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Improving Access to Health Care for All
With its Partnership Advancing Equitable Access to Health and Wellbeing (PATHWell) Collaborative, Nova Southeastern University's Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine (NSU MD) and H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship are working to create a national model for studying, integrating, disseminating, and measuring the causes and impacts of health disparities in underserved communities. The Collaborative will work through community partnerships to raise public awareness of health inequities, as well as to develop, deliver, and evaluate community-based interventions that reduce health disparities.
This grant award, made possible through years of investment and planning, will enable NSU MD to improve health equity and outcomes for our most vulnerable populations, and will be among the most important initiatives that NSU MD leads, through its Department of Population Health Sciences.
Dr. Chad Perlyn, M.D., Ph.D., MBA | Interim Dean, NSU MD
Perform, disseminate, and measure the impact of research, discovery, innovation, education, and community health interventions/services that integrate SDOH and social needs into clinical care to eliminate health disparities, improve access to care, and achieve health for all, especially for vulnerable and marginalized populations.
Create a Health Foundation of South Florida (HFSF)/NSU Collaborative for Population Health Equity in order to:
- Engage and partner with communities in South Florida to address health disparities, with a focus on vulnerable, marginalized, disadvantaged populations.
- Develop, deliver, and evaluate community-based interventions that reduce those health disparities.
- Educate and train scholars and practitioners to mitigate health disparities.
- Advance changes in clinical and community practice and policy.
Advance changes in clinical and community practice and policy.
- Serve as a national model for studying, understanding, integrating, disseminating, and measuring the impact of how, when, and where social drivers of health influence transformational reforms related to access to care, quality of care, health and social needs, and thriving communities.
- Reduce poor health outcomes in children by reducing/eliminating health disparities in our region.
- Construct a Health Disparities Index and dashboard to support Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) changes to payment rules to improve health and patient access, enabling visualization and interactive monitoring the status of health disparities in South Florida.
- Develop and implement a delivery model for South Florida to reduce fragmentation of care that results in improvements in access to care for disadvantaged populations within the region.
- Create and deliver health professions educational and training programs that recognize the importance of health policy while training clinicians in cultural competency and social drivers of health.
NSU MD PATHWell Project Team
Tim Page, Ph.D.
Data, Modeling & Economics Analysis Lead
Peyton Buettner, B.A.
Project Coordinator
Zayd Dayeh
Social Media Specialist
If you have questions for the PATHWell project team, please contact Dr. William Hawks at william.hawks@nova.edu.
Areas of Interest
The Health Equity Index Dashboard was created in collaboration with several partners that can be used to support the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed changes to payment rules to improve health equity and patient access.
The index features many variables from countless sources to cover all social determinants of health and utilizes advanced data science methods, geospatial analytics, predictive analytics, and risk adjustment methods.
Other features include:
- Ability to zoom in to census tract or ZIP code level
- Integrate community-level and individual-level data across multiple data sources
- Query and integrate clinical and other patient assessment data, e.g.:
Index Dashboard Coming Soon
1. Jacko, J. A. & Sainfort, F. Achieving Health Equity. Population Health Management, 26(4), pp. 199–200, 2023. (need link)
The PATHWell Project is dedicated to forming equally beneficial and long-lasting partnerships in the community. Our current partners include:
- American College of Healthcare Executives
- Broward Health
- Deerfield Beach Community Cares
- Feeding South Florida
- Memorial Health System
- Miami Lighthouse for the Blind
- VIP Kidz Care
As part of the PATHWell grant’s commitment to its community, two advisory boards, the Community Advisory Board, and the Expert Advisory Board, have been established to maintain high community engagement.
The Community Advisory Board
The Community Advisory Board is established to support the Partnership Advancing Equitable Access to Health and Wellbeing (PATHWell) Collaborative funded by a grant from the Health Foundation of South Florida. The PATHWell Community Advisory Board serves as a bridge between the PATHWell project and the community we aim to serve, ensuring that initiatives are culturally competent, community-driven, and address the root causes of health disparities.
Expert Advisory Board
The Expert Advisory Board is established to support the Partnership Advancing Equitable Access to Health and Wellbeing (PATHWell) Collaborative funded by a grant from the Health Foundation of South Florida. The role of the PATHWell Expert Advisory Board is to provide feedback, guidance, expertise, and diverse perspectives to ensure the success of the program. Advisory board members represent a cross section of national expertise relevant to the program.
Access and download project materials and resources.