PIH's Dr. Heidi Behforouz explains how we can revolutionize U.S. health care

“We believe in an accompagnateur approach – it’s French for “to accompany,’’ said Dr. Heidi Behforouz, founder and director of PIH’s Prevention and Access to Care and Treatment (PACT) program in a recent Boston Globe interview. “Our community health workers walk with individuals, as they experience life with poverty and illness. You can’t really deliver good care unless you understand and are willing to accommodate the whole context of the individual.” 

Read Heidi’s October 3 Globe interview in its entirety.

“What we found is that 70 percent of the patients referred to us have tremendous improvements in health outcomes: return to work, regain custody of their children, we see their immune systems improving,” continued Heidi. “When we did an analysis of total medical costs in 70 patients for whom we had two years of data, we saw a 60 percent reduction in hospitalizations and 35 percent reduction in total medical expenditures. This model has been proven effective.”

Watch Heidi explain the goal in attending this year’s Clinton Global Initiative meeting.
Learn more about PACT.