9-13-13 Feature Story:
Bethesda, MD -- The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) presented James W. Hunt, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer with the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, with the 2013 Norton Wilson State/Regional Award. The award, which recognizes longstanding excellence and leadership in the Community Health Center Movement, was presented to Mr. Hunt at the 44th annual NACHC Community Health Institute & EXPO (CHI) in Chicago, IL, a national conference attended by nearly 2,000 community health leaders from across the country.
Hunt has helped steer Massachusetts health centers through the uncharted waters of state health reform, where health centers are at the forefront of the Commonwealth's efforts to implement near-universal coverage for its residents. He has helped strengthen the role of health centers under newly emerging health care payment and delivery models, and to meet national reform goals tied to increasing the numbers of patients served by America's community health centers. Hunt's focus on the needs of the community-based health care workforce led him to collaborate with a local university to develop a first-in-the-nation community health certificate program for health center middle managers. The program, in its tenth year, helps to identify and train future leaders within the health center industry. In addition to his work in Massachusetts, Mr. Hunt is very active member of NACHC and serves on a host of committees that shape policies affecting the national network of Community Health Centers.
Hunt is an adjunct professor at the Sawyer School of Management at Suffolk University. He was also the first Geiger Gibson Distinguished Visitor in Community Health Policy at the George Washington University's School of Public Health and Health Services.
America's Health Centers are local, non-profit, community-directed and federally-supported organizations that provide health care to over 22 million people in more than 9,000 locations. One of the bright spots in America's health care system, health centers have been in existence for nearly 50 years and have compiled a significant record of success by reducing income and ethnic health disparities nationwide, even in the poorest and most challenged communities. Health centers also play a critical role as implementation of health reform moves forward, providing patient-centered medical homes for the newly insured. Health centers also generate $24 billion in annual health system savings by reducing unnecessary hospitalizations and unnecessary visits to the ER.
