Augusta Health receives CMS Health Equity Award 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services May 30 announced Augusta Health as a recipient of its 2024 CMS Health Equity Award for its efforts to reduce disparities in health care access, quality and outcomes. Based in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, Augusta Health works with neighborhoods with rural geographic barriers and local cities with high poverty rates and adverse social and health barriers.  

In the first full year of its Primary Mobile Clinic program, originally launched in Sept. 2022, Augusta Health provided more than 1,700 primary care visits for 825 patients at 17 different community sites. The program has expanded since its inception, now operating at 14 unique sites each month. Sites have included community centers, churches, a fire house, a mayor’s office and homeless shelters. The program’s success is based on having community partners with local expertise in key social services such as housing and food insecurity.