Maryland's Community Health Resources Commission (CHRC) recently published its 2025 Recommendation Slate, outlining strategic priorities that will shape how public health funds are allocated and which innovations will be supported. This document, though short in length, carries significant weight in guiding the future of healthcare access, equity, and outcomes across the state.
At a time when local organizations, startups, and systems innovators are searching for ways to meet real community needs, this slate is more than a planning tool, for me, it was a call to action.
What the 2025 CHRC Recommendation Slate Prioritizes
Released on June 9, 2025, the document outlines six core priorities for CHRC funding and support:
1. Improving Access to Primary Care and Community-Based Services
Focus on medically underserved communities and initiatives that reduce emergency department utilization.
2. Promoting Behavioral Health Integration
Emphasis on co-location of services, care coordination, and support for individuals with complex behavioral health needs.
3. Supporting Maternal and Child Health Programs
Especially those that focus on reducing disparities and improving prenatal/postnatal care access.
4. Advancing Health Equity and Social Determinants of Health
Strong encouragement for proposals that address food insecurity, housing instability, transportation, and language access.
5. Expanding School-Based Health Services
Including behavioral health, dental care, and primary health for children and adolescents in Maryland schools.
6. Strengthening Health Data Use and Innovation
Support for programs that use data to improve population health, target resources, and streamline service delivery.
Each of these areas reflect a broader recognition that healthcare is about context, clarity, coordination, and community.
Why This Matters
The CHRC has a track record of catalyzing meaningful impact across Maryland through its grantmaking. These recommendations are not vague ideas; they are investment signals. In previous years, funded projects have gone on to serve tens of thousands of residents and build scalable models of care that influence policy statewide.
This 2025 slate represents both continuity and evolution. It reaffirms Maryland's commitment to public health equity, while also expanding the lens to include tech-enabled tools, integration across services, and a sharper focus on social determinants of health (SDOH).
How SHD Answers the Call
Simplify Health Docs (SHD) was designed for this exact moment, built off the back of this document. Our mission — to make medical documents understandable and actionable, especially for Medicaid users, non-English speakers, and underserved families, which is why SHD directly supports several CHRC priorities.
Here’s how SHD aligns:
• Advancing Health Equity & SDOH:
SHD tackles language access and health literacy, two critical barriers to equity. Our AI-powered tool will translate complex medical paperwork (like EOBs, denial notices, and insurance statements) into plain language, with support in Korean, Spanish, and Mandarin — and links users to local food, housing, and financial assistance programs based on keywords in their documents.
• Improving Access & Reducing ER Use:
When patients understand what their documents mean they can make informed decisions that keep them out of emergency rooms. We believe SHD can intercept confusion or misunderstanding before it becomes a crisis.
• Strengthening Health Data Use:
We will use anonymized trends and metadata to identify the most common pain points in document comprehension, flag resource gaps, and help local agencies track what types of information are driving repeat questions, appeals, or missed deadlines.
• School-Based & Family-Friendly:
Our interface is mobile-first and family-friendly. Parents navigating Medicaid or CHIP for their kids can access plain-language help and local service referrals in seconds.
A Tool Made in and for Maryland That is Built to Scale
As a Howard County based project, SHD will be born from local conversations with residents, providers, and nonprofits frustrated by the same issue: important information buried in unreadable paperwork. We’re here to bridge the gaps between the paperwork and the people it’s meant to serve.
With CHRC’s slate as a guide, we see clear alignment between our work and the future Maryland envisions.
Final Thoughts
The CHRC’s 2025 Recommendation Slate offers a smart, actionable framework for improving Maryland’s public health ecosystem. But turning these ideas into impact requires innovation, collaboration, and community-first thinking.
SHD is proud to be part of that movement.
As we continue testing, refining, and scaling our tool across Maryland — starting in Howard County — we invite partners, funders, and local leaders to join us in making health documents clearer, care more accessible, and outcomes more equitable.
Let’s meet the moment. Together.
For more information visit us at simplifyhealthdocs.com/home
here is a link to the original Roadmap:
https://health.maryland.gov/coph/Documents/Reference/Recommendation%20Slate%202025-06-09.v0.pdf