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GREATER
BADEN MEDICAL SERVICES RECEIVES $45,000 GRANT
FROM THE BAXTER INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION
Grant Will Make
Preventive Health Care More Accessible To Medically Indigent People through
Group Patient Visit
BRANDYWINE, Md., October
18, 2002 - The Baxter International Foundation, the philanthropic arm
of Baxter International Inc., has awarded a $45,000 grant to Greater Baden
Medical Services, Inc. (GBMS), a community health center that provides
affordable primary health care at four clinics in Southern Maryland. GBMS
will hire a health educator at its Walker Mill Health Center in Capitol
Heights to provide one-on-one patient instruction, offer health education
at homeless shelters and launch a program of group patient visits targeted
to people with chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, congestive
heart failure and HIV. The group patient visit - which includes social
support, health education and a physician visit - is a new concept being
leveraged at clinics nationwide that has been shown to improve outcomes
while containing costs.
The group patient
visit has been recommended by the Institute of Medicine as an effective
way to care for large numbers of chronically ill poor patients. It promises
to be a good fit at the Walker Mill Health Center where a poor and underserved
patient population has been growing dramatically. GBMS opened the Walker
Mill Health Center in 1999 after observing that a large number of patients
were traveling from inside the Washington D.C. Beltway all the way to
GBMS' rural Brandywine clinic to receive health care. Many were unable
to return for continuing care because of the distance. The Walker Mill
center reached capacity in its first year and is now at capacity again.
Last year, the center served 2,214 patients. In addition, 559 homeless
people received outreach services, and 130 of those obtained primary care
at Walker Mill.
More than 90 percent
of the clients at Walker Mill are uninsured and almost all have incomes
less than 200 percent below the federal poverty limit.
"Many of the
new patients we see have had no access to health care for many years,
except for emergency room services, and most have chronic diseases that
have been left untreated," said Sarah Leonhard, M.D., executive director,
GBMS.
The group patient
visit model to be used at Walker Mill was first developed in the 1990s
at the Cooperative Health Care Clinic at The Kaiser Permanente Medical
Group in Colorado. Their evidence from a randomized trial of group outpatient
visits for chronically ill elderly people showed that the visits decreased
use of emergency departments by 30 percent, decreased hospital admissions
by 20 percent, increased patient satisfaction and reduced cost of care.
The group patient
visit includes group time for socialization, health education on disease
processes and self-management, and a private physician visit. During group
time, patients share personal experiences, discuss coping strategies and
give each other emotional support.
"The basic goal
is to get more patient self involvement and responsibility for their care.
It changes the paradigm from the physician being the only source of information
to patients supporting and learning from each other coping skills and
healthy behaviors," Leonhard said. "In addition, the group visits
maximize specialist physician time. For example, a group of diabetic patients
could all see a podiatrist on the same day."
Over the long term,
group visits may offer greater cost efficiencies as patients suffer fewer
complications from their diseases and spend less time in emergency departments
or in hospitals. "A little better control, especially with diabetes,
makes a big difference in long-term outcomes," said Leonhard.
"We are pleased
to support a position for a health educator at Greater Baden Medical Services.
The Greater Baden Medical Services' program of group patient visits promises
to improve access to preventive health care while at the same time leveraging
limited funds. It will benefit the entire community by taking costs out
of the health system when diseases are better managed," said Patricia
Morgan, executive director, The Baxter International Foundation. Last
year, the foundation supported a similar initiative to launch group patient
visits at Clinica Campesina Family Health Services in Lafayette, Colorado.
Greater Baden Medical
Services was created in 1972 by a community coalition as a part-time clinic
to serving the primary health needs of people in the rural southeastern
Prince George's County. Today GBMS provides comprehensive primary care
at four clinics in Southern Maryland: the original clinic in Brandywine,
a part-time clinic at the St. Mary's County Health Department in Leonard
Town, the Nanjemoy Health Center and the Walker Mill Health Center in
Capitol Heights. GBMS became a Federally Qualified Health Center in 1994
and was accredited in 2002 by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of
Healthcare Organizations. Last year, GBMS provided services to a total
of 6,118 patients who had no other source for health care.
As the philanthropic
arm of Baxter International Inc., the Baxter International Foundation
helps to increase access to health care in the United States and other
countries. In 2001, foundation grants totaling $4.8 million improved access
to care for children, the uninsured and the elderly, helped prevent child
abuse and neglect, promoted health education, expanded education opportunities
for health-care providers, and helped victims of global disasters.
Baxter International
Inc. is a global medical products and services company that, through its
subsidiaries, provides critical therapies for people with life-threatening
conditions. Baxter employs more than 600 people in Maryland at its facilities
in Beltsville and Columbia.
For information about
volunteering at Greater Baden Medical Services, call (301) 599-0460.
FOR ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION:
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- Media Contacts:
- Tanya Tyska, Baxter, 847-948-3256
Sarah Leonhard, Greater Baden, 301-599-0460
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