Press Releases
07/06/2015
Lt. Gov. Wyman: Healthcare Practices in Middlebury, Stratford, Bridgeport, Danbury Selected for Medical Home Pilot Program
(HARTFORD, CT) - Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman, Chair of the State Innovation Model, Director of Healthcare Innovation Dr. Mark Schaefer, and Connecticut Healthcare Advocate Vicki Veltri today announced that Alliance Medical Group of Middlebury, Northeast Medical Group of Stratford, St. Vincent's Health Partners of Bridgeport, and Western CT Health Network of Danbury will receive technical assistance under the State Innovation Model (SIM) Advanced Medical Home Vanguard pilot program. The four practices represent more than 30 providers in Connecticut.
Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman said, "Under this program, practices will receive the technical assistance and services they need to improve patient care and outcomes-that means healthier residents and families. The Affordable Care Act helped us enroll more than half a million residents in healthcare coverage. Strengthening primary care is another step in the direction of better healthcare outcomes for all of our residents. I applaud the work so many consumers, providers, and healthcare companies have done to improve primary care."
This first round of providers demonstrated compliance with Connecticut's standards for medical homes-standards that exceed those set by National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), a nationally-recognized body for patient-centered medical homes. Primary care practices applied for technical assistance through a non-competitive process. Connecticut expects to assist nearly 400 primary care practices by 2019.
Director of Healthcare Innovation Mark Schaefer said, "Connecticut's Advanced Medical Home Vanguard Program builds on a strong foundation of national standards with improvements to those standards that provide a focus on helping primary care to be better tuned to patient goals and preferences, more effective in identifying behavioral health conditions, and better able to close the gap in health care outcomes for different racial and ethnic groups."
The pilot program is testing a model that will be funded through a $45 million Center of Medicare & Medicaid Innovation Services (CMMI) grant that the state received in December 2014. The program is designed to support primary care practices in their evolution toward a medical home model-a team-based approach wherein the primary care providers coordinate all patient services including behavioral health, nutrition counseling, and care management. Qualidigm, a Connecticut-based healthcare consulting firm, will provide technical services.
Connecticut's Healthcare Advocate Vicki Veltri said, "This program will promote better access to healthcare, reduce health disparities, and improve the quality and experience of healthcare. Supporting primary care practices will help us transform and improve how patients and providers interact with each other and their communities to address the health and health-related needs of individual patients."
Primary care practices are encouraged to participate in the Advanced Medical Home Vanguard Program pilot program. Applications are accepted on a first-come first-served basis.
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Office of Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman