Howard Brown Health, on Aug. 18, released a new report illustrating its impact on the community.
"It's a summary of our clinical services, and something we're pledging to do on an annual basis, said CEO and President David Munar. "It's broken up into three sectionsreports on our patients, health benefits that patients are gaining from our system of care and how we're monitoring quality of care from different disease [perspectives] like HIV, cardio-vascular disease and asthma."
Munar noted that he was especially excited to "tell the story of our system of care, which is much broader than HIV and STI'sthere's a significant primary care component as well."
In 2015, there were 19,453 patients seen by Howard Brown Health staff, according to the report. About 12,902 were white, while 3,589 were Black; additionally, 923 patients were Asian, 160 were Native American and 64 were Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders. About 3,472 patients were Latino.
Howard Brown Health saw 9,365 gay men, 611 lesbians, 1,763 bisexuals, 1, 251 transgender women and 845 transgender men last year. About 277 patients were 65 years of age or older. Meanwhile, 1,879 youth were provided medical and/or behavioral health services at Broadway Youth Center.
The staff administered 9,468 HIV tests in 2015; those yielded 132 ( about 1.3 percent ) positive results. About 112 out of those 132 patients ( about 85 percent ) were then linked to HIV services. Thirty-two of those positives were identified through routine testing as part of primary care; all 32 individuals were linked to services. About 342 individuals received Post-Exposure Prophylaxis, or PEP, to prevent possible exposure to HIV, while 1,137 individuals initiated Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, or PrEP.
"The report shows that some of the 'back-office' infrastructure commitments that we've made have been effective," Munar added. "We're fielding over 50,000 calls a year, to schedule appointments and for medical referrals."
Munar wants to improve the focus on chronic disease management, he said, noting that more people have been utilizing Howard Brown Health to help manage long-term conditions.
"There are rooms for improvement in all those areas," he said. "One of the things that we notice is that, as we grow, more individual data points are brought into the database. That's a good thing, but it also means that sometimes we're sometimes playing catch-up."
The system opened its South Side clinic in May, and has begun seeing patients at its Rogers Park offices, which will be have its grand opening in November.
"We're hoping that the additional capacity in Rogers Park and Englewood will help accommodate new patients and give relief to the other clinics," Munar said. "This is a big growth year. That's another reason this report is importantwe want to be transparent with the community about what's going with Howard Brown and why you should trust us with your healthcare needs.
The full report can be viewed at howardbrown.org/wp/CommunityImpactReport/assets/hb-community-impact-report.pdf .