Hospital cited for care coordination
An innovative health delivery model that is touching the lives of more than 5,000 patients in northern Maine — and nearly 50,000 statewide — is the first in the nation to earn accreditation from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).
That news came recently from NCQA to officials with Beacon Health, which is led in Aroostook County by TAMC as a member of EMHS. NCQA is considered the gold standard for improving health care across the country.
“Case management (care coordination) accreditation moves us closer to measuring quality across population health management initiatives,” said Margaret E. O’Kane, NCQA president. “Not only does it add value to existing quality improvement efforts, it also demonstrates an organization’s commitment to the highest degree of improving the quality of their patients’ care.”
Beacon Health nurse care coordinators are embedded throughout Maine in nearly 40 primary care practices including TAMC. The two other regional partners are Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent and Health Access Network in Lincoln.
“The goal is to optimize health care for our patients via improving care delivery with efforts at minimizing gaps in patients’ care, reducing preventable hospital admissions, as well as readmissions, and trying to reduce emergency department visits. This is a work in progress that will continue to evolve over time,” said Dr. David Weed, chief medical officer for TAMC Medical Group.
“This accreditation reflects the much deserved recognition of our care coordination program for the outstanding work that our care coordinators are doing to improve health and quality of care for our patients. Being the first in the nation is clearly something to be very proud of. I think it reflects the eagerness of all of us involved with care coordination to make sure that our patients are getting the best care possible,” he added.
Patients currently served through Beacon Health locally and statewide include Medicare recipients, Maine State employees, University of Maine System employees and EMHS employees. Since its inception two-and-a-half years ago, the population of participants has seen improvement in overall health and wellbeing. For example, EMHS employees, numbering 10,000 statewide, have recorded a decrease in hospital admissions by 27 percent. Additionally, emergency department visits have decreased by nearly 8 percent among this same population.
“When EHMS recognized that patients were requiring increasingly complex care, the goal was to align our mission to focus on coordinating care and services to provide our patients with the best quality of care,” said Beverly Joy, RN, BSN, MSN, the northern regional manager for EMHS Care Coordination and Accountable Care Organization activities. “NCQA is known for its rigorous accreditation programs that hold organizations receiving NCQA recognition accountable to the highest standards of care delivery in the country. When you consider our rural setting here in The County, this is a remarkable achievement, and our patients and families served reap the benefits right here at home. And, what that means to our care management team here in The County is our patients are the recipients of the collaborative process of care coordination and patient advocacy that is based on current best practices with our goal to meet, and hopefully, exceed the patients’ expectation.”
Joy, who is based at TAMC, works with regional providers at TAMC, NMMC and HAN to implement the care model as new participant groups are brought on board. Collaboratively, the partners work to better coordinate patient care across all types of health services with the goal to ensure participants’ access to the best in health care, reduce costs, and help people live as healthy a life as possible.
