The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Agency forHealthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) announced that it has awardeda $1.2 million grant to Michigan State University to evaluate theeffectiveness of primary care transformation efforts at PriorityHealth and Independent Health, a New York plan.
'The research will compare the effectiveness of two differentpatient-centered medical home (PCMH) strategies on improvement inoutcomes including cost, quality and experience in pilot practices,'said Rebecca A. Malouin, Ph.D., M.P.H., director of the Primary CareResearch and Evaluation Program at the Michigan State UniversityCollege of Human Medicine.
According to a release, PCMH is a model of care that replacesepisodic care with a long-term physician-patient relationshipfocused on coordinated, accessible, care. Attributes of the medicalhome include access to care, patient engagement and team-based care.
Malouin's research will evaluate the effectiveness of the PCMHpilots of Priority Health and Independent Health, a health benefitscompany in Buffalo, New York. The research will assess theadvantages and disadvantages of each pilot on patient experience,cost, quality and outcomes. The three-year grant will analyze claimsdata from the pilot practices of each plan from 2009, when thepilots were launched, through 2011.
The agency noted that Priority Health and Independent Healthoffer an ideal comparison opportunity since both are community-based health plans (members of the Alliance of Community HealthPlans), which began pilot projects in 2009. Both projects havecommon evaluation data elements but the two have differingapproaches:
-Priority Health implemented payment reforms to encouragepractice transformation and the adoption of improved access forprimary care patients. In addition, Priority Health offered grantopportunities to primary care practices to facilitate transformationwith consultative services from an external expert for a smallsubset of practices.
-Independent Health provided monthly prospective payments topractices to support implementation of specific structures andprocesses and annual retrospective payments based on the achievementof quality measures. Independent Health provided facilitated supportfrom experts within the plan to each of its pilot practices.
Malouin was invited by AHRQ to present an overview of herresearch proposal at the agency's annual conference held inSeptember in Bethesda, Md. 'It's the strength of our collaborativeapproach that made the project exciting,' she said. The projectinvolves investigators from both the public (MSU) and private sector(Priority Health, Independent Health and ACHP).
HHS announced the grant as part of the investments made under theAmerican Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which included $1.1billion to support patient-centered outcomes research.
Priority Health is a health plan nationally recognized forcreating solutions that impact health care costs while maximizingcustomer experience. It offers a broad portfolio of products foremployer groups, individuals and Medicare and Medicaid. As a non-profit company, Priority Health serves more than 600,000 people andcontinues to be rated as one of America's Best Health Plans by U.S.News & World Report and the National Committee for QualityAssurance.
Michigan State University College of Human Medicine is acommunity-based medical schools with a curriculum that emphasized apatient-centered philosophy. As a community-based medical school,the College of Human Medicine provides students with training inclinical settings that most closely parallel the environment inwhich many physicians practice. During the third- and fourth-year ofthe program, students complete a series of required and electiveclerkships at one of MSU's eight community-based program sites. Thesites are located in Saginaw, Midland, Flint, Grand Rapids,Kalamazoo, Lansing, Traverse City and the Upper Peninsula.
More Information:
priorityhealth.com
humanmedicine.msu.edu
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