- Milwaukee Health Care Partnership, Milwaukee

Milwaukee Health Care Partnership, Milwaukee, 2024 Community Benefits

Hospital-Supported Initiatives
Health Equity

Collaborative Healing Advocate Initiative Supports People Impacted by Sexual and Domestic Violence Across Health Systems

**Aurora Health Care Healing Advocate team members.**

In 2023, more than 1,400 individuals who presented at Milwaukee-based health system emergency departments and inpatient settings were identified as people impacted by sexual or domestic violence. In multiple triennial community health needs assessments, violence has been identified as a top community health issue in Milwaukee County.

To increase access to support and advocacy services for people experiencing sexual and domestic violence, the health system members of the Milwaukee Health Care Partnership (MHCP) - Aurora Health Care, Ascension Wisconsin, Children’s Wisconsin, and Froedtert ThedaCare Health, Inc. - developed and launched the Shared Healing Advocate Initiative.

Healing Advocates assist survivors after they have been screened and counseled by a Forensic Nurse Examiner (FNE) in completing required reporting, developing a safety plan, connecting to community resources, and exploring long-term support. Through the initiative, MHCP members created a shared Healing Advocate position to respond to referrals across all four Milwaukee-based health systems with the hope to demonstrate improved outcomes and spread this service to other health care organizations. Employed within Aurora Health Care’s Healing and Advocacy Services department, the shared position leverages the leadership, expertise, and current health systems’ FNE infrastructure– while building capacity and consistency of care among all systems.

To date, the shared Healing Advocate has served 100+ survivors in five different hospitals across the four Milwaukee health systems. Prioritizing individuals of high need, 72% of the survivors served were Black/African American, 31% were displaced or homeless, 93% were Medicaid recipients, and 83% were unemployed.

“We are uniquely positioned as health care providers to both deliver care and ensure our patients have the continued support to end any cycles of violence they have experienced – and build a full life,” said Sharain Anderson, Enterprise Associate Vice President of Social Health, Aurora Health Care. “Ensuring patients have this resource through the shared Healing Advocate no matter where they seek care is important at an individual and community level.”

MHCP Connect to Care Program Expands Access to Primary Care, Behavioral Health Appointments

Emergency Department to Medical Home (EDMH), a care coordination program created by the adult Milwaukee health system members of the Milwaukee Health Care Partnership (MHCP)–Aurora Health Care, Ascension Wisconsin, and Froedtert ThedaCare Health, Inc. – is expanding its scope and name – now referred to as Connect to Care - to better connect individuals to a broader array of health care services.

Since 2009, EDMH has worked to screen and connect (or re-connect) high-risk patients in local emergency departments (ED) with follow-up appointments at community health centers. Tested screening and patient engagement practices, supported by a community-wide appointment scheduling software, allow ED providers and discharge planners to directly schedule a real-time follow-up appointment before the person leaves the ED. The goal of the EDMH process is to connect high-risk people with community health center health homes to better address their continuing health needs and reduce avoidable ED visits or subsequent hospitalizations. More than 60,000 appointments have been scheduled to date resulting in a 44% reduction in subsequent ER visits for patients who kept their appointment.

The program has demonstrated the capability and capacity to have a larger impact,” said Ann Christiansen, Executive Director, MHCP. “Post-pandemic, people are engaging less in preventative and regular primary, behavioral and substance use care. Through this expansion, we intend to leverage every opportunity to screen, link and engage patients with the right care at the right time in the right place – and involve them in the choice.”

EDMH involved eight local adult EDs as referring organizations and more than 20 primary care clinics as receiving. In response to a changing health care delivery landscape and new patient needs/utilization patterns, Connect to Care now involves additional referral organizations such as inpatient hospitals, mobile health units, health department clinics, and community paramedics. It has also engaged new receiving organizations, including crisis behavioral health walk-in clinics and substance use providers.