Identifying & Addressing Barriers to Health

From addressing hunger and improving maternal health to helping keep individuals insured, Ascension is showing up for those who need it the most.

Finding help just got easier

Neighborhood Resource is a free and easy-to-use website, offered by Ascension, that connects people in need to community organizations that offer free and reduced cost services, through a simple zip code search.

Driving change through data

Like most health systems, Ascension uses the Community Health Needs Assessments to understand the unique health concerns of each community we serve.

We’ve taken our work a step further, collaborating with data partners to deliver data at the system and market levels through utilization dashboards in addition to health equity reports for key quality measures such as diabetes, maternal health and cancer screenings. These dashboards and reports share data such as geographic variation and social risks at the clinic, patient and community levels to identify opportunities where we can make the biggest impact to bridge gaps in care.

Developing initiatives to address specific barriers within our ministries

Below are a few of many ways we’re showing up for those who need us most.

Addressing food insecurity
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 12.8 percent (17.0 million) of U.S. households were food insecure at some time during 2022. These households were uncertain of having or unable to acquire enough food to meet the needs of all their family members because they had insufficient money or other resources for food.

Ascension responded to the need for access to healthy food options by setting up fresh produce markets in several hospitals. Ascension also partnered to launch a pilot meal reclamation program at Ascension Highlands Lakes Hospital. The program uses extra food that would otherwise be sent to local farmers for feed to create frozen meals for vulnerable patients.

The Ascension Texas Council on Racial and Health Equity established a Food is the Best Medicine program in response to the alarming rate of maternal deaths in Central Texas and the high rate of severe maternal morbidity cases, both of which are exacerbated by the barriers to healthy food access experienced by minority populations.

Improving maternal health outcomes
Community Impact is improving health outcomes for at-risk moms and babies by improving attendance at prenatal and postpartum visits and working to enhance patient experience and access to resources.

For example, Ascension DePaul Services in San Antonio offers a program called Realizing and Achieving Your Success (RAYS) to provide material assistance, counseling, classes and guidance for Medicaid-eligible families with children under 36 months of age. It also helps moms during their pregnancy.

Click here to read an in depth article about our maternal health efforts.

Creating access to care
Creating greater equitable access to care for those who are experiencing poverty and vulnerability is who we are as a ministry. Some examples of this work include:

  • Connecting thousands of individuals within our communities to appropriate services including primary care and resources.
  • Holding free screening events with same-day results and follow-up referrals.
  • Holding events for children with disabilities to engage in sports and other physical activities.
  • Helping more than 14,000 people overcome barriers to care through full-time health advocates.
  • Making investments and providing resources that generate a beneficial and sustainable social and/or environmental impact.

Making medications affordable
For many people, high drug prices force difficult decisions between adherence to medications and paying for other necessities, like housing or food. We are partnering to make medications available to those people who need them the most.

Through innovative stewardship of the pharmaceutical supply chain, Dispensary of Hope collects and distributes millions of dollars of pharmaceuticals annually to pharmacies and safety-net clinics to dispense to low income, chronically ill patients. People who qualify for eligibility receive Dispensary of Hope medication free of charge. Pharmacies and clinics nationwide can utilize Dispensary of Hope medication to impact the health of their communities by improving access to medication.

The 340B drug pricing program was created to meet a congressional objective to “stretch scarce federal resources as far as possible, reaching more eligible patients and providing more comprehensive services.” It is a vital tool to provide care to those in need by mitigating the immediate and long-term impacts of high and rising drug prices and helps us carry out our Mission of providing compassionate, personalized care to all, with special attention to those most vulnerable.

Working to keep patients insured
Since the end of Medicaid’s continuous enrollment policies on April 30, 2023, as many as 15-16 million Medicaid enrollees across the country were at risk of losing coverage. Many were unaware of their disenrollment.

Ascension launched an awareness campaign to educate patient-facing associates about nationwide efforts to help Medicaid patients re-enroll for coverage. At the end of 2023, over 300,000 Ascension Medicaid patients had been directly reached through email, text and phone calls.