Portland, Ore. — September 16, 2015 — As part of a four-year project funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Portland-based Acumentra Health is working with Oregon primary care physicians (PCPs) to increase screening and referral for depression and alcohol use disorder among Medicare patients. The project team is also working with mental health clinicians and inpatient psychiatric facilities (IPFs) to reduce hospital readmissions and increase rates of outpatient follow-up.
Acumentra Health is now recruiting Oregon clinicians to participate in this project, which could affect more than 141,000 Medicare beneficiaries in Oregon.
“Psychiatric and substance abuse disorders are the second leading cause of hospital readmissions nationally,” explains Nicole O’Kane, PharmD, clinical director, Acumentra Health. “Depression and alcohol abuse put patients at greater risk for hospitalization and complicate the treatment of other chronic diseases. Yet behavioral health problems are often under-identified in primary care settings.”
To address these issues, CMS selected Utah’s HealthInsight Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) for a four-state effort in Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Utah. In Oregon, Acumentra Health will carry out this work as a subcontractor for HealthInsight, working with PCPs, mental health providers and IPFs to improve quality of care and patient outcomes.
“Our teams are excited to implement quality improvement strategies that will increase patient screenings and enhance communication between behavioral health and primary care providers,” adds O’Kane. “This project dovetails with other quality improvement tasks we’re performing for Medicare, which emphasize preventive care for beneficiaries in coordination with care for chronic health conditions.” O’Kane notes that the behavioral health screening goals for Medicare patients also align with some of the payment incentive metrics the Oregon Health Authority has defined for the coordinated care organizations that serve Medicaid clients.
Nationally, CMS expects that by 2019, this work will result in 10,000 primary care practices screening a majority of their Medicare patients for depression and alcohol use disorder by means of a nationally recognized screening tool.
Recruitment of practices for this initiative is underway. To learn more about how your organization can contribute to this important work and how Acumentra Health can support your participation, please contact Susan Yates Miller, [email protected].
