With $250K grant, Northern Light looks to improve Mainers' health care access

Northern Light Health, the state’s second-largest health care system, has received a $250,000 grant to improve access to care for Mainers whose environment and social conditions affect their well-being.

The grant from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and the Boston-based Institute for Healthcare Improvement will allow Northern Light to invest in screening and process development around "social determinants of health," according to a news release Tuesday. Social determinants of health are conditions in the places where people live, learn, work and play that affect a wide range of health outcomes.

“We need to not only screen for these conditions that impact the health of individuals. but also have a mechanism to connect people with the resources they need to support healthier lives and healthier communities,” said Navneet Marwaha, vice president and chief quality officer at Northern Light.

Northern Light is one of three recipients in the U.S. to receive the quality improvement grant award. The grant funding for the 15-month project became available at the beginning of September.

With this award, Northern Light will recruit four to six primary care practices to participate in quality improvement efforts to achieve SDOH screening rates of at least 70%. Among other goals, it will also implement a social care referral platform to connect patients who have health problems with community resources.

“The key to helping people improve their health is to have a robust screening and referral process and the technology to track and record the data so that we can continuously review and improve our processes,” said Carrie Arsenault, president of Northern Light Beacon Health.

Northern Light Health is a network of health care providers throughout Maine, including Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor and nine other hospitals. Headquartered in Brewer, the system operates a total of over 100 facilities and employs 12,000 people.