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Patient Affordability is one of three pillars of Partners' strategic initiative, along with population health management/care redesign and reputation/communications. By improving efficiency and removing costs from the system, Partners is taking important steps to help make health care more affordable. Its year-plus affiliation with Neighborhood Health Plan has aligned goals: care coordination, cost-effectiveness and community-based, accessible care for the underserved.
It was official on Oct. 1, 2012. Neighborhood Health Plan (NHP) became a member of Partners HealthCare. The affiliation was envisioned to improve access to community-based care, particularly for underserved patients, to coordinate that care more effectively and to provide it more affordably. It combines NHP's expertise in managing care for patients with complex conditions with Partners' expertise in providing that care. At the same time, it affords the organizations the flexibility to develop innovative patient- and family-centered models of community-based care and new ways to manage the care of complex patients.
One such model is the integrated Care Management Program (iCMP). At BWH, the iCMP is a key strategy of population health management-a proactive approach to patient care organized around patients' comprehensive health needs. Patients with chronic or multiple medical conditions often need the most help coordinating their care.
These high-risk patients are all assigned to a nurse care coordinator who is part of their BWH primary care practice. Care coordinators collaborate with the primary care team to help manage every aspect of iCMP patients' care, including working closely with community providers, specialists and all members of the care team. There are 3,000 iCMP patients throughout 14 primary care practices across BWH and BWFH. By the end of 2014, NHP expects nearly 600 of its members to be participants in the program.
"The addition and integration of iCMP nurse care coordinators and social workers into our primary care practices have improved patients' experience and outcomes, and facilitated our continued transition to true team-based care," said Joseph Frolkis, MD, PhD, vice chair of Primary Care in the BWH Department of Medicine.
Another joint project during the first year of the affiliation was the launch of the Partnership for Community Health, which provides grants to community health centers to help them transform the way care is delivered and adapt to state and national reforms. During the next 15 years, the initiative will provide up to $90 million in grant funding to community health centers to develop and launch programs that enhance health outcomes, accessibility, efficiencies and quality of care.
The first round of funding in 2013 totaled $4.25 million in infrastructure improvement grants to community health centers. Grants in 2014 will provide $6 million over two years and will focus on operation and service excellence in the areas of data and decision support, operational improvement and communication.