Health Integrated Announces Turnkey Model of Care Program for Special Needs Health Plans

TAMPA, Fla., Nov. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Health Integrated, a leading provider of Health Management Solutions, announced today its SNP Model of Care program to assist Special Needs health plans in complying by January 2010 with the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA). With January deadlines fast approaching, health plans that engage with Health Integrated will install a cost-effective, rapidly deployable program that is tailored to unique health plan needs and meets all requirements of the law as administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090709/FL43703LOGO )

As part of this program, participating plans will benefit from Health Integrated's extensive expertise in population health management, deep understanding of vulnerable populations and leading edge data analytics. Coordination of care, outreach to individual health plan members and their physicians, assessment of health risk, member health management, and outcomes measurement and analysis have been core tenants of Health Integrated programs for over a decade. These tenants are in lock step with MIPPA requirements and support the intent to fundamentally enhance the overall model for managing Special Needs Plan (SNP) member health. The Health Integrated offering shares the promise of increasing the quality of care provided while reducing health care costs.

SNPs are a category of Medicare that includes individuals who fall into a demographic that have particular healthcare needs, such as those with disabling chronic conditions or low-income, elderly who also qualify for Medicaid. The goals of MIPPA are to improve access to affordable medical, mental health and social services, improve coordination of care and ultimately to improve health outcomes. The law mandates that for each member in a SNP, the health plan must conduct a health risk assessment, develop a care plan, manage the member's care through an interdisciplinary care team and evaluate the effectiveness of that care.

"While compliance is necessary by January 2010, there are widely different interpretations of the requirements," said Dr. Sam Toney, Health Integrated's Chief Medical Officer. "Health Integrated's SNP Model of Care program provides a uniform solution based on best practices, enabling Special Needs Plans to meet the requirements, gain important insights to their populations and deliver on the vision to improve beneficiary health while lowering costs."

Developed in collaboration with current customers - leading Medicaid managed care plans and SNP providers - Health Integrated's SNP Model of Care offering is focused on unlocking the value of care management while meeting compliance requirements. With care management savings expected to cover fees by 3-to-1 or greater, the program is essentially self-funding. The offering is complementary to a health plan's own care management strategies and easily integrates into existing health plan programs.

Getting started is easy and simply requires a conference call with a Health Integrated SNP Model of Care specialist. For more information and to arrange a call, plans may contact their account representative or Health Integrated at 800.323.0286 or marketing@healthintegrated.com.

About Health Integrated
Health Integrated is the leading innovation partner for health plans, providing evidence-based solutions to accelerate achievement of health management goals for clinical outcomes, quality measures and cost containment. For more information, visit www.healthintegrated.com.

    CONTACT:
    Mike Miniati, Health Integrated
    813-388-4030 or mminiati@healthintegrated.com