PROVIDENCE – A Medicaid accountable care program has been launched to improve health and patient satisfaction, as well as reduce care costs, for people enrolled in UnitedHealthcare Medicaid plans as a result of a new initiative from CharterCARE Health Partners, CharterCARE Provider Group RI LLC and UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Rhode Island.
“We look forward to working with the CharterCARE system and CharterCARE Provider Group RI to enable people to receive more personalized and better coordinated care, which will significantly enhance their ability to live healthier lives,” Patrice Cooper, CEO of UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Rhode Island, said in a statement.
UnitedHealthcare also is collaborating with physician groups through the initiative as part of the state’s Accountable Entities Pilot to improve coordination of care for people enrolled in Medicaid.
The Reinventing Medicaid Act of 2015 is a package of reforms that positions Rhode Island to improve access to high-quality care and achieve more than $100 million in annual Medicaid savings without cutting Medicaid eligibility or reducing benefits.
Sophie O’Connell, spokeswoman for the state Executive Office of Health and Human Services, said more than 100,000 lives are now attributed to an accountable entity through the state’s Reinventing Medicaid pilot initiative, greatly surpassing the initial goal of approximately 25,000 for the first year of implementation.
She explained that an “attributed life” means the person is receiving care from a primary care or behavioral health provider affiliated with an accountable entity.
O’Connell wrote in an email that “the Medicaid accountable entities pilot is a key part of our efforts, through [Gov. Gina M.] Raimondo’s Reinventing Medicaid initiative, to transform Rhode Island’s Medicaid system to improve the quality and coordination of care and improve health outcomes.”
O’Connell said the most recent numbers show that through contracts with accountable entities, Neighborhood Health Plan has 80,117 lives attributed to accountable entities and UnitedHealthcare has 21,526 lives attributed to accountable entities.
Raimondo said in a statement that “from day one, the top priority in our work to transform Medicaid has been to provide Rhode Islanders with better care and achieve healthier outcomes for more people.”
“Accountable entities like these will reward collaboration and help shift our entire health care system toward a structure that pays for outcomes and quality, rather than volume of services. I commend CharterCARE and UnitedHealthcare for leading the way in this effort,” Raimondo said.
The organizations will work together to better coordinate patient care by sharing technology and information about emergency room visits and hospital admissions.
UnitedHealthcare also will provide information about potential gaps in care and identify high-risk patients. Community-based health workers and care managers will support community-based care coordination by helping with planning after a patient is discharged from the hospital and scheduling follow-up appointments.
In August, Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island and CharterCARE Provider Group RI LLC partnered together to launch a similar accountable entity to improve care and reduce costs for Medicaid participants.
