Bank of America awarding $32,500 in grant funding to support homeownership programs of local Habitat chapters

September 29 2021 – Bank of America today announced a partnership with Indian River Habitat for Humanity, Habitat for Humanity of Martin County, and St. Lucie Habitat for Humanity to expand the reach of each organization’s affordable housing programs serving Treasure Coast residents.

The $32,500 invested by the bank will support each organization’s initiatives targeting different stages of the homeownership journey. Indian River Habitat for Humanity will use the grant to help replace or repair the roofs of least 12 Indian River County families as part of the organization’s Neighborhood Revitalization Program.

From left to right: Patsy Collins, Gary Grimsley, John P. Chandler, Paulette Coakley, Sa’Rae Stockton, St. Lucie Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Bob Calhoun, Antwan Jones, Tameshia Martin

Habitat for Humanity of Martin County’s grant will help fund the organization’s latest affordable housing neighborhood in Hobe Sound. Construction for the 18-home Pettway project is expected to begin in 2022 and will also be completed in partnership with the Martin County Community Redevelopment Agency and the Board of County Commissioners.

St. Lucie Habitat for Humanity is utilizing Bank of America’s funding to support construction and repairs costs for St. Lucie County homeowners who earn 80% or less of the area’s median income. By July 2022, St. Lucie Habitat plans to build nine new homes utilizing a land trust model, and perform 20 critical repairs.

For years, Bank of America has teamed up with Habitat for Humanity and its local Treasure Coast chapters as part of their shared mission to help members of the community achieve the dream of homeownership. With volunteer opportunities limited due to the current health crisis, charitable grants and fundraising efforts are critical for Habitat and other local non-profits to address issues such as affordable housing that are fundamental to economic mobility.

“We believe in empowering people to achieve the dream of homeownership because when more members of the community realize their financial goals, our neighborhoods are transformed and we grow as a region,” said Doug Sherman, President, Bank of America Treasure Coast. “Our partnership with Habitat for Humanity will increase access to affordable housing in areas of the Treasure Coast and create meaningful solutions for the long-term economic gaps many residents are facing.”

In addition to receiving a new home, Habitat for Humanity partner families attend classes that prepare them for homeownership and teach them valuable skills that help stabilize the neighborhoods in which they live. After classes are completed, Habitat continues to support those families with ongoing counseling.

To learn more and support these organizations and their efforts, visit https://www.irchabitat.org, https://www.habitatmartin.org and https://stluciehabitat.org.  

About Bank of America:

At Bank of America, we’re guided by a common purpose to help make financial lives better, through the power of every connection. We’re delivering on this through responsible growth with a focus on our environmental, social and governance (ESG) leadership. ESG is embedded across our eight lines of business and reflects how we help fuel the global economy, build trust and credibility, and represent a company that people want to work for, invest in and do business with. It’s demonstrated in the inclusive and supportive workplace we create for our employees, the responsible products and services we offer our clients, and the impact we make around the world in helping local economies thrive. An important part of this work is forming strong partnerships with nonprofits and advocacy groups, such as community, consumer and environmental organizations, to bring together our collective networks and expertise to achieve greater impact. Learn more at about.bankofamerica.com, and connect with us on Twitter (@BofA_News).

About St. Lucie Habitat for Humanity

Driven by the vision that everyone needs a decent place to live, St. Lucie Habitat for Humanity began in 1996 as an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International; a Christian housing organization and leading global nonprofit working in more than 70 countries. Families and individuals in need of a hand up partner with St. Lucie Habitat for Humanity to build or improve a place they can call home. To date, St. Lucie Habitat has built or rehabbed 82 homes and repaired 134 homes in St. Lucie County. Through financial support, volunteering, or adding a voice to support affordable housing, everyone can help families achieve the strength, stability, and self-reliance they need to build better lives for themselves. Through shelter, we empower. To learn more, visit StLucieHabitat.org.



Sept. 29, 2021 – Lee Health Solutions, a department of Lee Health, in partnership with many local community agencies and supported in part initially by a grant from the Southwest Florida Community Foundation, is offering “It’s All About You” – a research based Chronic Disease Self-Management program originally developed at Stanford University Patient Education Research Center.

The program is designed for people 18 years of age or older with chronic health conditions to help them learn ways to better manage their chronic conditions and the symptoms that often accompany chronic health conditions. 

The virtual workshop is 2 hours once a week for 6 weeks and it is FREE.  

Virtual workshops will be offered on:

Tuesdays beginning Oct. 26 from 9:30-11:30 a.m.

Thursdays beginning Oct. 28 from 1-3 p.m.

For more information or to register, please call 239-424-3121.

