FISHKILL, N.Y., March 9, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Nearly
half a million patients in New York’s Hudson Valley can now call
their primary care physician offices patient-centered medical
homes, thanks to a Taconic Health Information Network and Community
(THINC) project that garnered participation from six health plans
to improve the quality of care in the region.
The health plans–Aetna, CDPHP, Hudson Health Plan, MVP Health
Care, UnitedHealthcare and Empire BlueCross Blue Shield –represent
some 65 percent of the commercial insurance market in the Hudson
Valley and 43 percent of Medicaid managed care. Setting aside
competition in favor of cooperation with THINC, the health plans
paid $1.5 million to 236 primary care physicians in 11 practices
that achieved patient-centered medical home (PCMH) recognition from
the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), which served
as an objective measure of medical home-ness. The incentives were
paid to providers for transformation to a PCMH and for the
enhanced, more robust services patients receive in a medical
home.
The PCMH transformation project was managed over a one-year
period by THINC, the not-for-profit organization that convenes
providers, payers, employers, public health agencies, quality
organizations, consumers and local leaders to improve the quality,
safety and efficiency of health care for the community. The work
was managed in collaboration with Taconic IPA.
“This success of this project means we’ve reached critical mass
for the medical home in the Hudson Valley,” said Susan Stuard,
THINC’s executive director. “A majority of the commercial and
public program insurance plans serving the Hudson Valley worked
together to support the foundation of primary care–bring better
preventive care, improved chronic condition care, and better access
to coordinated care. Ultimately, this project shows that those
caring for the people of the Hudson Valley can move beyond
competition
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