Lincoln Community Health Center Receives Major Blue Cross Blue Shield Of N.C. Foundation Grant

Durham, NC Through the generosity of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation, Lincoln Community Health Center has received a 3-year grant of $467,000 for a project titled “Addressing the Social Determinants of Health in a Community Health Center.”

Under the project, Lincoln will study how social determinants of health affect patients treated in the community health center environment. Social determinants which may affect health outcomes include economic stability, education, neighborhood and the built environment, food instability, social isolation, racial or cultural bias, and transportation. Lincoln will voluntarily ask patients questions using established data collection surveys, and evaluate if patients can achieve better health outcomes when social determinants are addressed in their treatment plans. Assisting Lincoln will be Reinvestment Partners and The Duke Center for Research on Personalized Health Care.

“We are very excited to be at the forefront of this important health challenge, and look forward to sharing what we learn with the broader healthcare community,” according to Howard Eisenson, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Principle Investigator.

About Lincoln Community Health Center, Inc.

Lincoln Community Health Center was founded in 1971 and is a private, non-profit organization that operates under the oversight of the Bureau of Primary Care, of the federal Health Resources Services Administration. Lincoln sees 32,000 unique patients a year in Durham County, the majority of whom are low income and under- or uninsured. Lincoln is accredited and certified as a Primary Care Medical Home by The Joint Commission and offers a wide range of services including pediatrics, adolescent health, adult and family medicine, dental, and behavioral health.

About the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation is an independent, charitable foundation with the mission of improving the health and well-being of North Carolinians. Since its founding in 2000, The Foundation has invested $122 million in North Carolina communities through more than 960 grants. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

For more info, visit http://lincolnchc.org/