Access to Care

Focusing on Preventive Care and Chronic Conditions

HCSC is an ally to its strong networks of community doctors, hospitals and other providers who deliver care to more than 17.5 million members covered by our plans. We employ about 3,400 clinicians — including doctors, nurses, social workers and pharmacists — who help ensure members get the care they need. 

In 2022, these clinical teams expanded an initiative targeting six areas that have a major impact on quality of life and health outcomes: cancer screenings, immunizations, diabetes, cardiovascular care, behavioral health, and maternal and infant health. 

Part of the work involves using claims data and other information to identify members in need of recommended services and screenings and facilitate a variety of interventions. 

For example, HCSC offers FIT kits at no cost to targeted member populations in need of colorectal cancer screening, allowing them to complete an at-home test. 

Simple at-home tests called FIT kits are a noninvasive way to keep up on recommended screenings for colorectal cancer.

Last year, more than 92,000 kits were mailed to eligible members, and more than 14,000 returned them, leading to about 715 recommendations for follow-up care. The initiative also includes steps to reduce emergency room visits and hospitalizations and to enhance coordination among the doctors and others caring for our members.

And to help overcome barriers to care known as social determinants of health, we’re meeting members where they are with programs deeply rooted in our communities. “We are not there just to pay claims,” says Dr. Monica Berner, HCSC’s chief clinical officer. “We're there to help each of our members become the healthiest that they can.”

Supporting Moms and Babies

A rising number of women are experiencing complications during pregnancy and childbirth in the U.S., and the numbers are especially high among Black women. With targeted grants, HCSC is supporting innovative approaches to addressing the crisis in maternal and infant health. 

A three-year $1.5 million commitment made in 2020 is helping federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and Indian Health Service clinics bring a program called CenteringPregnancy to communities in the states where HCSC’s plans offer health care coverage, focusing on areas where data shows disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes.

Group facilitators, including clinical and nonclinical staff, lead discussions about breastfeeding, domestic violence and family planning options before participants meet their providers for one-on-one health checkups. The groups provide a nonjudgmental environment where they can share experiences and information, ask questions, and find peer support. “By these women coming together and sitting together and having fellowship with other women that are in the same gestational age, they now have some sense of support — they have some level of hope,” says Dr. Rahmat Na’Allah, who directs CenteringPregnancy programs in Peoria.

Although complications from pregnancy-related hypertension are preventable, many women aren’t treated for the condition.

To address this critical issue, our Texas plan invested in the March of Dimes Houston’s effort to distribute hundreds of hypertension kits, including blood pressure cuffs, to maternal health providers across the state. Those providers worked with their patients to use the blood pressure cuffs at home to help identify issues between prenatal visits. “Pregnant women need to be empowered with the knowledge and tools to monitor their own health,” says Heather Butscher, the organization’s maternal and infant health director.

Bringing Preventive Care and Health Education to Communities

Not everyone in our communities has the same access to important preventive health care and education, so we’ve made long-term investments to bring resources to the places where people live, work, shop and go to school. 

Our mobile health programs in Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas team up with public health departments and nonprofit organizations to deliver no-cost immunizations, screenings, dental care, chronic disease education and other services. 

In 2022 28 vans served more than 69,000 clients and provided more than 51,000 immunizations and 95,000 other health services. 

New partnerships last year included a three-way collaboration with the Permian Strategic Partnership and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Odessa to provide immunizations and other services for uninsured and underinsured populations in rural West Texas.

HCSC’s mobile health program in Illinois partners with the Chicago Department of Public Health.

The Oklahoma program partnered with the Spero Program in Oklahoma City to provide immunizations to refugee children from Afghanistan. In Montana, the mobile health van traveled with Smiles Across Montana to the Blackfoot Indian Reservation, holding 17 dental clinics at elementary and high schools.

Our Illinois plan’s three neighborhood centers in Chicago offer in-person and virtual health and wellness programming. In 2022, they used location-specific population health data to customize their programming and accessibility and address social determinants of health. The three locations have seen 35,000 in-person visits and 6,100 virtual visits, with most visitors coming 10 or more times. They also opened their facilities to the Chicago Department of Public Health to provide COVID-19 vaccinations, flu shots and other immunizations twice a month and during special events. 

Note: In Montana, Oklahoma and Texas, mobile health programs are operated by foundations and supported by HCSC Plans.