Harris Health's Ambulatory Care Services is a comprehensive network of outpatient health care facilities serving Harris County.

In this Q&A, Jennifer Small, AuD, executive vice president and administrator, and Matasha Russell, MD, chief medical officer, talk about how ACS aims to improve the overall health and well-being of individuals and the community as a whole.

What is Ambulatory Care Services?

Dr. Small: Ambulatory Care Services essentially means outpatient services. ACS is composed of our network of health centers and clinics that are located throughout Harris County. We have various clinic types, whether that be comprehensive health centers, primary care, specialty care and some ancillary services such as pharmacy, on-site lab, and imaging.

Can you elaborate on the variety of services and programs available through ACS?

Dr. Small: Primary care is the largest service that we offer. We also have specialists and they range from allergy to general surgery to orthopedics. We have a full host of specialty services that are located in our specialty towers on the hospital campuses, but also embedded within our health centers as a means to ensure that it's accessible care.

Dr. Russell: Also on our Quentin Mease Health Center campus, we have our Thomas Street clinic which provides care for our patients living with HIV and AIDS. Then we have outpatient addiction-based programs embedded into several of our health centers. We provide a lot of women's health care and maternal care as well. We have many wrap-around services that I think the community may not be aware of.

Through your efforts of promoting wellness, prevention and chronic disease management, what are the ultimate goals as it relates to individual patients and to the community?

Dr. Russell: All of our health centers are medical homes. We really concentrate on providing comprehensive medical care. At all of our centers, our patients have access to nutritionists, health educators, and clinical pharmacists. We have a full care team that is focused on disease prevention. We're focused on chronic disease management such as diabetes, hypertension, and other chronic diseases. We're very focused on wellness promotion, healthy lifestyles, and diet as well.

Can you talk about some of the non-traditional services under the ACS platform?

Dr. Small: We have our Health Care for the Homeless Program in which we have our clinicians, therapists, and family medicine practitioners who are located within homeless shelters. We have mobile units so they can go to various areas of Harris County and provide care to patients who are on the street.

We have mobile dental services, as well as a mobile unit for sexual trauma and violence for our homeless community. It's not just our Health Care for the Homeless program that has mobile care. We have a mobile mammography van that goes to various areas within Harris County to provide mammography screenings for patients.

What are some of the technologies used by Harris Health and its ACS platform?

Dr. Russell: We have an extensive virtual care platform that's integrated with our electronic medical records. Patients can use that platform to send messages to their care team, and we can send reminders to patients about care gaps that they may have and remind them that they need to come in. Patients can also do e-visits. If they have a non-complicated medical complaint, like a urinary tract infection, they can simply log on and describe their symptoms and there will be a clinician who will be able to interact with them, prescribe medications and send it to their pharmacy of choice.

In addition, we have a virtual blood pressure management program. Patients with uncontrolled blood pressure are given a free blood pressure monitor to take home, and then the care team is able to manage the blood pressure readings outside of the clinic. The patient doesn't even need to be seen physically for that team to address elevated blood pressure and to be able to offer medication regimens.

Can you share some of the commendations and recognitions achieved by ACS?

Dr. Small: We have received accreditation by the American College of Radiologists as a Breast Center of Excellence. That's no small feat. That tells you the level of care we provide in our mammography program. We were the very first health system in the Greater Houston area to receive the designation as a Patient-centered Medical Home through the National Committee for Quality Assurance. As a safety net healthcare provider, we were the very first to receive that designation for all of our health centers at the same time.

Learn more

To learn more about Harris Health, visit the organization’s website.

The above story was produced by Multi Platform Journalist Mary Katherine Shapiro with Community Impact's Storytelling team with information solely provided by the local business as part of their "sponsored content" purchase through our advertising team.