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Highlights
Goals & Measures
More Information
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Health Innovations
Boston Metro Innovations
  | | Promoting a culture of health | |
 | | | Contact Information | Codman Square Health and Education Center
637 Washington Street
Dorchester, MA 02124
(617) 825-9660
www.codman.org |
| | Innovation | | Treating the whole person and educating the community | | | Description | The Codman Square Health and Education Center is a community-based, outpatient health care and multi-service center. The Center does not simply provide clinical solutions, but instead uses a three pronged approach to promoting a culture of health. Traditional medical services are combined with an array of community services and public health services to address the social, emotional, and educational needs of a culturally and ethnically diverse community. Programs are designed to provide a supportive environment to encourage an overall well-being. A program exists for every person ranging from obese youth to business-interested teens to new parents. The Codman Square Health and Education Center teamed up with the Codman Academy in hopes of expanding their first-of-its-kind model - a charter school located within a community health center – into a new space designed to meet the strict environmental standards of LEED gold certification. - Staff and providers speak many languages including Armenian, Arabic, French, Haitian Creole, Spanish, Thai, and Vietnamese
- Free childcare is provided during parent’s appointments
- Some programs supported by the Codman Square Health and Education Center include: lifeguard training, swim team, social networking, adult education in humanities or computer technology, HIV and diabetes education and outreach
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| | Integrating education and gardening | |
 | | | Contact Information | Jane Hirschi, Director, CitySprouts
25 River Street, Cambridge, MA 02139
Email: jhirschi@citysprouts.org
Phone: 617.876.2436
www.citysprouts.org |
| | Innovation | | Schoolyard gardening in public schools | | | Description | CitySprouts creates learning gardens in schoolyards and supports teachers' use of the gardens as a direct extension of their classroom teaching. Moreover, CitySprouts is developing a truly comprehensive model for integrating nutrition awareness in public schools through a wide variety of partnerships—classroom teachers, the science department, the physical education department, as well as the school food service. The non-profit organization currently works with ten Cambridge Public Schools in order to support a summer internship program for fifty teens, a core curriculum with focus on nutrition and health, and after-school programming. - The CitySprouts program serves over 2,500 students enrolled in the Cambridge K-8 public schools and hundreds of children and adults through after-school and summer youth internship programs.
- Staff garden coordinators work 12 hours weekly in each school, April through November.
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| | Science and engineering recruited to improve patient care | |
| | Innovation | | Collaboration of medicine and technology to improve patient care | | | Description | | A non-profit consortium of Boston teaching hospitals and engineering schools, CIMIT fosters interdisciplinary collaboration among world-class experts in medicine, science, and engineering, in concert with industry and government, to rapidly improve patient care. CIMIT seeks solutions to unsolved clinical problems by integrating the solution-rich environment of engineering and science centers and the problem-rich environment of clinical stakeholders. Each year, CIMIT hosts a multi-day "Innovation Congress", grants awards to promising medical professionals, provides funding for research, and utilizes a team of "facilitators" to get novel medical ideas from paper to reality. |
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| | Fair insurance enforcement | |
 | | | Contact Information | MA Department of Revenue
617-887-MDOR
www.mass.gov |
| | Innovation | | A unique strategy to reduce uninsurance | | | Description | | In 2008 and 2009, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to implement and enforce an individual mandate on health insurance. Through coordination with the Department of Revenue, Massachusetts residents must submit proof of creditable health insurance coverage on their state tax returns, or face a penalty equal to the amount of their personal exemption. The system is specific in that it prorates the penalty based on the number of months uninsured, and is especially innovative in its efforts to ensure that the penalty does not disproportionately harm low-income community members. Residents with incomes under 150% of the federal poverty line are exempt from the tax penalty, and other residents may submit simple appeal forms. In a time when national health care reform is being seriously debated, experts and residents all over the country are looking to the examples set by Massachusetts Health Care Reform. |
