UnitedHealthcare Focuses on Connecting Eligible Hawaii Medicare and Medicaid Recipients with Vital Social Services
April 22 2019 - 4:00PM
Business Wire
UnitedHealthcare receives a five-year
Accountable Health Communities (AHC) award from CMS to improve
health outcomes on Oahu
A new screening program available to eligible Medicare and
Medicaid patients of Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center,
Kalihi-Palama Health Center and The Queen’s Medical Centers aims to
address critical gaps between clinical care and social services.
Funded by a five-year, $4.5 million award from the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to UnitedHealthcare, in
partnership with the Hawaii State Department of Human Services, the
Accountable Health Communities (AHC) Model was created by CMS’
Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI).
UnitedHealthcare has implemented the Accountable Health
Communities Model, which includes self-administered screenings –
completed by using a computer tablet – to help identify and address
the health-related social needs of eligible Medicare and Medicaid
recipients, thereby improving their experiences and reducing
inpatient and outpatient utilization, while reducing total health
care costs. These health-related social needs can include
employment, safe housing, reliable transportation and financial
stability. The award to support program activities was provided to
UnitedHealthcare; however, patients do not need to be enrolled in a
UnitedHealthcare Medicare or Medicaid managed care program to
participate. UnitedHealthcare is further supporting the program
with an additional $6.4 million investment.
“Social barriers, such as housing instability and quality, food
insecurity, personal safety, and lack of transportation and
affordable utilities, affect people’s ability to maintain their
health and well-being,” said Katherine Keir, UnitedHealthcare
Hawaii state director. “This award will enable UnitedHealthcare and
our clinical partners to identify the needs of some of our most
vulnerable residents and connect them to community-based
organizations that can help them live healthier lives.”
In addition to the partner clinical sites, several
community-based organizations are working to implement the program.
These include Aloha United Way, The Institute for Human Services,
Catholic Charities Hawaii, Child & Family Service, Parents and
Children Together and Hawaiian Community Assets.
The award also funds a team of navigators who will assess the
results of the screenings, make referrals, coordinate services and
perform ongoing follow-up to help resolve an individual’s social
needs. Since October 2018, the clinical partners have offered the
comprehensive screening to more than 7,700 Medicare and Medicaid
recipients. The goal is to reach 75,000 comprehensive screenings
per year.
An advisory board of local stakeholders helps oversee program
implementation, encourage partner participation, ensure that social
services are available and aligned to patients’ needs, and assess
the results of the model. The advisory board includes
representatives from the Governor’s office, DHS Med-QUEST
administration, state government agencies, health care providers
and social service organizations.
The project described was supported by Funding Opportunity
Number CMS-1P1-17-0010 from the U.S. Department of Health &
Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The
contents provided are solely the responsibility of the authors and
do not necessarily represent the official views of HHS or any of
its agencies.
About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people live healthier
lives and making the health system work better for everyone by
simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and
wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care
providers. UnitedHealthcare has three office locations in Hawai’i
with over 300 employees serving Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries
on every island. UnitedHealthcare offers the full spectrum of
health benefit programs for individuals, employers, and Medicare
and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than
1.2 million physicians and care professionals, and 6,500 hospitals
and other care facilities nationwide. The company also provides
health benefits and delivers care to people through owned and
operated health care facilities in South America. UnitedHealthcare
is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a
diversified health care company. For more information, visit
UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or follow @UHC on
Twitter.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190422005020/en/
Katherine KeirHawaii State Director,
UnitedHealthcarekatherine_keir@uhc.com808-535-1035
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