UnitedHealthcare Awards $5.2 Million in Grants to California Nonprofits - $505,000 to Family Health Centers of San Diego

Grants support nine California nonprofit organizations to strengthen youth wellness, care delivery and health technology in underserved communities

Family Health Centers of San Diego has been awarded a $505,000 grant by UnitedHealthcare to help improve health care delivery services for local patients and community residents.

Tony Lonigro (left), Southwest Region CEO, UnitedHealthcare Military and Veterans, on Friday, March 15, presents a $505,000 grant to Family Health Centers of San Diego to help improve health care delivery services for community residents. Receiving the check (left to right): Barbara Carr, Family Health Centers of San Diego board chair; Jessica Poole, district director of Congresswoman Susan Davis; Fran Butler-Cohen, CEO, Family Health Centers of San Diego; Marti Emerald, San Diego City Council Member; Angeli Colinog, district staff of state Sen. Joel Anderson (Photo: Jamie Rector).

The grant is part of $5.2 million UnitedHealthcare is awarding to nine health care organizations to support nonprofit clinics and hospitals that improve health care services for underserved communities statewide.

Family Health Centers of San Diego has been serving residents of San Diego, including low-income, uninsured and medically underserved people, for more than four decades. Today Family Health Centers serves more than a third of all San Diegans who make their medical home at a community health center.

The UnitedHealthcare grant will help Family Health Centers enhance care coordination and referrals throughout its network of 33 sites and 51 community-based locations that are expecting more than 1.3 million patient visits in the next two years. Family Health Centers will implement and use electronic health records systems and electronic referrals.

In 2009, UnitedHealthcare provided a $96,000 grant that enabled the organization to completely retool its central pharmacy processes and operations systems, helping to reduce pharmacy wait times for patients from an average of 2.5 hours to less than 40 minutes.

“This grant from UnitedHealthcare provides tremendous support as we invest in new technologies and training that will improve the delivery of services to patients who receive care through our community clinics,” said Fran Butler-Cohen, CEO, Family Health Centers of San Diego. “Through these funds we aim to build a model care coordination process that will enable us to deliver important health care services to even more people in our community.”

The latest grant announcement and check presentation was made at Family Health Centers’ Spirit of the Barrio luncheon. For more than 25 years, the luncheons have raised support for Family Health Centers of San Diego’s programs and services. More than 500 supporters including individuals, businesses, corporate sponsors, elected officials and community leaders attend each event to enjoy a famous tamale lunch, and gather for networking, education, entertainment and community building.

“Thank you UnitedHealthcare for recognizing the value that community clinics provide in delivering services to our children and families. This is a great investment in our community,” said Greg Cox, chairman, San Diego County Board of Supervisors.

“Family Health Centers of San Diego is making a significant impact in improving patients’ health,” said Tony Lonigro, Southwest Region CEO, UnitedHealthcare Military & Veterans. “UnitedHealthcare is grateful for the opportunity to help Family Health Centers enhance the quality health services it provides so that more people may receive the care they need.”

Since 2008, UnitedHealthcare has provided more than $30 million in grants to 53 nonprofits statewide. Seven of them are in San Diego, receiving $3.1 million.

In addition to these grants, UnitedHealthcare’s California Health Care Investment Program has provided $269 million in total investments to 46 health care organizations throughout the state help underserved, low-income and underinsured communities and populations. This includes $5.5 million to fund a new 120-unit residential treatment and rehabilitation center in National City to help people overcome alcohol and substance abuse addictions.

Last year, UnitedHealthcare provided $15.1 million to help finance the rehabilitation and conversion of the historic World Trade Center in Downtown San Diego into Connections Housing, which offers permanent year-round shelter, housing and other services for homeless people. Connections Housing held a grand opening ceremony March 11.

UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) company, serves more than 2.3 million Californians with a care provider network of 320 hospitals and more than 56,800 physicians statewide.

About Family Health Centers of San Diego
Family Health Centers of San Diego is a non-profit community health center organization whose mission is to provide caring, affordable, high quality healthcare and supportive services to everyone, with a special commitment to uninsured, low income and medically underserved persons. As the largest provider of safety net healthcare in the region, Family Health Centers of San Diego cared for more than 165,000 individuals in 2011 through over 625,000 patient visits.

About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with 780,000 physicians and care professionals and 5,900 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. UnitedHealthcare serves more than 40 million people in health benefits and is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company.

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