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The Wright Center for Community Health, project partners join initiative to integrate social care into health care delivery
The Wright Center for Community Health joined a national collaborative focused on addressing patients’ social needs alongside their medical treatment.
Dr. Manju Thomas, deputy chief medical officer at The Wright Center and medical director of pediatrics and school- and community-based medical home services
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), a globally recognized nonprofit health care improvement organization that applies evidence-based quality improvement methods to meet current and future health care challenges, recently welcomed The Wright Center and project partners Children’s Advocacy Center, Friendship House, Lackawanna College, and Marley’s Mission into its Collective Action Collaborative. IHI’s collective brings together clinicians, data experts, community health workers, advocates, and patients to improve health care.
The Wright Center applied to join the collaborative to support its efforts to enhance the effectiveness of patient and community resource screenings, in conjunction with the early identification of potential health issues in patients under 21. The resource screening identifies needs for essential supports such as food, housing, and more. The project team, led by Dr. Manju Thomas, deputy chief medical officer at The Wright Center and medical director of pediatrics and school- and community-based medical home services, will include cross-departmental staff and representatives from partnering organizations.
The Wright Center’s growing network of community health centers in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wayne, and Wyoming counties provides affordable, high-quality, whole-person primary health services to everyone, regardless of insurance status, ZIP code, or ability to pay. Patients typically have the convenience of going to a single location to access integrated medical, dental, and behavioral health care, making it easier to identify and address health concerns before they become serious.
Additionally, The Wright Center employs community health workers, who help connect patients to community resources to address basic needs so they can focus on their health and wellness.
“We have been working to identify ways to develop and improve our health services to better address the needs of our patients,” Dr. Thomas said. “Our acceptance into the collaborative reflects our ongoing efforts to advance an integrated care model that bridges health and social needs.”
The Collective Action Collaborative will kick off with a virtual session on Aug. 19-20. Since 1995, IHI has sponsored over 50 collaborative projects on several dozen topics involving over 2,000 teams from 1,000 health care organizations.
