NBCH awards grants to coalitions for Patient-Centered Medical Home programs

To further efforts to center the individual’s health care experience around strong primary care, NBCH, through its nonprofit affiliate organization, the Community Coalitions Health Institute, has selected two member coalitions to receive funding for the Value-Based Insurance Design (VBID) for the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Seed Grant Program. The $120,000 in seed grants will provide the coalitions with the resources to encourage employees to use the PCMH within their communities through implementation of innovative insurance designs.

The coalitions selected to participate after a competitive application process including independent review by a panel of experts are the Maine Health Management Coalition and the Mid-America Coalition on Health Care.

“By encouraging strong primary care systems that focus on keeping patients healthy rather than treating them only when they are ill, leads to better outcomes, reduced emergency room visits and hospitalizations, and ultimately lower overall health care costs,” said Andrew Webber, NBCH president and CEO. “The patient-centered medical home is an important strategy to revamp the way care is delivered and paid for, bringing order to a health care system that is dangerously fragmented. By implementing value-based insurance design strategies to support the PCMH, coalitions such as MHMC and MACHC and their employer members are playing a critical role in encouraging greater use of medical home models.”

This NBCH seed grant program was supported by a charitable donation from Abbott. The selected coalitions plan to implement the following programs:

Maine Health Management Coalition (MHMC)
In collaboration with the City of Portland GetBetterPortland Pilot, MHMC will provide a VBID template to help speed adoption and standardize claims administration for the State’s health care providers. The initiative will include development of an MHMC-endorsed VBID model that Maine employers and the state insurance exchange can use and education to City of Portland opinion leaders about communicating with their own employees as well as other area employers about the importance and benefits of VBID.

Mid-America Coalition on Health Care (MACHC)
MACHC will convene Blue KC, the largest plan in the greater Kansas City area, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and five employers representing 23,000 eligible members to launch an employer-focused education program to highlight the benefits of PCMH; facilitate strategic planning on VBID options and model plan designs; support efforts to implement VBID; and gauge employees’ experience to improve communications.