Secretary Bigby, Rep. Brady Join Signature Healthcare CEO Kim Hollon to Announce Transformations in Care

BROCKTON — Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. JudyAnn Bigby today joined Representative Michael Brady and Signature Healthcare leadership to announce developments in the hospital’s integrated care models. Two distinct models for care, the 360° Patient Care Management Program and the Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) Disease Management Program were supported by funding from the Obama Administration, which at the end of last year approved more than $50 million for Brockton Hospital to support Delivery System Transformation Initiatives (DSTI). Seven Massachusetts safety net hospitals received a total of $628 million to support care transformation.

“Safety net hospitals like Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital provide care for many of our most vulnerable residents,” said Secretary Bigby. “Safety net hospitals are integral to ensuring that every person in Massachusetts has access to high-quality, affordable health care. I’m grateful for the support of our Congressional delegation and the Obama Administration for its steadfast support of this initiative.”

Through its hospital-based 360° Patient Care Management Program, Signature Healthcare is currently developing and implementing ways to identify and case/disease manage the most seriously ill members of its patient population. The program is designed to identify the severely and chronically ill high-risk patient who has historically used a disproportionate amount of health care resources. Coordinated care teams will evaluate and manage these patients; the model is designed to immediately improve the quality of care and reduces the costs of care for this high-risk, designated population.

“We are deeply committed to care transformation,” said Signature Healthcare President and CEO Kim Hollon. “This funding provided us an opportunity to invest in some of the key ingredients that make up high quality, coordinated care including: bolstering our primary care capacity, focusing on preventive care and using technology to support the highest standards of care.”

Similarly, the Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) Disease Management Program is designed to manage the leading cause of hospital admissions among the elderly. The program educates patients and family members; utilizes evidence-based clinical management; creates support systems to help patients participate in their care and symptom management; and implements tracking systems to manage patient-doctor communication and care.

The Obama Administration’s approval of the Commonwealth’s “master plan” for DSTI hospitals makes available $628 million in joint state and federal funding to provide incentive payments for safety net hospitals over three years. This will allow the hospitals to invest in integrated care, electronic safety and quality innovations and infrastructure to support alternative payment models.

The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) first authorized the DSTI program in December 2011 as part of Massachusetts' Medicaid waiver. The Commonwealth’s master plan will serve as a roadmap for participating safety net hospitals to design their individual three-year transformation plans.

Safety net hospitals will undertake transformation projects in four areas:

• Development of a fully integrated delivery system, such as converting primary care practices into Patient Centered Medical Homes, integrating physical and behavioral health care, and developing integrated networks of providers linked by electronic health records.
• Implementation of innovative care models to improve quality of care and health outcomes, such as building electronic chronic disease registries, implementing new care management programs for patients with complex conditions, and better coordinating care when patients leave the hospital to prevent readmissions.
• Development of capabilities necessary to implement alternative payment models, such as building the infrastructure to become an Accountable Care Organization (ACO), piloting alternative payment models for low-income patients, and enhancing systems to monitor providers’ performance on health care quality and costs.
• Population-focused health outcome improvements, projects aimed at collecting and reporting key measures that will allow the Commonwealth to track and assess the impact of the transformation initiatives on patients’ health and system costs over time.

The Commonwealth will leverage DSTI funds to advance new models of care delivery that emphasize greater clinical integration and care management including the integration of primary care and behavioral health services, as well as to advance payment models that align incentives more effectively at the provider level to promote cost-effective care.

Last month, Governor Patrick signed comprehensive health care cost containment legislation that encourages the creation of “integrated care organizations” comprised of groups of providers that work together to achieve improved health outcomes for patients at lower costs; and provides benchmarks, standards and guidance for the transition to integrated care, to control health care costs.

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