KOMEN SUCCESS HIGHLIGHTED AT OCTOBER GALA
The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure will host the Honoring the Promise Gala on October 16, 2010 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In telling the Komen story, producers are looking at the promise made 30 years ago to find a cure, outlining scientific advancements and grant outcomes across the nation in a 90-minute film.  The PCC is proud to be a part of that story, and PCC Associate Director for Health Improvement,.Raquel Samson is featured in the film, describing how three Komen grants have impacted breast health care in Montgomery Cares patients.
Through process improvement activities, PCC has demonstrated a threefold increase in the breast cancer screening rate, doubled the mammography availability to 3,000 per year, while rerducing the time from referral to scan from 100 to an average of 30 days. Since January 2008, PCC process improvement activities have uncovered 16 cases of breast cancer that would otherwise have gone undetected.
Komen Grant
PCC has been awarded a $1 million grant from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation to improve breast health for low-income women throughout the national capital area.
The first of its kind, this grant will spread what we’ve learned about improving breast health in Montgomery County to our surrounding jurisdictions in the National Capital area. The long-term goal of this regional initiative is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of breast cancer screening, referral, and follow-up so that jurisdictions and clinics can be better positioned to provide 100 percent of low-income women residents ≥ 40 with access to breast health care.  To accomplish this goal, the project will use the process improvement model developed by the Primary Care Coalition of Montgomery County (PCC).
The PCC model is anchored in community-based primary clinics which provide a medical home for the women and are part of an established clinic network. It has five critical elements:
• Culturally and linguistically appropriate patient navigation/coordination services;
• A standardized and integrated referral and care coordination system between primary care providers and mammography providers;
• The capacity for data collection and monitoring at the patient level to help ensure continuity of care;
• On-going learning systems using the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Model of Improvement to enable the monitoring of overall screening and referral rates and the time it takes to get from referral to screening, to diagnosis, and treatment, as well as the identification and resolution of systemic problems and successes; and
• A jurisdiction-wide breast cancer workgroup that brings together organizations in the community that provide breast health care services to low-income, uninsured women in a specific city, county or region.  The workgroup meets on a regular basis to advocate for the elimination of health disparities in breast cancer through community outreach, education, screening and access to care.
By the end of the three-year project period, it is expected that the critical elements of the PCC model will be in place with partners in one or two other jurisdiction(s) in the National Capital Area (NCA)—e.g. the District of Columbia, Prince George’s County in Maryland, or Alexandria City, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, or Prince William counties in Virginia. In addition to the regional clinic organizations, the PCC will work with the Regional Primary Care Coalition; the Institute for Healthcare Improvement; and Mosaica, the Center for Nonprofit Development and Pluralism.
The PCC is eager to collaborate with neighboring jurisdictions and organizations so that additional women who would otherwise not be able to afford them, will have access to high-quality breast health services. For additional information, please contact Raquel Samson, Associate Director of PCC’s Center for Health Improvement, 301.628.3408, raquel_samson@primarycarecoalition.org.