Leading Medicaid Health Plan to Offer Physicians Handheld Devices, Mobile Clinical Alerts and e-Prescribing to Engage Patients at Point-of-Care and Reduce Hospitalizations and Health Care Costs
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The AmeriHealth Mercy Family of Companies, one of the largest organizations of Medicaid managed care plans in the country, covering four million lives, today announced that it will offer physicians free mobile technology to support delivery of patient information to handheld devices at the point of care. AmeriHealth Mercy will roll out mobile clinical care alerts and e-prescribing services to providers in its network, giving them real-time access to patient-specific clinical and medication information when they are in the exam room with the patient. The new mobile capabilities will encourage greater doctor-patient engagement with Medicaid participants and will improve overall quality of care by supporting care management and medication adherence, reducing costs, and minimizing emergency room and hospital visits.
Medicaid patients typically require more health care services, can take five or more prescribed medications at any given time and are often not compliant with medication regimens, which put them at increased risk for medication errors, prolonged treatments and hospitalizations, resulting in higher medical costs. It also can be difficult for physicians and Medicaid health plans to remain in regular communication with Medicaid patients, who are often transient. AmeriHealth Mercy’s mobile services will send up-to-date patient-specific information to the physician in the exam room when the patient is there, enabling more informed doctor-patient interaction.
“Access to comprehensive, real-time patient information is a critical part of providing high-quality care, especially when it comes to treating Medicaid patients, who may see several different health care providers and be prescribed multiple medications,” said Jay Feldstein, DO, AmeriHealth Mercy Family of Companies regional president, Northern Division. “Mobile technology will allow physicians to have the latest clinical and medication information about patients covered by AmeriHealth Mercy, which will support doctor-patient engagement, a model that has been proven to improve patient care and reduce health care costs.”
“AmeriHealth Mercy has proven its commitment to its members by arming physicians with actionable information, when and where they need it, to help patients recover faster and stay well longer,” said S. Michael Ross, M.D., MHA, chief medical officer, NaviNet. “AmeriHealth Mercy’s innovative use of technology to improve care and reduce costs should serve as a model for Medicaid plans across the country.”
To support its mobile health care program, AmeriHealth Mercy selected NaviNet Mobile Connect to deliver care alerts and e-prescribing at no cost to physicians. NaviNet Mobile Connect is a mobile care management platform that enables health plans to send patient-related information to physicians using handheld devices. NaviNet Mobile Connect, which integrates in real time with the office’s practice management system, is compatible with the iPhone®, iPod touch®, iPad®, Android and Windows Mobile platforms. The AmeriHealth Mercy mobile services will include:
E-Prescribing: NaviNet Prescribe is an e-prescribing and clinical decision support solution available via mobile device and desktop access. NaviNet Prescribe will provide information about medications and prescription insurance benefits from PerformRx, AmeriHealth Mercy’s pharmacy benefit manager (PBM). Physicians can use this information to discuss treatment plans and lower-cost drug alternatives with the patient, in addition to flagging potentially harmful drug interactions and side effects.
Clinical Alerts: NaviNet Care Alerts enables AmeriHealth Mercy and PerformRx to deliver timely clinical messages to physicians’ mobile devices. The clinical alerts service leverages the e-prescribing process to inform physicians of needed or missed tests, procedures or therapies while the patient is in the exam room. Physicians can use the service to “close the loop” and inform AmeriHealth Mercy of care procedures performed.
AmeriHealth Mercy initially will offer NaviNet Mobile Connect to physicians in Pennsylvania and subsequently will expand the mobile services to physicians in all states the health plan serves. The mobile services mark an extension of AmeriHealth Mercy’s clinical technology program: In 2009, AmeriHealth Mercy made NaviNet Clinical Alerts available to physicians via NaviNet’s desktop Web-based multi-payer portal. AmeriHealth Mercy saw a 57 percent increase in care gaps closure when alerts were viewed.
About AmeriHealth Mercy Family of Companies
The AmeriHealth Mercy Family of Companies is the nation’s leader in health care solutions for the underserved. The company is among the largest organizations of Medicaid managed care plans and related businesses in the United States, touching the lives of more than 7 million individuals covered by Medicaid, Medicare, SCHIP and other insurance. Headquartered in Philadelphia, AmeriHealth Mercy is a mission-driven company with more than 25 years of experience serving low-income, chronically ill populations. AmeriHealth Mercy’s core products include full-risk HMOs, management contracts, administrative services, pharmacy benefit management, care management services, and behavioral health care management services. For more information, visit www.amerihealthmercy.com.
About NaviNet
NaviNet, America’s largest real-time healthcare communications network, securely links leading health plans, industry partners and the government to hundreds of thousands of physicians, clinicians and other healthcare professionals. More than 70 percent of the nation’s physicians are enrolled in the NaviNet Network, which touches 121 million covered lives. NaviNet’s solutions and services for unified patient information management (UPIM) address the full lifecycle of healthcare data management by providing single-source access to patient-centric administrative, financial and clinical information to reduce costs, increase efficiencies and improve quality of care. The NaviNet solution suite includes NaviNet Insurer Connect, NaviNet PM, NaviNet EMR, NaviNet Mobile Connect and NaviNet Medicare Connect. For more information, or to sign up for NaviNet, please visit www.NaviNet.net or call 617-715-6000 or 800-805-7569. Connect with us on our blog, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
CONTACT:
The AmeriHealth Mercy Family of Companies
Tom Bell
215-937-8592
215-837-9385
[email protected]
or
NaviNet, Inc.
Laura McCaughey, 617-715-6431
[email protected]
or
Schwartz Communications
Mercedes Carrasco, 781-684-0770
[email protected]
KEYWORDS: United States North America Massachusetts
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Technology Practice Management Health Hospitals Mobile/Wireless Other Health Managed Care
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