Key Research – Current

The Community Gateway to Health Study

Project Leads: Bekka Lee and Cristina Huebner Torres

The Gateway to Health Study (a project of Mass-ACCERT) helps community health centers improve breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening and tobacco treatment while also encouraging patients to stay connected to their communities. The study aims to investigate the impact of a multi-level approach targeting ways in which social determinants impact cancer control outcomes in the health care delivery system and in the community. The study is currently ongoing and is being led by a partnership between Harvard Chan and Caring Health Center, a community health center in Springfield, MA. This study includes a partnership with Union Capital, a nonprofit that offers small rewards to encourage civic participation and resource-sharing, hosts networking nights, and provides leadership opportunities.

What we’re doing:

• Closing cancer screening and tobacco treatment gaps
  • Working with clinical champions and quality improvement staff to optimize workflows and use of population management tools to improve breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening and tobacco treatment.
• Strengthening patient digital access and navigation
  • Training navigators to connect patients with digital resources.
• Building community connection and social capital
  • Referring patients to Union Capital as part of social needs screening.
  • Supporting patients’ learning and connections via network nights hosted by health center Union Capital Coordinator.
  • Using a multilingual app to share information, including cancer prevention resources.

How it works:

The Gateway to Health Study uses a randomized, step-by-step rollout to test the impact of a multilevel intervention at health centers across Massachusetts.

• Six health centers implement the 1-year intervention on a rolling basis starting in Spring 2026.
  • Clinical champions and quality improvement staff meet with the cancer screening and tobacco treatment research team to plan implementation approach on a biweekly basis.
  • Navigators participate in comprehensive training to support digital access and literacy.
  • Health center staff that deliver social needs screening refer patients to Union Capital.
  • Union Capital Coordinator hosts network nights.
• EHR data will be used to measure cancer screening rates and tobacco treatment delivery.
• Health center staff will complete brief surveys at baseline and follow-up to share perspective of the acceptability and feasibility of the intervention, their health center context, and engagement.
• Health center and community partner staff will participate in one-on-one interviews to explore successes, challenges, and opportunities for improvement.

Six comparison health centers share data for 2026-2028 to serve as a control group for analysis. They will be offered the same cancer screening, tobacco, treatment, and digital navigation tools at the end of the study.

Community Advisory Boards for Sustained CHC-Community Connections

Project Leads: Bekka Lee and Leslie Salas Karnes

The first Community Responsive Pilot Project through Mass-ACCERT provides community health centers with technical assistance and two online trainings to support community advisory board (CAB) development. This pilot is being conducted at intervention sites in the Gateway to Health Study. As part of the pilot, the Mass-ACCERT team conducted interviews to understand how community health centers’ past experience implementing CABs and community partnerships on cancer and social determinants of health. The pilot also established a Learning Community at the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers to share findings surrounding CAB formation across health centers. Data will be collected one year after CAB formation to assess engagement among members.

Study to Improve Delivery of Evidence-based Tobacco Control Treatment in Community Health Centers

This study is focused on identifying and addressing barriers associated with the delivery of tobacco cessation treatment in community health centers overall and specifically for patients who seek behavioral health care.

What we’re doing:

1. Studying individual patient, health center, and outer contextual factors around tobacco treatment
2. Identifying barriers and facilitators of tobacco cessation through interviews with patients and providers
3. Conducting a pilot study to develop and test approaches to overcome barriers of tobacco cessation treatment

How it works:

• We use electronic health record data to understand more about factors associated with providing tobacco cessation medications or counseling at CHCs
• We conduct qualitative interviews with patients and providers at community health centers in both the primary care and behavioral health care settings
• Based on this data, we will learn more about where and how patients who smoke receive their care in the CHC system, so we can develop tailored implementation strategies based on real experiences and outcomes