About Lee Health

Since the opening of the first hospital in 1916, Lee Health has been a health care leader in Southwest Florida, constantly evolving to meet the needs of the community. A non-profit, integrated health care services organization, Lee Health is committed to the well-being of every individual served, focused on healthy living and maintaining good health. Staffed by caring people, inspiring health, services are conveniently located throughout the community in four acute care hospitals, two specialty hospitals, outpatient centers, walk-in medical centers, primary care and specialty physician practices and other services across the continuum of care. Learn more at www.LeeHealth.org.



NAACOS Advocates for Additional Policies to Support ACOs’ Efforts 

The National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) today published a white paper that outlines several policy recommendations to better position ACOs to address health inequities and social determinants of health (SDOH). The paper and its recommendations are the result of a working group of leading ACOs across the country.

Alternative payment models that make providers accountable for patients’ total cost of care, such as ACOs, are incentivized to address patient needs so that long-term health is improved. During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has highlighted deeply embedded inequities in our healthcare system, ACOs have deployed several strategies to address those disparities, as the white paper points out. However, ACOs need additional tools, data, financial incentives, and resources to improve health equity and develop partnerships with community-based organizations (CBOs).

“ACOs are already beginning to do the work of addressing SDOH to improve quality and control costs for the patients they serve. However, they cannot be broadly effective or achieve desired outcomes without proper funding and support,” the report states. “The implementation of these recommendations will help to ensure that ACOs are equipped to effectively measure, track, and improve health equity in their work.”

Among the recommendations made are:

  • Providing ACOs with both grant money and adjusted benchmarks to support the work of addressing health equity. This includes providing financial support to expand social services and offering higher benchmarks, or CMS-set spending targets ACOs must meet to share savings with CMS, to benefit ACOs treating vulnerable populations.
  • Adopting the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation’s model that provides ACOs with upfront money to support ACO formation in rural areas to cover urban areas that meet the definition of a distressed community. The Community Health and Rural Transformation (CHART) Model was placed on hold and is expected to begin accepting applications in Spring 2022.
  • Providing additional flexibility with Medicare rules for ACOs to deliver supplemental benefits to patients to help address health equity. Some examples of supplemental benefits that may be offered include transportation support, food, pest control, indoor air quality equipment, structural home modifications, and others.
  • Ensuring quality reporting requirements are thoughtfully designed to further target quality improvement efforts for populations struggling with health inequities. Tying performance to all patients, as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is moving towards, incentivizes providers to avoid high-risk, traditionally underserved patients.
  • Improving ACOs’ access to data needed for care coordination. ACOs should have access to substance use disorder (SUD) claims data to providers practicing in ACOs to help support their work in population health management and SUD-focused initiatives.

“ACOs are already beginning to address negative SDOH and close health equity gaps, but they cannot be broadly effective or achieve their goals without proper funding and support,” said Clif Gaus, Sc.D., NAACOS president and CEO. “CMS and Congress should work through ACOs to improve inequities and address social determinants. The implementation of these recommendations will ensure that all ACOs are equipped to advance health equity in their work while improving quality of care and controlling costs.”

The paper is being published in conjunction with the NAACOS Fall 2021 Conference, and health equity is a focal point of several conference sessions.

About NAACOS. The National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) represents more than 12 million beneficiary lives through hundreds of organizations participating in population health-focused payment and delivery models in Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurance. Models include the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), Next Generation ACOs, and alternative payment models supported by a myriad of commercial health plans and Medicare Advantage. NAACOS is a member-led and member-owned nonprofit organization that works to improve quality of care, outcomes, and healthcare cost efficiency.



NAACOS Advocates for Additional Policies to Support ACOs’ Efforts 

The National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) today published a white paper that outlines several policy recommendations to better position ACOs to address health inequities and social determinants of health (SDOH). The paper and its recommendations are the result of a working group of leading ACOs across the country.

Alternative payment models that make providers accountable for patients’ total cost of care, such as ACOs, are incentivized to address patient needs so that long-term health is improved. During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has highlighted deeply embedded inequities in our healthcare system, ACOs have deployed several strategies to address those disparities, as the white paper points out. However, ACOs need additional tools, data, financial incentives, and resources to improve health equity and develop partnerships with community-based organizations (CBOs).

“ACOs are already beginning to do the work of addressing SDOH to improve quality and control costs for the patients they serve. However, they cannot be broadly effective or achieve desired outcomes without proper funding and support,” the report states. “The implementation of these recommendations will help to ensure that ACOs are equipped to effectively measure, track, and improve health equity in their work.”

