Reflecting on provider innovations and impact as COVID-19 Test to Treat Equity Grant program wraps up
July 7,
2023By Physicians for a Healthy California Test to Treat
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) contracted with Physicians for a Healthy California (PHC) to administer the COVID-19 Test to Treat Equity Grant program in July 2022, with the goal of more expeditiously connecting patients who test positive for COVID-19 with therapeutic treatments. Approximately $67 million was awarded to 175 safety-net providers and public health systems to improve COVID-19 testing and treatment in underserved communities across 45 counties.
PHC has supported CDPH through support services and resource sharing throughout the grant. In June 2023, PHC hosted its final COVID-19 Test to Treat Equity Grant office hours, where grantees joined to ask questions of PHC or CDPH about grant-related items, hear and learn from other grantees’ success stories, and receive information and updates on COVID-19 therapeutics.
Most recently, a grantee from Santa Clara County shared the innovative ways they improved patient access points, including creating a comprehensive pharmacy call center where patients can call in for an evaluation consultation, receive a prescription for therapeutics over the phone, and determine the best pick-up or delivery option. The pharmacist also follows up five days after the prescription is received to check if they completed the therapeutic regime and if they feel better.
The COVID-19 Test to Treat Equity Grant closes July 2023. Through the final report, grantees will be reporting the impact of grant funding on their organizations and communities. This will include the number of patients seen, number of therapeutics prescribed, improvements to electronic health records systems and data capabilities, test to treat services implemented, how equitable access was expanded, the successes of the grant, and how the activities implemented or improved upon through this grant will be sustained for future public health emergencies. PHC will continue to share resources to support sustainability of test to treat systems and workflows until the end of the grant program.