A great example of the public health outreach that hospitals conduct with community partners was featured this week on GBH.

Mass General Brigham’s partnership with the local non-profit La Collaborative created Bridge to Health/Puenta a la Salud, through which people in Chelsea can get a combination of healthcare services, nutrition counseling, cooking classes, and help getting prescriptions.

In the story from reporter Mark Herz, Dr. Elsie Taveras, the chief community health and health equity officer for Mass General Brigham, says, “I know that in order to improve outcomes for a typical patient that lives in Chelsea that has hypertension or diabetes, I can titrate your medication and make sure that you are on the right medicines. But if that was all I did — and I didn’t pay attention or screen and identify that you are housing insecure, or you are food insecure, or you don’t have a refrigerator to refrigerate your medication, or you have difficulty paying for your medications, or trouble with transportation trying to get to your visits, or you are unemployed — then I have missed the opportunity to optimize your care.” Massachusetts hospitals expend more than $1 billion each year on such community benefits programs