Among the recommendations made are:

  • Providing ACOs with both grant money and adjusted benchmarks to support the work of addressing health equity. This includes providing financial support to expand social services and offering higher benchmarks, or CMS-set spending targets ACOs must meet to share savings with CMS, to benefit ACOs treating vulnerable populations.
  • Adopting the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation’s model that provides ACOs with upfront money to support ACO formation in rural areas to cover urban areas that meet the definition of a distressed community. The Community Health and Rural Transformation (CHART) Model was placed on hold and is expected to begin accepting applications in Spring 2022.
  • Providing additional flexibility with Medicare rules for ACOs to deliver supplemental benefits to patients to help address health equity. Some examples of supplemental benefits that may be offered include transportation support, food, pest control, indoor air quality equipment, structural home modifications, and others.
  • Ensuring quality reporting requirements are thoughtfully designed to further target quality improvement efforts for populations struggling with health inequities. Tying performance to all patients, as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is moving towards, incentivizes providers to avoid high-risk, traditionally underserved patients.
  • Improving ACOs’ access to data needed for care coordination. ACOs should have access to substance use disorder (SUD) claims data to providers practicing in ACOs to help support their work in population health management and SUD-focused initiatives.

“ACOs are already beginning to address negative SDOH and close health equity gaps, but they cannot be broadly effective or achieve their goals without proper funding and support,” said Clif Gaus, Sc.D., NAACOS president and CEO. “CMS and Congress should work through ACOs to improve inequities and address social determinants. The implementation of these recommendations will ensure that all ACOs are equipped to advance health equity in their work while improving quality of care and controlling costs.”

The paper is being published in conjunction with the NAACOS Fall 2021 Conference, and health equity is a focal point of several conference sessions.

About NAACOS. The National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) represents more than 12 million beneficiary lives through hundreds of organizations participating in population health-focused payment and delivery models in Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurance. Models include the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), Next Generation ACOs, and alternative payment models supported by a myriad of commercial health plans and Medicare Advantage. NAACOS is a member-led and member-owned nonprofit organization that works to improve quality of care, outcomes, and healthcare cost efficiency.



Task Force Updates Focus, Seeks Public Policy Changes

The American Medical Association (AMA) released recommendations today as part of its new Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force that aims to promote evidence-based policy to help end the drug-related overdose and death epidemic.

The recommendations are focused on actions that physicians can take as well as public policy changes that would ease the epidemic. This includes broad efforts to remove barriers and improve access to evidence-based care for patients with pain, a substance use disorder (SUD) or mental illness, as well as to increase access to harm-reduction strategies. The new task force also will work to more directly address the changing drug overdose epidemic, focus on removing racial, gender, sexual orientation and other health-related inequities.

“Physicians must continue to lead by example to help our patients with pain, SUDs and mental illness,” said AMA Board Chair and Task Force Chair Bobby Mukkamala, M.D. “Removing barriers requires policymakers to join us in establishing a more effective and humane approach. Failure to adopt these policies will prolong the epidemic and our patients’ suffering.”

The new task force combines the AMA’s Opioid Task Force and Pain Care Task Force. The new name and recommendations reflect a broader approach to the problem.

“The name may have changed, but this task force continues the work of promoting policies that will improve outcomes and save lives. No single recommendation is a panacea, but taken as a whole, they would move our country in the right direction,” Dr. Mukkamala said.

Highlights of the recommendations include:

  • Support patients with pain, mental illness or SUD by building an evidence-based, sustainable and resilient infrastructure and health care workforce rather than continuing a crisis-driven approach that has led to multiple unintended negative consequences, including one-size-fits-all strategies, continued stigma and widespread gaps in data, evidence-based treatment, and prevention efforts.
  • Support coverage for, access to, and payment of comprehensive, multi-disciplinary, multi-modal evidence-based treatment for patients with pain, a substance use disorder or mental illness. Additionally, coverage, access and payment should directly address racial, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic and economic inequities as well as social determinants of health. This includes removing barriers to evidence-based treatment for SUDs, co-occurring mental illness and pain.
  • Broaden public health and harm reduction strategies to save lives from overdose, limit the spread of infectious disease, eliminate stigma and reduce harms for people who use drugs and other substances. This includes increased support for naloxone and sterile needle and syringe exchange services.
  • Improve stakeholder and multi-sector collaboration to ensure that the patients, policymakers, employers, and communities benefit from evidence-based decisions.

Member organizations in the AMA Substance Abuse and Pain Care Task Force include:

American Osteopathic Association

American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry

American Academy of Family Physicians

American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine

American Academy of Neurology

American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons

American Academy of Pain Medicine

American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

American Association of Neurological Surgeons and Congress of Neurological Surgeons

American College of Emergency Physicians

American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

American College of Physicians

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

American Psychiatric Association

American Society of Addiction Medicine

American Society of Anesthesiologists

American Society of Clinical Oncology

Arkansas Medical Society

California Medical Association

Maine Medical Association

Massachusetts Medical Society

Medical Society of the State of New York

New Mexico Medical Society

Ohio State Medical Association

Oregon Medical Association

Utah Medical Association