Philadelphia, 2017 – Boston Medical Center's (BMC) Project ASSERT has been awarded the American College of Physicians (ACP) Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award from the Rosenthal Family Foundation. The award will be presented at ACP's Convocation Ceremony on Thursday, April 19, 2018, at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
Project ASSERT created to improve Alcohol & Substance Use Services, Education, and Referral to Treatment employs a team of peer educators who counsel patients whose alcohol or substance use has led them to the emergency department. In collaboration with hospital staff, health promotion advocates offer screening, brief intervention and health resources for patients.
Led by supervisor Ludy Young, LADC, and BMC emergency medicine physician Edward Bernstein, Project ASSERT Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselors have offered active referrals to alcohol and drug treatment services and community resources for more than 60,000 patients treated in the ED since starting in 1994. In winning this award, Project ASSERT has proved to be an effective care model for other addiction medicine programs across the nation.
"These professionals, recruited from the communities we serve, play a vital role in bringing their expertise, life experience and nonjudgmental, respectful care to patients struggling with addiction and those who lack the basics of adequate housing, food security and a living wage. As their co-founder and medical director, I am proud to be a team member and honored to receive this award on their behalf," says Bernstein, who is a professor of emergency medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and has a joint appointment in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the School of Public Health.
Established in 1976, the award is given "to that individual or organization whose recent original approach in the delivery of health care or in the design of facilities for its delivery will increase its clinical and/or economic effectiveness."
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About the American College of Physicians
The American College of Physicians is the largest medical specialty organization in the United States. ACP members include 150,000 internal medicine physicians (internists), related subspecialists, and medical students. Internal medicine physicians are specialists who apply scientific knowledge and clinical expertise to the diagnosis, treatment, and compassionate care of adults across the spectrum from health to complex illness. Follow ACP on Twitter and Facebook.
About Boston Medical Center
Boston Medical Center is a private, not-for-profit, 487-bed, academic medical center that is the primary teaching affiliate of Boston University School of Medicine. It is the largest and busiest provider of trauma and emergency services in New England. It offers specialized care for complex health problems and is a leading research institution, receiving more than $117 million in sponsored research funding in fiscal year 2016. It is the 13th largest recipient of funding in the U.S. from the National Institutes of Health among independent hospitals. In 1997, BMC founded Boston Medical Center Health Plan, Inc., now one of the top ranked Medicaid MCOs in the country, as a non-profit managed care organization. Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine are partners in the Boston HealthNet – 14 community health centers focused on providing exceptional health care to residents of Boston. For more information, please visit http://www.bmc.org.
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