Harris Health announced today that it received a $500,000 sponsorship from Cigna Healthcare to expand the system’s Food Rx Program, a novel initiative supporting people who are food insecure and living with a chronic disease such as Type 2 diabetes. The funds will allow Harris Health to offer a new, more convenient approach to getting food to its high-risk patients: refrigerated food lockers. Harris Health currently offers three standalone Food Farmacy sites – mini-stores that […]
Harris Health
Harris Health System Receives National Recognition for Its Homeless Program
Harris Health System recently received a silver badge award for Health Center Quality Leader from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), a division of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, for the system’s Healthcare for the Homeless Program. The award marks the program’s fourth national recognition in 2022 from the agency: Advancing Health Information Technology for Quality; COVID-19 Public Health Champion; and Patient Centered Medical Home. “The great care we provide our homeless […]
Healthcare Icon Tours Namesake Nursing Excellence Center at Harris Health System
When Lois J. Moore walked into her namesake facility at Harris Health System, she noticed a big difference. Gone were the rows of seats and cubicle spaces when it was a building used by patients to register or update personal information to obtain medical services from the public healthcare system. In its place, a transformed 10,000-square foot facility now housing classrooms, a computer lab, a conference room and a simulation center as part of the […]
Harris Health System Receives Elite Commission on Cancer Accreditation
Cancer patients at Harris Health System receive top treatment and care, affirmed by its recent accreditation from the Commission on Cancer by the American College of Surgeons. The three-year recognition assures patients that its comprehensive cancer programs meet stringent quality care standards. The accreditation places Harris Health among elite cancer institutions across the country that follow a multidisciplinary approach to treat cancer as a complex group of diseases that requires consultation among surgeons, medical and […]
Harris Health System, Lone Star College Partner to Address Severe Nursing Shortage
Harris Health System has partnered with Lone Star College’s Nursing Program to help alleviate its staffing shortage, hiring student nurses as nurse technicians. The severe shortage of nurses has been evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, and its multiple surges. The educational partner program allows first- and second-year nursing students at the college to get jobs at Harris Health’s Ben Taub and Lyndon B. Johnson hospitals. The nursing students joined Harris Health in September as nurse […]
Harris Health Surpasses 1 Million HIV Tests, Experts Say More Is Needed
More than 40 years after the first reported cases of HIV/AIDS, experts still stress the importance of knowing one’s HIV status for prevention. On National HIV Testing Day (June 27), everyone is reminded to resume HIV screenings and other important in-person health screenings as the population moves to a post-COVID life. At Harris Health System, the process of HIV testing is easier than ever. In January, the system’s HIV screening program administered its one millionth […]
Harris Health Welcomes New Executives Ready to Lead Strategic Plan Goals
Harris Health System has two new executive administrators—Louis Smith, senior executive vice president and chief operating officer, and Jacqueline ‘Jackie’ Brock, senior executive vice president and chief nursing executive—to help lead the system’s recently adopted 2021-2025 strategic plan and its goal of becoming a high reliability organization (HRO), which serves the needs of the community through a patient-centered focus with an emphasis on safety, efficiency and well-being. Smith joins the organization with more than 30 years of […]
Harris Health Surpasses Half-Million Virtual Visit since Pandemic Start
The COVID-19 pandemic caught healthcare providers worldwide off guard. Almost immediately, doors shuttered to most in-person non-COVID care. Harris Health System, like many providers, quickly ramped up its virtual and telemedicine program—most recently completing nearly 565,000 virtual care visits since the start of the pandemic. Virtual care has become an important tool to safely treat patients and contain the spread of COVID-19. Since mid-March 2020, Harris Health has enlisted 1,600 medical providers through home or […]
Harris Health Earns ‘Most Wired’, Sees Successful Virtual Care during Pandemic
Harris Health System recently received a Most Wired award, its ninth in the past 10 years, from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME). The award recognizes its significant use of information technology to improve patient care. With this year’s ongoing threat of COVID-19, Harris Health’s information technology staff rallied quickly to ramp up the virtual care and telemedicine program for patients. In six days, the program grew exponentially to provide patients with timely […]
Harris Health’s Chief Information Security Officer Listed among 100 Global Best
Jeffrey M. Vinson Sr., vice president and chief information security officer for Harris Health System has been named among the top 100 Global Chief Information Security Officers by HotTopics and Forcepoint, a multinational software corporation based in Texas. The list showcases global cybersecurity leaders who work to protect businesses from cyberattacks and data breaches. “To be recognized alongside these major global organizations when Harris Health System is not a global organization speaks volumes about our information […]