BALTIMORE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) firm, is awarding $500,000 in Empowering Well being grants to 4 community-based organizations in Maryland to increase entry to care and tackle the social determinants of well being for uninsured people and underserved communities.
In whole, UnitedHealthcare is donating $11 million in grants by means of its Empowering Well being program throughout 11 states. The grants will help people and households experiencing challenges from meals insecurity, social isolation and behavioral well being points, and assist native well being promotion and well being literacy efforts.
Grant recipients in Maryland embody:
- College of Maryland Faculty Psychological Well being Program throughout the College of Maryland Faculty of Drugs, Baltimore – $150,000 for clinicians and academics to pilot a Tier 2 prevention program for second by means of fifth grade school rooms in Baltimore Metropolis Title I Colleges which can be a part of the Faculty Psychological Well being Program.
- Neighborhood Design Middle, Baltimore and Prince George’s County – $140,000 to offer capacity-building and design companies to community-driven meals entry tasks at Pimlico Market & Café, Central Kenilworth Avenue Revitalization, and Capital Market, and to develop a toolkit for future meals tasks.
- American Coronary heart Affiliation, Montgomery County – $120,000 to work with the Main Care Coalition to handle hypertension by means of the Goal: BP program and tackle vitamin and meals insecurity by equipping, coaching and partnering with federally certified well being facilities together with CCI Well being Providers, Mary’s Middle and Muslim Group Middle Medical Clinic.
- On Our Personal of Maryland, Baltimore, Prince George’s County and Howard County – $90,000 to conduct facilitator coaching to begin and increase acknowledged, evidence-based peer assist applications equivalent to Entire Well being Motion Administration and Wellness Restoration Motion Plan, at 5 peer-run Wellness and Restoration Facilities.
“Social and financial components have a profound impression on reaching and sustaining good well being,” stated Joe Ochipinti, CEO, UnitedHealthcare Mid-Atlantic Area. “By way of our Empowering Well being grants and native outreach efforts from UnitedHealthcare, we’re working with native organizations within the state to offer Maryland residents with an interconnected system of medical and social companies that may produce higher well being outcomes and make the well being system work higher for everybody.”
In accordance with the American Journal of Preventive Drugs, roughly 80% of what influences an individual’s well being pertains to nonmedical points, equivalent to meals, housing, transportation and the monetary means to pay for primary every day wants. The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted further social and financial challenges that proceed to have an effect on wholesome behaviors and exacerbate well being disparities.
Greater than a 3rd of members screened by UnitedHealthcare for social-related wants expertise at the very least one social determinant of well being. UnitedHealthcare leverages the corporate’s information to determine well being disparities based on race, ethnicity, gender, geography and training degree.
Since launching its Empowering Well being dedication in 2018, UnitedHealthcare has now invested greater than $51 million in Empowering Well being grants reaching greater than 8 million folks by means of partnerships with community-based organizations in 30 states and the District of Columbia.
UnitedHealth Group, together with UnitedHealthcare and Optum, and its affiliated firms, is devoted to advancing well being fairness and constructing more healthy communities by supporting applications to enhance entry to care and tackle key determinants of well being. In Maryland this consists of greater than $6.3 million in contributions from 2019-2021 representing its companies, foundations and staff.
Moreover, UnitedHealth Group has invested greater than $800 million in inexpensive housing communities since 2011, partnered with meals banks and meal-delivery companies, and in 2019 joined with the American Medical Affiliation to standardize how social determinants of well being information is collected and used to create extra holistic care plans. In June, the United Well being Basis, the philanthropic basis of UnitedHealth Group, made a $100 million dedication over 10 years to advance well being fairness, furthering its efforts to remove well being disparities. This was the most important single philanthropic dedication ever made by the United Well being Basis.
About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is devoted to serving to folks stay more healthy lives and making the well being system work higher for everybody by simplifying the well being care expertise, assembly shopper well being and wellness wants, and sustaining trusted relationships with care suppliers. In the USA, UnitedHealthcare gives the complete spectrum of well being profit applications for people, employers, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts straight with greater than 1.5 million physicians and care professionals, and greater than 6,700 hospitals and different care services nationwide. The corporate additionally offers well being advantages and delivers care to folks by means of owned and operated well being care services in South America. UnitedHealthcare is among the companies of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified well being care firm. For extra data, go to UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or observe @UHC on Twitter.