UCSF Promotes Trauma-Based Primary Care Model; California Receives Significant Grants To Build Community Health Centers
UCSF Promotes Trauma-Based Primary Care Model
Researchers at the University of California at San Francisco have recommended in a new white paper that primary care providers take a patient’s childhood and adult traumas into account as part of their clinical approach.
The researchers cited data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) concluded that a quarter of women and 16% of men reported childhood sexual abuse, and that a third of adult women experienced stalking, rape or other traumas. Such traumas also correlate to fairly common illnesses, according to the CDC.
“In our clinic where we treat women with HIV, we are able to deliver lifesaving anti-HIV medications, but we still lose patients far too often,” said the paper’s lead author, Edward L. Machtinger, M.D., director of the Women's HIV program at UCSF. “Looking back over the last ten years, only 16% of our patient deaths were due to HIV/AIDS. Most deaths were due to events such as depression, suicide, murder, drug overdoses and lung diseases that are directly related to adult and childhood experiences of trauma. We also realized that trauma is having a devastating impact on the health of a broad spectrum of the U.S. population, regardless of someone’s HIV status. We need a new model of care that addresses this key social determinate of health.”
Under the proposed model, primary care providers would inquire specific patients about their traumas, provide them literature about the trauma-health link, and develop specific programs to address their issues.
California Receives Significant Grants To Build Community Health Centers
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has announced $101 million in grants to build community health centers. California participated significantly in the largesse, receiving more than $14 million.
“The Affordable Care Act has led to unprecedented increases in access to health insurance. Part of building on that progress is connecting people to the care they need,” said HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell. “Health centers are keystones of the communities they serve. Today’s awards will enable more individuals and families to have access to the affordable, quality health care that health centers provide. That includes the preventive and primary care services that will keep them healthy.”
Altogether, the money will be used to open up 164 new health center sites in 33 states. They will serve approximately 650,000 patients. To date, the ACA has helped fund the construction of more than 500 community health centers nationwide.
The sum for California is earmarked to 23 different not-for-profit groups to open up facilities that would serve nearly 118,000 new patients.
The biggest grant recipient is the JWCH Institute, which currently operates a half-dozen clinics in the Los Angeles area. It received $1.08 million.
The North County Health Project in San Marcos in northeast San Diego County received more than $983,000. The 21 other grantees received sums ranging from $379,167 to $704,167.
