressed the rising cost of treatment for cardiovascular disease. The following Q&A is reprinted from the February 1st issue of MGH Hotline.

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At Partners HealthCare, we know that some of the most important work we do doesn’t necessarily happen in a doctor’s office or hospital wing. Rather, by supporting members of our local communities, we can improve the health and wellness of underserved populations.

To kick off 2013, a group of Partners employees from the corporate finance team began volunteering with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay (BBBSMB). It’s part of a new Workplace Mentoring program. Twice a month students from the Harvard-Kent School, an economically and culturally diverse elementary school in Charlestown, come to our Schrafft Center offices.

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Today’s Boston Globe featured a warning from Boston’s scientific community about the negative impact that proposed federal budget cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) would have on its work.

Leaders from across the Commonwealth—from federal and local officials to researchers working at hospitals and other institutions—met yesterday at Boston Medical Center to discuss potential cuts to the NIH budget and the “devastating” effects they would have on the search for new cures and treatments.

Dr. Gary Gottlieb, Partners HealthCare President and CEO, joined with Mayor Thomas Menino, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Representative Michael Capuano and others in attendance to urge lawmakers in Washington to reconsider the sequester and the resulting budget cuts that would sap more than $100 million from the Massachusetts economy.

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As President Obama noted in his State of the Union Address, “the Affordable Care Act is helping to slow the growth of health care costs.” This is borne out in a recent report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

The New York Times reports that the CBO shows the nation is experiencing a prolonged and persistent slowdown in the growth of health care costs. In fact, between 2009 and 2011, total health spending grew at the slowest pace since the government started keeping records more than 50 years ago. Recent data suggests that the encouraging trend continued in 2012.

What is behind the slowdown in health care costs? While there is no single answer, experts point to the structural changes that the health care industry has undergone. CBO chief Douglas W. Elmendorf attributes a ‘significant’ part of the cost slowdown to this type of change and reorganization.

At Partners HealthCare we are leading the way forward on change.

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