NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ActiveHealth Management (ActiveHealth®) announced that the State Health Plan for Teachers and State Employees (“the Plan”) in North Carolina selected ActiveHealth to provide disease management, case management and wellness services to 562,000 of its members, beginning January 1, 2011, and to help foster the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model for providers throughout the state. North Carolina is the first state whose State Health Plan is instituting a broad-based strategy to move members toward a community-based PCMH model of care. The PCMH model of care has been shown to improve access to care, receipt of preventive screenings, and chronic condition management, according to the Commonwealth Fund1.
ActiveHealth’s disease management and wellness services will be provided through the State Health Plan’s healthy living initiative, NC HealthSmart. Members will be identified for personalized outreach and engagement for services that support the care they are receiving from their physician. The disease management and wellness programs and the provider tools are supported by ActiveHealth’s technology for advanced clinical decision support, the CareEngine® System.
“Improving the quality of health for our members requires change on an individual level and throughout the health care delivery system,” said Jack W. Walker, PhD, executive administrator for the Plan. “ActiveHealth will help drive our transformation, supporting and empowering physicians who are offering or are interested in implementing a community-based PCMH model. This includes the delivery of case management and disease management services through the practices.”
ActiveHealth to help providers implement new model of care
Along with the disease management and wellness services, ActiveHealth will work with provider groups and networks across the state to integrate a patient-centered medical home model of care for members. A practice using a patient-centered medical home model organizes care around the patient for a more convenient and personalized experience.
Providers and groups that engage in the PCMH model will have access to a set of online tools through Active CareTeamSM, an ActiveHealth solution, to help them manage their entire patient population and measure quality of their health care – at the individual patient and practice level. Population management and quality measurement are two key elements needed for recognition through the NCQA Physician Practice Connections—Patient-Centered Medical Home.
Through Active CareTeam, providers will be able to access patient information, including data from electronic medical records, lab tests, clinical alerts and pharmacy data, and communicate with other clinicians on a member’s care team. Active CareTeam will help PCMH models to function locally in communities across the state, while supporting collaborative care within provider practices and networks. As more providers become fully PCMH enabled, ActiveHealth will work with the Plan to engage members within the community-based models.
“In the United States, the projected cost of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma and cancer could be as high as $4 trillion by 20232. ActiveHealth is looking forward to working with the Plan to help improve its members’ health by providing access to our comprehensive health management services, and longer-term, support the State’s efforts to reshape how health care is delivered in North Carolina,” said Dr. Greg Steinberg, CEO and president of ActiveHealth Management.
The ActiveHealth contract represents a significant investment by the State Health Plan to promote healthy living and enhanced health care oversight for members. In addition, ActiveHealth is opening an office in High Point, NC, and will bring about 60 new jobs to the area.
About ActiveHealth Management
ActiveHealth Management is a leading provider of health management services, including disease management, clinical decision support and personal health records. The company's solutions, all based on its patented CareEngine® System, help individuals receive quality care and help organizations like health plans, employers, providers and health systems and government payers reduce medical costs. More than 19 million people nationwide benefit from ActiveHealth programs. Founded in 1998 and headquartered in New York City, ActiveHealth is an independent subsidiary of Aetna (NYSE: AET). For more information, please visit http://www.activehealth.net.
1A. C. Beal, M. M. Doty, S. E. Hernandez, K. K. Shea, and K. Davis, Closing the Divide: How Medical Homes Promote Equity in Health Care: Results From The Commonwealth Fund 2006 Health Care Quality Survey, The Commonwealth Fund, June 2007
2Milken Institute (2007), Ross DeVol and Armen Bedroussian, “An Unhealthy America: The Economic Burden of Chronic Disease, Charting a New Course to Save Lives and Increase Productivity and Economic Growth.”
CONTACT:
Aetna
Sherry Sanderford, 904-351-4592
[email protected]
or
ActiveHealth Management
Mary Mooney, 212-479-0301
[email protected]
KEYWORDS: United States North America New York North Carolina
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Practice Management Health Hospitals Professional Services Insurance Nursing Managed Care
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