Boston Community Pediatrics (BCP) was recently awarded the 2024 Excellence in Innovation award during the during Massachusetts Nonprofit Network’s 2024 Excellence Awards. BCP is a nonprofit, multilingual private practice aiming to provide high-quality medical care to low-income patients, regardless of their insurance coverage. It’s located on Albany Street in the South End. Sampan had the opportunity to sit down with the founder of BCP, Dr. Robyn Riseberg.

SAMPAN: What shortcomings in healthcare do you currently see exist for low-income pediatric patients and what issues are you looking to address?
Riseberg: We are the first non-profit pediatric private practice in Massachusetts and one of the first in the country. BCP was created to address many of the shortcomings in healthcare right now. What we do is we provide the highest quality, culturally competent pediatric care in addition to mental health care and wellness services that address the social determinants of health. We have a relationship-driven model where we center the patient in all we do. That’s where I think our model really differs from the rest of the healthcare system – in that we start with the patient and everything goes from there. Many other organizations start at the administration and the finances and then things are supposed to trickle down to the patient. Unfortunately, they don’t always.
In my opinion, in reality, the US has really a two-tiered healthcare system – one for those with public insurance and one for those with private insurance. Ultimately, this traditional model really disadvantages the low-income. For example, the rate of ER visits is 86.1% higher for those with low-income that for their wealthier counterparts. Children with low-income backgrounds are 3 times more likely to have an unmet health need. That is mostly just because they cannot access the care they need. Our model disrupts this by offering the flexibility and agility of a small private practice and provides the cultural sensitivity and services that are needed to meet patients where they are.

Sampan: Boston Community Pediatrics offers the Hyperlocal Community Initiative, collaborating with local community organizations. How are these organizations helping forward your vision?
Riseberg: We have a number of community partners who help provide things on-site at our office. We are also in the community with our Hyperlocal Community Initiative. We work with community organizations such as IBA, Ellis Early Learning… among several others to bring our services into the community. A lot of that is working with teens… parents, and teachers around mental health education. During the pandemic, we provided vaccines to many of these organizations and brought vaccines to the organizations to help vaccinate teachers, parents, and children. Additionally, we have provided some education around nutrition and smoothie workshops and healthy eating. We are continuing to expand our work throughout the community through more general health education methods.

Sampan: In your experience working with patients, what factors may have converged to make patients lose trust in healthcare? How are you gaining it back?
Riseberg: When people can’t have access to their providers and have a hard time navigating the system, that is really frustrating and difficult. Before I created Boston Community Pediatrics, I spent 15 years working in the community and listening to families. Everything we have created at BCP came out of those conversations. We have structurally embedded the voices of our patients and staff in all that we do… We ensure our patients see themselves reflected in even the physical environment. That is through the art that we have on the walls that was created by teen community members through a partnership with Artists for Humanity. We also understand that in order to address people’s physical health and mental health, we have to address their basic needs. I have collaborations with a number of community organizations such as Hope and Comfort, Dignity Matters, the YMCA, Cradles to Crayons, Reach Out and Read, among others to provide patients at every visit with hygiene products, diapers and wipes, clothing, food, and books…. We don’t ask the families what they need, we just offer it to them with dignity so that families can take what they need.
We also make sure that our phones are answered and that people know the number of different ways they can contact us. We have a HIPPA-compliant texting system, email, and phone. We really center that relationship and the provider – we don’t really have a lot of layers in between the patient and the provider.

Sampan: What steps are BCP taking to help provide culturally competent healthcare to your diverse patient base?
Riseberg: The majority of our medical team speaks Spanish. We have a number of different staff members that are bilingual, bicultural, from the community, and reflecting the population in the community we serve, which is primarily black and brown patients. The majority of our patients identify as Latinx, so all of the front desk staff and all of the medical assistants are billingual. We know how important it is that families see themselves reflected in the environment where they are.

Sampan: Of all the work that you have done at BCP, what are you most proud of?
Riseberg: I would say that I am most proud of the team that is delivering this care. We received the Innovation in Excellence award, which was exciting because to me, it was a testament to the incredible team that we have created to do this work. It has also been really important to me to create an atmosphere where the staff feel seen and heard. I have worked really hard to make sure that is the case. The team that is delivering this care works incredibly close together and that really is in many ways the secret to our success. I am incredibly proud of their hard work, dedication, and teamwork.