Centering Healthcare Institute, Community Care of North Carolina and the Jersey City Medical Center – Barnabas Healthcare are vying for a $100,000 prize that recognizes excellence in population health management.
Hearst Health and the Jefferson College of Population Health at Thomas Jefferson University, which received more than 125 submissions from across the United States, will award the prize.
The finalists will present their programs at a special poster session at the 16th annual Population Health Colloquium in Philadelphia on March 7. One winner of the Hearst Health Prize will be announced at the event on March 8.
[Also: Panel to choose winner of $100,000 population health award]
Centering Healthcare Institute operates the pre-natal CenteringPregnancy program across the country. The initiative has reached more than 125,000 pregnant women in 400 practice sites. It brings together women with similar due dates for an extended time with their clinical provider for health assessment, interactive learning, and community building.
The program has reported reduced preterm birth between 33 and 47 percent across five published peer-reviewed studies, with reduced odds of preterm birth particularly dramatic among African American women. It has also increased birth weight, especially for preterm infants and lowered healthcare costs on an average of more than $2,000 per pregnant woman. The organization estimates it saved the healthcare system $35 million in 2014.
Community Care of North Carolina provides medication management, education for self-management and timely outpatient communication with the medical home for 1.4 million North Carolina Medicaid beneficiaries, including dual-eligibles. It is focused on identifying individuals with chronic medical conditions at risk for hospitalization or readmission.
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Among its reported impact: The rates of hospitalization and readmission for the target population have declined by 10 percent and 16 percent, respectively, since 2008; it has recorded 9 percent reduction in total Medicaid costs; and established real-time data connections with 87 hospitals, representing 78 percent of all Medicaid hospitalizations.
Jersey City Medical Center – Barnabas Health runs The Wealth from Health, Inc. program, which serves about 2,500 adults and children with complex chronic diseases, including asthma, sickle-cell anemia, HIV, renal stage disease and behavioral health issues. It has shown a 40 percent reduction in inpatient admissions for members enrolled at least 6 months and a 32 percent reduction in cost for those patients who had at least two chronic conditions. For those enrolled in the program for at least one year, there was a $2.1 million reduction in cost as compared with the full year prior to program enrollment.
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