Philadelphia, PA – Array Advisors is providing strategic planning, targeting, and launch support to the Maryland Department of Health (DOH)’s Vulnerable Populations Taskforce. Serving more than 100 high-risk individuals each day, seven days per week, the Taskforce provides screening and testing to the homeless, elderly and those with limited healthcare access – helping to mitigate racially disparate COVID-19 outcomes in Maryland.
“We are proud to help manage and target public resources in areas of great need,” Array Advisors’ Strategic Planning VP Neil Carpenter said. “As the nation shifts from only testing those who are symptomatic to a mass testing model, managing the complex stakeholder involvement involved with that shift – and specifically coordinating the testing of vulnerable populations – will be vital to stopping the spread.”
Fueled by a series of public private partnerships, the data-driven approach and implementation of the effort is a collaboration between Array Advisors, the Maryland DOH, LifeBridge Health, Socially Determined, and Ready Responders.
“The disproportionate impact of this pandemic in vulnerable populations is clear,” said Dr. Susan Mani, Chief Population Health Officer at Lifebridge Health and the Vulnerable Populations Taskforce Lead. “By bringing private and public groups together through this TaskForce, we have been able to increase testing and access to healthcare resources for some of our most vulnerable in the state and help meet a critical need. We take a similar cross sector partnership approach at LifeBridge to address our communities health needs, so it’s been incredible to see it work at a state wide level.”
The taskforce uses data-informed analytics to engage residents and staff in select congregate housing. Partnered with Ready Responders, Array Advisors has helped launched nearly two dozen testing and manage-in-place teams staffed with medical personnel who provide clinical assessments and on-site testing. Social workers also assess resident social needs including food, financial assistance and temporary housing, in addition to providing educational resources about COVID-19.
“Our approach allows us not only to address the immediate testing and clinical aspects of this pandemic, but also to address some of the other critical determinants that adversely affect COVID-19 outcomes,” said taskforce leader Dr. Howard Haft. “This work is key to ensuring healthier outcomes among our neighbors and communities who really need more support.”
After the team’s first full week of operations, over 1,000 high risk individuals have been screened and nearly 500 have been tested at dozens of sites within Baltimore County, Baltimore City and Montgomery County, MD, in the past few days—with thousands of visits scheduled in the coming weeks.
“As a recent graduate, I’ve just begun my work as a healthcare consultant,” said Anushka Choudhary, a Strategic Planner at Array Advisors. “I am proud to be making such an impact on community health while helping to blunt racial disparities in healthcare outcomes in Maryland.”
For more information about COVID-19 in Maryland, visit coronavirus.maryland.gov.
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The healthcare industry needs innovative solutions to battle the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic. Array Advisors, Array Analytics, and Array Architects will continue to provide ideas, design, and data-informed tools to help support their clients on the front lines of caring for our nation. For more tools from Array, visit our COVID-19 Resource Hub.
Media Contact:
Craig Meaney
Communications Manager
610-755-6488
@ArrayArch
cmeaney@array-architects.com
