Leveraging Public-private Partnerships During COVID-19: Meeting Community Needs, Addressing Social Risk Factors

Discuss how you are addressing the selected theme(s):

While preventive and management measures are important to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, strategies like social distancing can have devastating effects on older adults who are already at risk for social isolation and loneliness. In response, the University of Houston Colleges of Social Work and Medicine leveraged a partnership with Humana, Inc in collaboration with Papa Inc. to address social isolation and loneliness in Houston-area older adults. We used administrative data to identify Humana Medicare Advantage beneficiaries who screened positive for loneliness and matched them with students who provide virtual companionship to identified individuals. 1,086 Humana enrollees screened positive for loneliness; 44 students were matched with community dwelling older adults. This program allowed us to meet the educational needs of students who are currently not participating in clinical rotations due to COVID-19 and older adults in need of companionship through virtual connection via phone or through face-to-face interaction using platforms such as zoom and FaceTime.

Describe how the seminar will provide knowledge and skills that contribute toward better care, better value, and better education in practice and community settings:

We will share the process of developing a virtual educational opportunity for students while also meeting the needs of vulnerable older adults. We will also share program evaluation data including, student satisfaction, ability of students to apply their clinical skills to this virtual modality, and patient outcomes. Our presentation will also cover student survey responses on their satisfaction with this experiential learning opportunity and how they were able to apply their skills using this virtual modality. Through virtual breakout sessions, we will create a platform to share similar experiences, including challenges and successes. After participation in this seminar, participants will have practical tools to develop similar virtual educational learning experiences by identifying and addressing needs identified by their respective community members. Further, participants will learn best practices for engaging disparate sectors to address a community need in the setting of this pandemic.

Include a minimum of three learner outcomes that describe actionable knowledge and specific skills that learners will gain:

o Acquire operational knowledge on launching and managing virtual educational opportunities

o Further advance their knowledge and skills in developing academic-industry partnerships

o Gain insights on the impact of such intervention on community health outcomes (learner and patient outcomes)

Include a minimum of two active learning strategies:

o Breakout groups/ Q&A discussion
o Polling

Indicate how the Seminar will highlight measurable outcomes:

o UCLA 3-item loneliness scale for seniors

o Collecting pre-post learner outcomes data from students

Provide an outline of the Seminar:

• Introduction and background

• Multi-sector partnerships

• Polling

• Needs and resource assessment

• Papa Program (Background, Process)

• Results/learnings

• Conclusion

• Q&A discussion

If an abstract is based on research that was funded entirely or partially by an outside source, please list the funding agency and grant number at the end of the description

o NA