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| | Innovation | | An integrated community-based approach to reducing obesity in school children | | | Description | The "Shape Up Somerville" program grew out of collaboration between the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and its neighboring community of Somerville, Massachusetts. Together, they set a precedent in community responsiveness to childhood obesity. A study published in the journal Obesity found that after the first year of the effort, Somerville children were leaner than those in the neighboring control communities. As stated in a cover story on The Wall Street Journal, "The Somerville study is believed to be the first controlled experiment demonstrating the value of a community wide effort." The obesity reduction program targets children in the first to third grades and includes an elaborate array of community-based "interventions" designed to challenge children and help make them more health aware. The interventions take place through partnerships that increase opportunities for physical activity and healthy eating - specifically fruits, vegetables, legumes, low-fat dairy and whole grain products and include: - School Food Service - educating children about fruits and vegetables, improving menus
- In-School Curriculum - incorporating "Healthy Eating and Active Time" (HEAT) into the curriculum
- After-School Curriculum - six after-school programs on nutrition including trips to an organic farm
- Parent/Community Outreach - newsletters and educational materials to parents, PTA, local media
- Restaurants - 20 restaurants in Somerville are now "Shape-Up Approved" by offering healthy menu options
- Walkability/Safe Routes to School - safer crossing points were designed, with more bike racks at schools
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| | Streamlining access to social and medical services | |
.jpg) | | | Contact Information | Executive Office of Health and Human Services
One Ashburton Place, 11th Floor
Boston, MA 02108
(617) 573-1600
www.mass.gov/vg |
| | Innovation | | Using an electronic outreach system to increase low-income families' access to social and medical services | | | Description | | In 2004, Massachusetts implemented a new website creating a one-stop portal for citizens seeking to tap into the state's complex network of social and medical services. The Massachusetts Virtual Gateway website helps to increase low-income families' access to social and medical services. The website screens for applicants' eligibility and steers them toward appropriate programs, allowing them to fill out a single application form for many services. Over 1,600 organizations use the Virtual Gateway to conduct business with the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. Some of the benefits from the website include decreased application time, improved case management, and reduced time to payment of contracted service providers. |
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National/International Innovations
| | Minimizing the complications of surgery | |
| | Innovation | | Simple verbal checklist reduces complications in hospitals worldwide | | | Description | | A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that the pre-surgery safety checklist developed by the World Health Organization is significantly effective in reducing complications, including death, during surgery. The safety checklists are designed to ensure that critical steps of each phase in surgery are completed before continuing. The study utilized data from hospitals in eight different countries and the strength of the results have led hundreds of health organizations and societies to push for rapid and widespread implementation. According to the WHO, every year, 7 million patients suffer complications following surgery, half of which are likely to be preventable. Before now, many operating rooms used safety checklists, but there was a lack of consistency and quality in the practice. |
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| | Encouraging better grocery stores in low-income communities | |
| | Innovation | | Zoning incentives for grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods | | | Description | | FRESH is a new program of the New York City Planning Board that utilizes zoning regulations to encourage the establishment of neighborhood full-line grocery stores in low-income and underserved communities. FRESH aims to counteract outdated restrictions and disincentives to constructing a grocery store in M1 districts - areas which may contain residences and often are located adjacent to residential zoning. M1 districts are a cheaper are significantly cheaper than alternative commercial districts where grocers must compete with lucrative retail stores. FRESH's actions will reduce parking requirements, allow greater floor space, and eliminate a costly public review process. According to a 2008 city government report, better grocery stores in poor neighborhoods have the potential to contribute to improved health, economic development, and overall quality of life. |
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| | Feedback on genetic traits, health, and ancestry | |
| | Innovation | | Full access to your genetic information | | | Description | 23andMe, a company founded in 2006, allows members to order a DNA testing kit online, and after spitting into a tube, send their sample to a lab that will give private feedback on genetic traits, health, and ancestry. The web-based tools through the company's website then provides forums for members to develop communities and discuss results, as well as participate in advancing genetic research through online surveys. The comprehensive DNA test includes analysis for the risk of 116 diseases and traits as well as your maternal and paternal ancestry. - 23andMe teamed up with the Parkinson's Institute and Michael J. Fox Foundation to enroll 10,000 patients with Parkinson's disease in genetic testing to support further research
