When a Medical Diagnosis is Complex, A Navigator Who Looks Like the Patient Can Make All the Difference

Northern Maine is home to some of America's poorest - but it ranks high on national measures of health. Hospital programs visit more patients in their homes where they can be more comfortable and receive everything they need, which in turn reduces medical costs.

*Medical research has done wonders to rid populations of diseases; however, the U.S. health care system has failed to appropriate the right resources to Medicare patients with one or more chronic conditions. Health Quality Partners in Doylstown, PA enrolls Medicare patients with at least one chronic illness and hospitalization and sends a trained nurse to see them on a routine basis, whether they are healthy or sick. As a result, the HQP program has reduced hospitalizations and cut Medicare costs.

Doctors at Stanford University developed per-patient and per-month payment plans to better support patients with complex medical needs. The approach upends the typical per-service payment model. It has radically improved primary care by incentivizing healthcare providers to offer more comprehensive support.

Across the country, hospitals are embracing intensive intervention programs to help victims of violence — including those who have criminal histories — after they have been brought in for treatment of injuries. Such programs can help prevent retaliation, reduce the chance a patient will be violently injured again, and put people on track for success.

Harm reduction is a quickly growing practices that aims to reduce drug-related deaths and the spread of disease often caused by dirty needles. Although public perception is still widely negative, the industry has seen success by using the act of offering clean needles as a first point of contact to offer other health and medical services.

Botswanans have deprioritized deeply held tribal identities, created a national identity, and found societal stability by using the practice of randomly assigning civil servants to different parts of the country. Sending the over 120,000 civil servants to work away from friends and family, immersed in a new culture, has led to intercultural exchanges, new friendships, and even many marriages that resulted in children whose parents belong to different tribes. Increasing contact across tribal groups led to thousands of new personal relationships, which reduced prejudices and created a shared national culture.

“UNDSCVRD SF," funded by the SOMA Community Stabilization Fund and produced by the nonprofit Kultivate Labs, is a night market held once a month from July to November that features a range of Filipino vendors. There were over 35,000 attendees in 2019 and it generated $300,000 in sales. It also serves as a testing ground to select businesses for Kultivate Labs’ SEED Accelerator Program and grantees for the SOMA Fund. The former provides bootcamps and one-on-one support for Filipino-owned businesses that are located in, or would like to be located in, a permanent space within the SOMA cultural district.

Milan’s tampone sospeso or “suspended test” initiative provides rapid COVID-19 tests to stop the spread of the virus. The initiative sets up in highly visible public areas of Milan and is based on a model of mutual support where everyone pays what they can. It is run with the help of over 50 volunteers and Medicina Solidale, a group of medical professionals who provide free medical advice to those who can’t afford to access care. The project has raised 24,000 euros from 436 donors, which has enabled them to administer rapid antigenic swabs to more than 3000 people.

El Recovery Institute of Southwest Michigan, Inc., usa un método que se llama apoyo entre pares (emparejando personas con experiencias similares) para ayudar el proceso de recuperación. El Recovery Institute ofrece grupos, clases, reuniones individuales y reuniones sociales, y su también participan en actividades de divulgación en la comunidad. En los últimos años, el Recovery Institute ha atendido a miles de personas.

Mexico's Pilot Program for Licensed Physicians brings Mexican doctors to the states to address the lack of culturally relevant healthcare and Spanish-speaking healthcare providers, particularly in rural areas with large immigrant populations. Currently, the program has 30 Mexican doctors working in various counties throughout the state.