Who We Are
Gateway to Care works to create a paradigm shift in healthcare away from intermittent emergency room care towards a healthcare system focused around a health home where managed and coordinated care will lead to better health outcomes and a reduction in the overall cost of healthcare in the region.
Our Strategy for Change
With 10 years of effort and success and a clearer understanding of what it takes to establish a comprehensive healthcare system, the work of the organization revolves around four core objectives:- Connecting un- and underinsured patients to affordable and effective healthcare services by training more navigators and placing them in hospitals, clinics and community organizations.
- Improving specialty capacity by growing the Provider Health Network and connecting patients in need of specialty services to this vital resource.
- Increasing community health clinic capacity by continuing access to the Facilitation Fund, streamlining clinic operations through the Management Information System, and facilitating the implementation of an Electronic Health Record System that can be used by clinics to reduce administrative costs and improve the quality of patient care.
- Incubating innovative services by facilitating collaborations.
History
Gateway to Care began as a program of Harris County Public Health & Environmental Services (HCPHES) and was conceived as a collaboration of healthcare partners. In 2000, Gateway to Care was established by five major healthcare providers in search of strategies to address the serious imbalances to the healthcare system created by the Harris County Region’s exceedingly high rate of uninsured.For the first two years of effort, Gateway to Care remained at HCPHES. In 2002, given its focus on reducing emergency room use, it became a department of the Harris County Hospital District (HCHD). After four supportive years with the Hospital District, it was decided that Gateway to Care could have more operational flexibility and better serve its target population and its mission of facilitating collaborations as a not-for-profit organization.
As a result, in 2005 Gateway to Care was incorporated as an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Today Gateway to Care is a collaboration of over 165 member and affiliated organizations which have found power and success in working together.
