CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) recently announced that it would be awarding over $3 million in new grants to Phoenix organizations that are focused on addressing access to care, social determinants of health and more.
Among the grant recipients is Phoenix-based Home Assist Health. The CVS Health Foundation has earmarked $2.1 million over three years between Home Assist Health, Valleywise Health and Advance.
“We are so grateful and honored,” Sara Wilson, president and CEO of Home Assist Health, told Home Health Care News. “It’s very humbling to have, what we see as these giants, wanting to partner with us, and recognizing the power that people have in improving the health and well-being of other people.”
Home Assist Health is a home-based care provider that provides a variety of care services, such as personal care, housekeeping and respite care.
The company has been working closely with Valleywise Health for the past few years, as part of a food pharmacy project that was partially funded by CVS. The project helped individuals who had an uncontrolled diabetic status, and who experienced food insecurity, get access to healthy diabetic compliant foods.
Last year, when Valleywise Health pursued the CVS grant, the health system invited Home Assist Health to be one of its partners for this endeavor.
“[Valleywise Health] invited us to be one of the partners to help focus on those social determinants of health, and put in place interventions from the home environment, and provide health coaching, education and navigation,” Wilson said.
The grant funding will go toward driving integrated diabetes management services. This includes things like home care and monitoring, as well as medically tailored food boxes and educational resources.
In other words, the funds allow the company to further build on the work it has been doing in this area. It will also empower individuals to take their health into their own hands, Wilson noted.
“At the end of the day, that patient we’re there to support is doing the work,” she said. “We’re not doing it for them. We’re giving them the information, the resources, the education, the accountability, so that they’re successful in their own health independence.”
As part of the collaboration, eligible patients that are referred to Home Assist Health through CVS Health Zone and Valleywise Health will receive a home visit from the company’s care staff. These patients will receive culturally aligned education and coaching, according to Wilson.
“For instance, if they’re primarily Spanish speaking, we’ll use their language and then we work with them to improve their health independence,” she said. “When we’ve done this in the past, we’ve seen their emergency department visits drop. They’re making proper use of their primary care doctors and specialty appointments. We reduce avoidable admissions, as well as readmissions, and then we see pretty consistent improvements in their health vitals labs and overall quality of life.”
Overall, Wilson believes that the awarded grant speaks to CVS’ enthusiasm when it comes to care in the home.
“What I understand is that CVS was very excited about the opportunity of bringing in a home care partner, where we can actually help address these issues from the home space,” she said. “That was something they were excited about doing here in Arizona. For us, it’s a wonderful opportunity to really demonstrate, with the spotlight of CVS, the power that home care has. There’s not been as much attention on how home care has these very real positive impacts on individual health and well-being.”
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