Redesigning Health: BMHC’s Holistic Approach to Supporting Men of Color

By Hon. Larry Wallace Jr. Phd.

The Black Men's Health Clinic (BMHC) is dedicated to breaking down the barriers men of color often face when accessing quality healthcare. By addressing common obstacles such as appointment scheduling, financial constraints (acting as a payor of last resort), and coordination between providers at no additional cost to clients, BMHC ensures men of color receive the care they need and trust. The clinic prioritizes clients by providing them with resources designed to best support their health and well-being.

Despite ongoing research and tailored treatment approaches, men of color continue to experience significantly higher rates of premature death due to heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes compared to their counterparts; which can be largely attributed to the lack of data sharing and transparency among healthcare providers resulting in limited data transparency among partners.

BMHC’s Model mitigates disparities by implementing a no-wrong-door, safety-net program focused on reducing mortality and morbidity rates among men of color via improved quality of life, self-health maintenance, and family lifestyle.

While BMHC primarily focuses on the health of Black men, its services are available to all men of color, their immediate family members, and those with extenuating circumstances. The clinic offers both traditional services—rooted in systematic, scientific, and evidence-based practices guided by SAMHSA curriculum and tools—as well as non-traditional services, which include faith-based, trauma-informed, meditative, intuitive, and co-creative approaches.

Following a client’s enrollment into the BMHC Care You Can Trust Program, care coordinators work closely with clients to develop a straightforward and streamlined care plan. BMHC's process is designed to be comprehensive, operating in a two-way manner; whereby, the clinic identifies client needs, coordinates appointments (or education classes) with warm handoffs, and partners refer their patients to BMHC for additional support, especially in areas outside their cultural competency or expertise. Additionally, the facility also serves as a co-location space for partners offering a range of services, breaking down the traditionally siloed services that often limit holistic care. To meet service delivery objectives, the clinic's providers focus on three major areas: physical, behavioral, and social health.

The Black Men’s Health Clinic was established in recognition of the racial and ethnic disparities that disproportionately affect men of color—particularly Black men. In honor of the “Say Their Name” movement and the associated movements sparked in the fight against inequities, BMHC is intentionally combating health disparities through its community health and resource center. The clinic provides outpatient care and social services through multiple provider partnerships, making it a first-of-its-kind, non-traditional clinic that ensures a cross-section of services, providers, and space for men of color.

BMHC understands the system itself requires modification to properly support the community intended, and to do so it must work with the system while maintaining the flexibility to engage in methods and manners the system is incapable of due to its larger scope of clients. Therefore, BMHC partners with tax-funded providers and local resources to enhance their programs and services to people of color via business associate agreements and memorandums of understanding.

Systemic change is resultant from the reimagination of health services delivery and programs where warm hand-offs and a continuum of care decompartmentalizing systems are equally valued as the number of appointments completed and billables rendered. Therefore, BMHC is actively involved in advocacy, cultural awareness, and efforts with immediate impacts in response to client-identified needs.

Article details

Care You Can Trust: How the Black Men’s Health Clinic Leverages Community Partnerships Charting a Course Where Health Care Struggles to Reach
Ammar D. Siddiqi, Rishit Yokananth, Maggie Britton, PhD, Hon. Larry Wallace, Jr., PhD, Ananya Bharadwaj, Naimisha Vunnam, Alex Sherwood, Batul Hasan, Nina Palmo, PhD, and Lorraine R. Reitzel, PhD
DOI: 10.1177/15248399241269872
First Published: August 11th, 2024
Health Promotion Practice

About the Author

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Dr. Wallace is the 1st Black Mayor of Manor, Texas, and only black mayor in the Austin Metropolitan Area during his term. He is President of Wallace Brothers & Associates, Co-Owner of The Transition, and Co-Founder of the Black Men’s Health Clinic. He also serves as a Texas State University – Lecturer; Boy Scouts of America Capitol Area Council – Vice President of Strategic Planning, Black Community Advisory Chair, and Waterloo District Nominating Chair; Austin/Travis County Sobering Center – Board Member; Austin/Travis County Food Plan Advisory Board member; Austin/Travis County Public Health Commission Inaugural Chair; Austin/Travis County Reentry Roundtable Planning Board Member; Unparalleled Preparatory Academy Founding Board President; Hungry Hill Foundation Board Member; Austin ECHO’s Continuum of Care Homelessness Response System Leadership Council; American YouthWorks Board Member; Austin Independent School District – District Advisory Committee; Climate Pollution Reduction Grant Community and Stakeholder Advisory Group; as the Texas Veterans Commission – Veterans Services Advisory Committee (former Vice Chair); East Communities YMCA – Community Advancement Board; Central Texas Hypertension Control Collaboration Member; Texas Cardiovascular Disease & Stroke Partnership Member; Cardiovascular Disease Learning Collaborative; Manor Independent School District – Special Education Parent Advisory Committee; University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Center for Equity Promotion; Emergency Management & Critical Infrastructure Working Group at Government Blockchain Association; and 2024 Central Texas African American Family Support Conference Planning Committee member. Larry also authored three books (Adaptive Leadership in High-Stress Occupations: Application to the Military, Irony or Symbolism, The Esoteric Mason), and Co-Author The Transition: Preparing for Financial Combat.