- 23andMe launched a free forum for Moms and Moms-to-be to allow women to share and compare pregnancy experiences to get community support and provide research data
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| | Screening to reduce health care disparities | |
| | Innovation | | Black-owned barbershops as locale of diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk reduction | | | Description | The Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program addresses healthcare disparities and cardiovascular disease in African American men through creativity, innovation, and hard work. In barbershops, volunteers screen men for diabetes, check their blood pressure, and educate them about the risk of smoking and the health benefits of exercising and eating well. The program's goal this year is to hold screenings in 750 barbershops and reach 25,000 men in 50 cities. By spring 2009, the campaign had already hit New Orleans, Chicago, St. Louis, and Los Angeles. By screening African American men for both diabetes and hypertension in various barbershops around the country, the program has the potential to save lives and address health care disparities within these communities. |
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| | Increasing food security of 70 million | |
| | Innovation | | Agricultural innovation may prevent starvation | | | Description | | An international research team, led by scientists from California and the Philippines, recently succeeded in the use of precision breeding to create a species of rice that can withstand the floods that often contribute to food scarcity in developing nations. The researchers isolated a gene called 'Sub1' that is tolerant to elongated water submersion, without using genetic modification, so they will avoid some regulatory hurdles. The researchers anticipate the rice will be especially influential in India and Bangladesh, where they first tested the breeded plants. |
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| | Providing preventative and curative care | |
| | Innovation | | Patient-centered care technique a better use of resources | | | Description | | The Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) supports a revolution in American healthcare based on the success of "patient centric primary care" models, which create a "medical home" for patients. These models offer each patient a personal physician to improve access and effective care by developing an ongoing patient-physician relationship. The PCPCC also supports the implementation of a modernized method of medical record keeping to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and improve quality of care. In a medical home model, primary care clinicians help patients to choose specialists, review medical test results, and resolve conflicting advice. The patient centric model has been shown by multiple studies to increase preventative care, reduce hospital visits, prevent redundant testing, and cut overall costs. The goal is to provide a patient with a broad spectrum of care, both preventive and curative, all coordinated by a single primary care physician for long-term care. |
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| | Electronic prescriptions reduce costs and save time | |
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| | Innovation | | Simple technology enhances safety and reduces costs | | | Description | | CalPERS, the nation's largest public pension fund, launched a pilot program in 2009 to accelerate the use of electronic prescription of pharmaceuticals by providers in multiple health plans. The leaders of the initiative note that the use of automated data provides physicians with critical real-time safety information, and electronic transmission saves both time and money. The pilot will serve as a significant step in determining barriers and best practices for e-prescription; it is an important agenda item for expansion to wider populations according to both California's Governor Schwarzenegger and US President Obama. |
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| | No trans fats in the Big Apple | |
| | Innovation | | First US city mandate for the ban of trans fats in public restaurants | | | Description | | In an effort to tackle obesity and heart disease among its residents, New York City became the first US city to ban the use of all artificial trans fats in restaurants and other food service establishments in 2006. Unlike other natural fatty acids, artificial trans fats are neither required for human nutrition nor beneficial. Trans fats have recently been considered a major cause of heart disease with no safe levels recommended for the human diet. According to New York City Department of Health, trans fats are responsible for more New Yorker deaths than motor vehicle crashes. The ban has been implemented in two steps. In July of 2007, food service establishments were prohibited from using oils, shortening, and margarine containing 0.5 grams or more of trans fat per serving for frying or as a spread. As of July 1, 2008, all foods were required to contain less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. In a city where dining out is a popular activity, the NYC Health Code hopes the ban will create a safer, healthier environment for all NYC citizens and visitors. |
