Department: County Administration
Department Head/Elected Official: Diana Ramirez, County Administrator
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Supplemental RCA
Type of Request: Interlocal Agreement
Project ID (if applicable): ARPA_HHFARMACY
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable):
MWDBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Current Participation (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request by the Office of County Administration that the County Judge execute an interlocal agreement with the Harris County Hospital District d/b/a Harris Health System funded with $497,358 in ARPA Local Fiscal Recovery Funds to expand Harris Health Food Farmacies to three additional sites.
end
Background and Discussion:
Harris Health’s Food Rx program addresses health-related social needs, like food insecurity, poor nutritional knowledge, and lack of access to culinary education, that are prevalent in vulnerable populations including the African American and Latino populations and tied to poor health outcomes. Harris Health’s program proactively embeds a population health approach as part of the standard of care for chronic disease management, strategically intervening with patients with expressed social needs and known health risks in order to improve their health outcomes. Harris Health’s Food Farmacies, currently at two family practice clinics as well as LBJ Hospital, serve all adult patients expressing food insecurity while providing a more intensive intervention for those with Type 2 diabetes. Patients screening positive for food insecurity enroll with a community health worker, select a variety of healthy foods with a dietitian, are connected to a Houston Food Bank navigator for benefits enrollment, and are linked to community food resources. Patients with uncontrolled diabetes are invited to participate in a 9 9-month program in which they “walk and learn” with a certified diabetes educator during their biweekly redemption of 30 pounds of fresh foods from the Farmacy, and also enroll in University of Texas School of Public Health’s co-located culinary medicine curriculum, which teaches patients the skills to make delicious, healthy, low-cost, and culturally relevant meals. Graduation from Food Rx now includes curated linkages to community supports, such as H-E-B’s network of grocery stores and nutritionists, to support patients’ positive behavioral change at accessible locations within their home communities.
Expected Impact:
This project supports the expansion of Harris Health’s Food Farmacy location to three additional sites: Martin Luther King, Jr. Health Center, Gulfgate Health Center, and El Franco Lee Health Center. Harris Health’s goal is to expand this program to its remaining health centers over time and as funding allows; these three were selected for initial expansion due to their volumes of food insecure patients and because there is space immediately available to house the program. Each new Food Farmacy would support approximately 275 patient visits per month.
Alternative Options:
Not funding expansion of Harris Health Food Farmacies.
Alignment with Goal(s):
_ Justice and Safety
_ Economic Opportunity
_ Housing
X Public Health
_ Transportation
_ Flooding
_ Environment
_ Governance and Customer Service
Prior Court Action (if any):
|
Date |
Agenda Item # |
Action Taken |
|
11/15/2022 |
19 |
Approval to allocate $45,000,000 in ARPA State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds to the Harris Health System |
|
09/12/2023 |
1 |
Approval to adjust allocation of ARPA State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds to the Harris Health System to $9,500,000 |
Location:
Address (if applicable):
Precinct(s): Countywide
|
Fiscal and Personnel Summary |
|
Service Name |
Harris Health Food Farmacies |
|
|
FY 24 |
FY 25 |
Next 3 FYs |
|
Incremental Expenditures (do NOT write values in thousands or millions) |
|
Labor Expenditures |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Non-Labor Expenditures |
$248,679 |
$248,679 |
$ |
|
Total Incremental Expenditures |
$248,679 |
$248,679 |
$ |
|
Funding Sources (do NOT write values in thousands or millions) |
|
Existing Budget |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Current Budget |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Additional Budget Requested |
|
2651 - American Rescue Plan 2021 |
$248,679 |
$248,679 |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Additional Budget Requested |
$248,679 |
$248,679 |
$ |
|
Total Funding Sources |
$248,679 |
$248,679 |
$ |
|
Personnel (Fill out section only if requesting new PCNs) |
|
Current Position Count for Service |
- |
- |
- |
|
Additional Positions Requested |
- |
- |
- |
|
Total Personnel |
- |
- |
- |
Anticipated Court Date: December 19th, 2023
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date):
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: COVID-19 related item
Contact(s) name, title, department: Romeo Solis, ARPA PMO Director, Office of County Administration
Attachments (if applicable): Food Farmacy Interlocal Agreement