CCNC Update: August 2012
In the News
NC third in patient-centered medical homes. A recent article in Becker’s Hospital Review notes that the latest NCQA data ranks North Carolina third in the nation in PCMH-recognized practices. Dr. David Halpern notes that on a per-capita basis, North Carolina is second in PCMH practices. Congrats to all who have labored to help medical practices raise the bar on quality.
CCNC to weigh in on State Innovation Model (SIM). CCNC will participate in a new CMS initiative promoting development of “State Health Care Innovation Plans” that can achieve the Triple Aim. The task is to “plan, design, test, and support evaluation of new payment and service delivery models in the context of a larger health system transformation. CCNC is working on a proposal due in mid-September, with awards to be announced in November. CMS will make $2 million available to 25 states to develop plans and between $20 million and $60 million available to 5 states over 36 months to implement plans approved by the agency. For more information, see the CMS Innovations site.
Governing looks at duals. CCNC’s Denise Levis is quoted in a recent Governing article analyzing the impact of the Supreme Court decision on the dually-eligible population.
AccessCare staff educate care managers. Several members of the AccessCare staff presented information at the 22nd Annual Conference & Expo of the Case Management Society of America in San Francisco on June 19-22. Expo presentations focused on Medication Reconciliation (Sheri McCall, Sherri Branski, Marcelleta Miles, Treiste Newton, Ayanna Whitfield), Palliative Care (Sherri Branski, Ayanna Whitfield, Marcelleta Miles, Sheri McCall, Treiste Newton) and Medical Home Care Management (Marcelletta Miles, Sheri McCall). Congratulations to all for bringing insights from CCNC operations to their peers in other states. Details of these presentations are available upon request.
Pediatric collaboration gears up. A team under Steve Wegner is writing an operations plan for the Children’s Accountable Care Collaborative (CHACC). CMS has committed to approving 100 such Operations Plans by September 10. Winner of a $9 million Innovations grant from CMS, the program will provide care coordination through embedded specialty care managers in the offices of specialists and through "parent navigators" working with patients in their homes. The program will serve Medicaid and CHIP children with chronic diseases through a broad coalition of academic medical centers across North Carolina. For more information, see the CMS Innovation site.
Awards
Award for “Best of the Best” in health care applications. The NC Community Health Information Portal (NC-HIP) is still under development, but its prototype has already won the top award at Datapalooza 2012. The web-based portal aims to provide timely, comprehensive information to a broad audience of users including CCNC network leaders, public health departments, health educators, hospital staff, researchers and academics.
When fully functional, the site will geo-locate information from a variety of databases including provider locations, census data, health outcomes and health professional shortage areas (HPSAs). NC-HIP will give doctors, public health workers and policy-makers a new and robust tool for responding to the health needs of the community. The effort is funded by the Community Care of Southern Piedmont Beacon Community, developed in collaboration with CCNC, Health Landscapes, Inc., the NC Institute for Public Health and the Robert Graham Center.
Publications
New report on CCNC Utilization. A new report from Treo Solutions details favorable utilization patterns in the CCNC population. Check out CCNC’s Knowledge Center for details concerning Treo’s latest report on utilization. CCNC’s 2007-2010 trends are consistent with high-performing primary care medical homes: inpatient and ER utilization are consistently lower for the CCNC-enrolled population, while primary care visits and pharmaceutical prescriptions are higher. The full report is downloadable from CCNC’s website.
CCNC referenced in JAMA. There’s a great article on the integration of public health and primary care in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. CCNC is referenced at an “encouraging sustainable grassroots example of integration. The abstract is available here. (JAMA subscription required to view the full text.)
Events
CCNC Annual Meeting set. CCNC members and partners will gather September 20, 2012 at the Embassy Suites in Cary. Look for an email with registration information and a draft agenda.
Other News
Dieticians and medical homes. Interesting article in Today’s Dietician about the role of dieticians in a PCMH environment. Note reference to CCNC’s chronic care efforts.
Northwest Community Care to help elderly patients recover better at home after hospital treatment. Nice piece in the Winston-Salem Journal about early, positive results from the consortium working to better manage these transitions.
Top U.S. Drug Advisor visits Wilkes County. The August 22nd visit of Gil Kerlikowske, Director of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and President Obama’s top drug policy advisor, to Wilkes County generated quite a bit of press coverage, including an AP pick up and a nice piece Time Magazine. The event should certainly help raise awareness of issues related to the treatment of chronic pain and opioid misuse.