Program Implementation Strategies Associated With Reduced Acute Care Utilization for Medicaid Beneficiaries in California's Whole Person Care Pilot Program.

Public health care policymakers and payers are increasingly investing in efforts to address patients' health-related social needs (HRSNs) as a strategy for improving health while controlling or reducing costs. However, evidence regarding the implementation and impact of HRSN interventions remains limited. California's Whole Person Care Pilot program (WPC) was a Medicaid Section 1115 waiver demonstration program focused on the provision of care coordination and other services to address eligible beneficiaries' HRSN. In this study, we examine pilot-level variation in impact on acute care utilization and identify factors associated with differential outcomes. The majority of pilots reduced emergency department (ED) visits for enrollees relative to matched controls; however, only four pilots reduced both ED visits and hospitalizations. Coincidence analysis results highlight the importance of cross-sector partnerships, field-based outreach and engagement, and adequate program investment in differentiating pilots that reduced acute care utilization from those that did not.

Systematic Review of Care Coordination Interventions Linking Health and Social Services for High-Utilizing Patient Populations.

Recognizing that social factors influence patient health outcomes and utilization, health systems have developed interventions to address patients' social needs. Care coordination across the health care and social service sectors is a distinct and important strategy to address social determinants of health, but limited information exists about how care coordination operates in this context. To address this gap, the authors conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed publications that document the coordination of health care and social services in the United States. After a structured elimination process, 25 publications of 19 programs were synthesized to identify patterns in care coordination implementation. Results indicate that patient needs assessment, in-person patient contact, and standardized care coordination protocols are common across programs that bridge health care and social services. Publications discussing these programs often provide limited detail on other key elements of care coordination, especially the nature of referrals and care coordinator caseload. Additional research is needed to document critical elements of program implementation and to evaluate program impacts.

Colocation Does Not Equal Integration: Identifying and Measuring Best Practices in Primary Care Integration of Children's Oral Health Services in Health Centers.

OBJECTIVE: Improving oral health of low-income and uninsured young children remains challenging because of reluctance of general dentists to care for very young children or participate in Medicaid, limited involvement of primary care providers in children's oral health, and lack of parental awareness of the importance of early oral health care. These barriers can be addressed in health centers (HCs) that are the premier sources of primary care for low-income and uninsured populations and a significant Medicaid provider. Many HCs provide dental services on-site, but literature indicates that medical and dental services often remain siloed with limited interaction among providers in addressing the oral health needs of young patients including risk assessment, education, and caries prevention. Accordingly, we developed a conceptual framework and measuring tool for medical dental integration and sought to examine utility of this tool in a purposive sample of HCs. METHOD: We developed a conceptual framework for integrated oral health delivery and designed a survey to measure this integration. We surveyed 12 HCs in Los Angeles County participating in a project to improve oral health-care capacity for young children after 2 years of implementation. We included measures of risk assessment, preventive interventions, communication and collaborative practice, and buy-in organized in structure and process domains. Two individuals independently scored the responses, and a third reviewed and finalized. We standardized final scores to range from 0 to 100. RESULTS: Overall integration scores ranged from 31% to 73% (mean = 64%). Process scores were higher than structure scores for nearly all HCs. Processes contributing to higher scores included referrals with warm hand-offs, leadership support for medical-dental integration, and involvement in dental quality improvement projects. Structure factors contributing to higher scores included the presence of medical oral health champions, linked electronic health records, and referral protocols. CONCLUSION: We found that high levels of integration could be achieved despite structure and process limitations and sustainable integration depends on leadership and provider commitment and embedding of best practices in daily operations. Further research can illustrate the reliability of our tool and the impact of integration on access.

Integrating Health And Human Services In California's Whole Person Care Medicaid 1115 Waiver Demonstration.

Policy makers are increasingly investing in programs focused on identifying and addressing the nonmedical needs of high-utilizing Medicaid beneficiaries, yet little is known about these programs' implementation. This study provides an overview of early progress in and strategies used to implement California's Whole Person Care (WPC) Pilot Program, a $3 billion Medicaid Section 1115(a) waiver demonstration project focused on improving the integrated delivery of health, behavioral health, and social services for Medicaid beneficiaries who use acute and costly services in multiple service sectors. WPC pilots reported significant progress in developing partnerships, data-sharing infrastructure, and services needed to coordinate care for identified patient populations. We also identified major barriers to WPC implementation, such as difficulty identifying and engaging eligible beneficiaries and the lack of affordable housing. Our findings offer insights to leaders and policy makers interested in testing new approaches for improving the health and well-being of medically and socially complex patients.