Thirteen health care providers in the Hudson Valley region that treat Hudson Health Plan members have been chosen to participate in a Comprehensive Primary Care initiative by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center.
The project will reward primary care professionals for coordinating care of patients with complex medical needs in order to reduce overall health costs while improving patients”™ health. Hudson Health Plan in Tarrytown, a nonprofit health care organization that provides state-sponsored insurance coverage to more than 115,000 members in the region, will pay a care coordination fee to its providers.
Selected providers are:
- Westchester County: Comprehensive Primary Care Services, in New Rochelle; The Westchester Medical Practice P.C., in Yorktown Heights and Peekskill; and Westchester Health Associates, in Thornwood.
- Putnam County: Northern Heart Specialists, in Carmel and Mahopac;Â and The Westchester Medical Practice P.C., in Cold Spring.
- Rockland County: Rockland Family Medical Care, in West Haverstraw.
- Orange County: New Windsor Family Medicine.
- Dutchess County: Fishkill Medical and Associates; Health Quest Medical Practice Primary Care, with offices in Hopewell Junction, Hyde Park, Lagrangeville, Millbrook and Poughkeepsie; Hudson Valley Primary Care, in Wappingers Falls; and Village Medical P.L.L.C., in Pawling.
- Sullivan County: River Valley Family Medical Services P.C., in Barryville; and Middletown Medical P.C., in Ferndale.
- Ulster County: Dr. Eugene P. Heslin P.C., in Saugerties; and Health Quest Medical Practice Primary Care, in Highland.
Hudson Health Plan also will provide data to identify patients needing closer supervision and to alert physicians when patients visit specialists and hospital emergency departments or are released from a hospital. It is one of the few managed care plans that already share some of this information with providers.
Georganne Chapin, president and CEO of Hudson Health Plan, in a statement said the community-based nonprofit was asked to join the federal primary care project with the region”™s major insurance companies because of its “pioneering work” with providers. “We intend to share our expertise with other payers and be a catalyst in bringing about a transformative change in health care delivery, and give primary care professionals a real opportunity to improve the health of their patients,” she said.
