New Public-Private Partnership Will Help At-Risk Medicaid Patients

A public-private partnership to identify and provide help for at-risk Medicaid patients was announced Wednesday.

The state has teamed up with the nonprofit company Partners in Health Network. Cabinet Secretary Karen Bowling, with the Department of Health and Human Resources, explained the program. She said the first step is to identify Medicaid patients who visit emergency rooms often.

“Then actually targeting those beneficiaries to ensure they’re really getting the help they need, they’re getting the care they need, but they’re getting it in the right setting,” she said.

Bowling said that through Partners in Health, the program can focus on preventive care and keep those patients out of the emergency room. She said the partnership will improve care for Medicaid patients and ultimately cut down on costs.

Bowling said programs such as this one are important in coming up with new ways to solve health care issues in West Virginia.

“As we begin to think about how do we change things, and move West Virginia in the right direction to change our health outcomes, we have got to have these types of programs in place so that there is sort of an acknowledgement of the need to do things differently.”

The program took effect at the beginning of the year.  The first step will be to collect data that can target the Medicaid patients benefit from it.