Tompkins County board reviews 2025–2030 CHIP priorities; perinatal mental‑health screening and mammogram access discussed
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Summary
County public‑health staff presented the draft 2025–2030 Community Health Improvement Plan priorities (housing, nutrition security, substance‑use prevention, perinatal care, chronic disease) and sought board input on interventions including prenatal/postpartum mental‑health screening and a mammogram scheduling pilot; staff noted a reported 53% mammography rate among Medicaid‑eligible women in the cited data.
Tompkins County public‑health staff used the board’s March meeting to solicit input on concrete interventions for the 2025–2030 Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP), emphasizing a short timeline: the county must submit the CHIP action plan to New York State by June 30.
Staff presenter Sam (title on record: public‑health presenter) summarized priorities identified from the recently completed Community Health Assessment: housing stability and affordability, nutrition security, substance misuse/overdose prevention, improved perinatal care and chronic disease prevention, including heart disease and cancer screening. Sam said the county is building an action plan that pairs objectives, suggested interventions and measurable process indicators and that a partner survey sent to roughly 70–100 organizations closed with about 40 responses to inform the plan.
On perinatal care, staff proposed expanding screening of prenatal and postpartum clients for mental‑health and health‑related social‑care needs to strengthen referrals and navigation. The presentation noted existing local work such as Whole Health’s healthy‑infant partnership and nursing home‑style home visits and said enhanced services under a Medicaid 1115 waiver can support navigation and wraparound services for eligible pregnant people.
Board members and clinical partners raised logistical and structural barriers. Participants discussed hospital privileging processes and coverage expectations that affect who can deliver at the local medical center, and how those rules can push some people to deliver out of county. One participant recommended exploring approaches used by larger systems (for example, a laborist model) or strategies to increase the pool of delivery providers at the local hospital.
On breast‑cancer screening, staff proposed piloting an option that lets patients schedule screening mammograms without first obtaining an order from a primary‑care visit, coupled with navigation to ensure patients who lack a PCP or who receive an abnormal result are linked to follow‑up care. Presenter Sam cited an analysis in which about 53 percent of Medicaid‑eligible women aged 40–74 had received a mammogram in the referenced time period and said the figure pointed to an access gap the pilot could help address. Staff also noted prior partnerships with a mobile mammography van as an implementation option.
Staff invited the board to weigh in on whether the proposed interventions were realistic, whether they addressed equity issues, and which community partners could be leaned on to implement and measure impact. Sam said the CHIP narrative and detailed action plan will be finalized and routed for review by county leadership and partner health‑system leadership before submission to the state.
The board also heard brief updates about an open house on April 14 and a community baby shower scheduled for May 2. After the public agenda the board voted to convene in executive session.