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| | Using systems thinking to redesign school lunches | |
| | Innovation | | Putting school lunch into the forefront of a learning environment | | | Description | | The Rethinking School Lunch (RSL) program was designed to challenge the traditional approach to school lunch planning used across America. Through an integrated approach that combines campus gardens, kitchen classrooms, and a wide range of academic subjects, the program uses a systems thinking approach to address the crisis in childhood obesity. The Center for Ecological Learning spent five years researching 10 interrelated dimensions of school lunches--including procurement, food and health, food policy, waste management, and curriculum integration--and then used their findings to implement a school lunch program that treats childhood obesity, nutrition related illness, school lunch quality, and a child's ability to learn as related issues. Rather than treating lunchtime as an afterthought, the RSL program "recognizes that lunchroom experiences (including poor-quality meals, shortened lunch periods, commercial messages, and excessive packaging and waste) can be a 'hidden curriculum' that undermines classroom lessons about nutrition and health." |
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| | Music videos to promote young women's health | |
| | Innovation | | Renowned artists and community leaders promote the cessation of female excision through music videos | | | Description | A major, but often ignored, cause of illness, death, and HIV transmission affecting girls around the world is excision, or female genital mutilation (FGM). An estimated 85 to 110 million women and girls alive today have undergone FGM worldwide, with the majority being in Africa. Many of these young woman and girls will experience infertility, illness, or death as a result. One small non-profit based in Somerville, Massachusetts - but with operations in Mali, Africa - is creatively addressing the deeply rooted cultural practice with music, dance, and even humor to affect countrywide changes. The Sini Sanuman (Healthy Tomorrow) project, started by Somerville resident Susan McLucas has been operational in Mali since 2001 and has already created a growing movement and inspired frank discussions against the practice of FGM - inconceivable a decade ago. The program works by producing music videos that feature famous Malian performers singing and dancing with real village leaders and former excisers in songs composed specifically to build the campaign against FGM. - The music videos are produced in the 8 languages common in Mali and shown on local and national television
- A Pledge Against Excision signature campaign currently has signatures from over 100 excisers and 30,000 citizens across Mali
- One spin-off project called The Club of Whole Women (women who have not been excised) was featured on national radio. In previous years, such a broadcast would have been unthinkable
- A movie theater on a truck, "Cinema Numerique Ambulante" (Moving Digital Theater), brings the videos to remote villages
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| | Innovation | | Chemically created long lasting mosquito nets fight against Malaria | | | Description | | Sumitomo Chemical is leading the way in the production of long-lasting, chemically treated plastic mosquito nets that can be used to protect the millions of people exposed to malaria-transmitting mosquitoes. In a cost-effective, practical manner, the nets help people shield themselves from mosquitoes without the use of harmful traditional pesticides. Although an afterthought in much of the global North, Malaria is estimated to kill over 3,000 children a day in Sub-Saharan Africa alone. Simple, cost-effective technologies such as Sumitomo's mosquito nets have the potential to improve the health of much of the world's population. A trial study is being conducted in Tanzania to determine the effectiveness of hanging the nets in doors and windows of houses at reducing the incidence of vector-borne diseases. |
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| | Innovation | | Taking Telemedicine to the world's remotest hospitals and clinics | | | Description | | In an effort to improve the quality of medical care available to children throughout the world, Medical Missions for Children (MMC) conceived the Global Telemedicine and Teaching Network (GTTN). The network uses state-of-the-art technology to link health care professionals in the developed world with patients and health professionals in the most remote parts of the developing world. Cooperating hospitals are linked virtually with doctors and medical professionals around the globe, providing them with access to specialized health care and improving the quality of diagnoses and treatment. In addition, GTTN produces and broadcasts a wide variety of medical training materials that can be used by hospitals and medical centers to improve the capacity of health professionals. The net result is a lower level of misdiagnoses, and a higher level of appropriate treatments for the most remote, low-income populations. The program now has a presence in over 100 countries. |
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