Better Health Partnership

The Board of Directors of Better Health Partnership (BHP) has announced that current BHP President and Chief Executive Officer Rita Navarro-Horwitz has decided to retire at the end of 2024. Over her 43- year career in the healthcare market, Rita has held leadership roles that included innovative, ground-breaking ventures in ambulatory care, corporate-based wellness, and community health improvement. The last 13 years she held positions in Better Health Partnership as Director of Business Development, Chief Operating Officer and in 2017 was selected as its President and CEO following a national search conducted by the Board of Directors to replace the founding CEO, Dr. Randy Cebul.

Last week, a community health worker (CHW), Fonda McLaine, and her client, Nadine Head, who are participating in Addressing Cardiometabolic Health Inequities by Early Prevention in the Great Lakes Region (ACHIEVE GreatER), a research project funded by the National Institutes of Health, were featured in a WKYC news segment. ACHIEVE GreatER, highlighted during a 2022 Better Health Partnership webinar, is a multi-stakeholder partnership among Better Health Partnership, Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals, Wayne State University and the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA), operating in both Cleveland and Detroit.

Two recent studies of Pathways HUB Community Action (PHCA) – a maternal and infant mortality HUB serving Summit County – offer compelling new evidence in support of the Pathways Community HUB Model. One study reviewed data of pregnant people enrolled in Pathways HUB Community Action (PHCA) – a maternal and infant mortality HUB that serves Summit County – who gave birth between 2016 through 2020 – and found evidence supporting the Pathways HUB model’s positive impact on pregnant clients and their infants. A second study the program offers new evidence of its return on investment. For every $1.00 spent on this program, $4.40 is returned in cost savings.

The Better Health Pathways HUB is certified by the Pathways Community HUB Institute® (PCHI) and follows the Pathways Community HUB Model. Better Health Partnership is encouraged by the expanding research base supporting the model’s impact on both client outcomes and positive return on investment and we remain committed to supporting Cuyahoga County by making this program available to all members of the Better Health Pathways HUB. Stay tuned for future research on the Better Health Pathways HUB’s impact.