Page 25 - BusinessWest September 19, 2022

Collaboration in Health/Wellness
Dr. Paul Pirraglia
HEALTHCARE HEROES OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
He Convened a Broad, Effective, Street-level Response to a Pandemic
FBy Joseph Bednar
rom his years working at a VA hospital in Rhode Island
to his more recent community-health role overseeing Baystate Health’s medical practices in Springfield, Dr. Paul Pirraglia has always seen himself as a problem solver.
“It’s gratifying to take care of a patient and get a problem solved, or at least controlled for them — when you can address a concern that is having an impact, not just around a health issue, but in a broader sort of way,” he said. “Take a patient who has diabetes. You can get their diabetes under control, but because food is such a huge part of diabetes, if you can actually get them access to good, nutritious foods, then it’s not just about the diabetes; it’s a life changer in a way.
“As medical professionals, we really want to make a difference in people’s lives,” he went on. “So it’s
gratifying to be able to serve when
there’s a substantive need.”
Leah Martin Photography
2022 HEALTHCARE HEROES
2022 25
COVID-19 would certainly qualify.
Which is why Dr. Andrew Artenstein, Baystate’s chief physician executive, who spearheaded pandemic response throughout the system when COVID arrived early
in 2020, asked Pirraglia and Dr. Jackie Spain, co-chief medical officer of Baystate’s BeHealthy ACO, to convene a workgroup to mitigate the impact of coronavirus on the most vulnerable patients in the community, particularly those with significant social needs.
“It was
clear that
traditionally
underserved
populations
were going
to get hit
especially
hard by this
”
The group looked at factors that could contribute to risk, such as low-income housing, where COVID cases were occurring, where ACO members lived, medical conditions were associated with worse COVID outcomes, as well as solutions such as access to pharmacies that home-deliver, food delivery, and transportation.
“On a personal level, I’m drawn to research: here’s a vexing problem; how do we solve it?” Pirraglia said, which is one reason this strategy resonated with him. “When Dr. Artenstein said we needed to do something, it was very, very early on, but it was clear that traditionally underserved populations were going to get hit especially hard by this pandemic. He said, ‘do what you need to do; I’ve got your back.’ So what Jackie and I did was convene
a group which was not limited to just Baystate; we got all the leaders we needed.”
That included professionals from a wide range of offices at Baystate and beyond, from infection control to diagnostics and
The workgroup included
representatives from Baystate
Health and its four community
health centers, Caring Health Center, the BeHealthy Partnership
(a Medicaid accountable-care organization, or ACO, that includes Health New England as the insurer and Baystate Health and Caring Health Center as care sites), the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts, and University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School – Baystate.
pandemic.
Division Chief, General Medicine and Community Health, Baystate Health