Boston Medical Center Health System (BMCHS) is unlike any other healthcare institution. As the principle teaching affiliate of Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, BMC cares for historically underserved communities and is uniquely positioned to identify and address the factors that drive health inequities. Our clinicians, researchers, and public policy leaders are advancing health equity through programs that improve access to care and identify and treat the root causes of poor health. Learn how this work is shaping a healthier future for Massachusetts and beyond.
How BMC’s Health Equity Accelerator Drives Change
In a city as rich in resources as Boston, race-based disparities persist. Boston Medical Center's Health Equity Accelerator works to eliminate these inequities by targeting areas with the largest outcome gaps, including pregnancy, cancer, infectious diseases, chronic conditions, and behavioral health. The Accelerator brings together care delivery, inclusive research, and data analysis to identify disparities, understand their causes, and strengthen community health.
The Why Behind Our Work: Health Disparities in Boston
Black residents in Boston have four times higher rates of infant mortality than white babies, experience higher rates of chronic diseases, and face greater behavioral health challenges. These inequities persist even in a city known for world-class healthcare.
Philanthropy Levels the Playing Field
Philanthropy fuels this work by supporting preventive screenings, transportation assistance, multilingual patient surveys that identify barriers to good health, and community programs that expand access to care. Your support enables BMC to address the factors that drive unequal health outcomes and build a healthier Boston for everyone.
Social Determinants of Health
Good health takes more than medicine. At BMCHS, we know safe housing, healthy food, access to reliable transportation, and more are all essential social factors that shape health and lasting wellness. It's why we were the first to launch a patient screener, called THRIVE, to understand a patient's full needs and work to close those gaps.
Philanthropy Fills Essential Needs
Through philanthropy, programs like Living Well At Home help patients maintain or secure their housing, Nourishing Our Communities ensures patients have access to fresh foods, and so much more.
Sustainability Efforts Improve Environment And Human Health
Our environment impacts our health, and many of our Boston area patients are disproportionately at risk for exposure to environmental hazards that lead to heart disease, COPD, diabetes and more. It's why BMCHS is reducing our carbon footprint, increasing our green space, and strengthening our food systems. Sustainability truly is healthcare — but our efforts aren't reimbursable by traditional insurance models. That’s where philanthropy comes in.
Philanthropy Creates Greener, Healthier Communities
Philanthropy enabled us to launch a net-zero carbon emissions behavioral health center, cultivate our rooftop farms that grow produce for our free, on-site food pantry, and even launch a solar array that generates clean energy credits to subsidize patient utility bills through a program called Clean Power Prescription. What can we build together?