FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  October 19, 2009

Contact:
Danielle Maggio
703.707.8890

Aaron E. Henry Community Health Services in Partnership with Altruista Health, Inc Receives Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grant to Evaluate Interventions Aimed at Reducing Racial and Ethnic Gaps in Health Care

Demonstrated Ability to Develop and Test Interventions Key to Aaron E. Henry and Altruista Health’s Award; Six Other Organizations from Around the Country Receiving Similar Funding

Clarksdale, MS — Aaron E. Henry Community Health Services, Inc in Clarksdale, MS, in partnership with Altruista Health, Inc., a Reston, Virginia-based care management technology and analytics company is receiving a two-year, $175,000 grant from Finding Answers: Disparities Research for Change, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) at the University of Chicago that evaluates interventions aimed at eliminating racial and ethnic health care disparities in local communities. Six other organizations from around the country will receive similar grants. The final seven grantees were selected from a pool of 111 proposals and join 21 other sites awarded funding since December 2006.

“We are pleased to join the Foundation and its Finding Answers program in working to eliminate disparities in the U.S. health care system,” said Dr. William Booker, Medical Director at Aaron E. Henry and a project co-investigator. “The funds from this grant will help Aaron E. Henry and Altruista Health learn whether our interventions are effective in equalizing care for our patients served throughout the Mississippi Delta.”

The Finding Answers/RWJF grant will allow Aaron E. Henry Community Health, Inc to evaluate its current efforts to improve the care of minority patients suffering from diabetes and hypertension, diseases where evidence of racial and ethnic disparities in care is strong and the recommended standard of care is clear. “The cornerstone of the program is a technology-driven care management and support model where patients are given incentives for achieving key health goals, said Dr. Ashish Abraham, project co-investigator and CEO at Altruista Health.

“These grantees will work with the health care community to identify successful approaches to reducing racial and ethnic disparities in health care,” said Marshall H. Chin, M.D., M.P.H., professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, Department of Medicine and the Center for Health and the Social Sciences, as well as the director of the Finding Answers program. “The interventions being evaluated as part of this program have been selected for their potential to be replicated and sustained in communities throughout the United States.”

The results of this research will help RWJF understand what works—or does not work—to improve health care for minority patients. The information the Aaron E. Henry-Altruista Health partnership and the other 27 grantees provide to Finding Answers will include guidance for implementing tested interventions, including potential obstacles and solutions, start-up and maintenance costs for the intervention, and staff training needs. Finding Answers will evaluate the results and related information and then inform health care stakeholders—doctors, nurses, hospitals and health plans—about interventions that demonstrate potential to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in health care.

The majority of the proposals submitted to Finding Answers/RWJF included interventions involving health care policy, health care organizations, providers, patients and direct community linkages to the health care system. All were evaluated and selected based on the following factors: strength of the intervention, demographics of the institution, institutional commitment to addressing disparities in health care and improving quality of care overall, data collection capacity, and the scientific quality of the proposed research project.

The six other third round grant recipients are:

· Boston Medical Center, Massachusetts

· Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts

· CIGNA HealthCare, Georgia

· Denver Health and Hospitals Foundation, Colorado

· Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts

· The Fund for Public Health in New York, New York

To learn more about Aaron E. Henry Community Health Services, Inc, visit www.aehcommunity health.org.

Altruista Health, Inc. is a leading provider of highly patient-centric and customizable total population care management technology and data analytic services used to streamline clinical and administrative processes, improve patient outcomes and reduce avoidable healthcare costs. Clients include commercial and government health payers, health systems and employers. To find out more about Altruista Health, visit www.altruistahealth.com

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 35 years, the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.