APS Enhances Support of Medicaid Clients by Forming Innovative Partnerships with Federally Qualified Healthcare Centers.

SILVER SPRING, Md. -- Community Health Partnership model allows APS Health Management programs to broaden engagement and target local support for Medicaid and other government program clients

APS Healthcare announced today that it has introduced a ground-breaking community-based model for the improvement of outcomes for patients with chronic illnesses. Partners in this innovative program are Federally Qualified Healthcare Centers (FQHCs), paired with clinicians from the APS' Health Coaching team. FQHCs are non-profit clinics which deliver primary health care services to medically underserved populations, including Medicaid recipients.

The APS Community Health Partnership model provides Health Coaches--nurses trained in chronic illness management and behavior modification--and Care Coordinators--staff specially trained in social supports--to strategically-located FQHCs and community health systems in areas where APS provides health/disease management services to Medicaid recipients. Health Coaches and Care Coordinators are provided to the FQHC at no cost. Among other duties, they collect accurate data on Medicaid recipients, perform initial assessments of their health status, as well as recommend educational and community resources based on the client's individual needs.

According to David Hunsaker, President of APS' Public Programs governmental business unit, states selected for the first in the nation initiative are Wyoming and Georgia. Approximately half of the Health Coaches will be placed in Georgia FQHCs or high use emergency room settings.

"Expanding access to Medicaid populations in this environment is a key component to APS' Community Health Partnership model which emphasizes collaboration with local health care providers in order to support and educate high-risk patients," explains Hunsaker.

Hunsaker adds that APS has had a series of "firsts" in Medicaid programming and best practices, including the company being first to design and promulgate a state-wide, Internet-based Plan of Care tool for a statewide Medicaid program in 1999; and the first to assist a state in receiving federal Medicaid funds for Peer Support programs that are run by paid, self-directed consumers.

In Wyoming, Health Coaches will soon be deployed at the Cheyenne Health and Wellness Center (CHWC) in Cheyenne, which will improve EqualityCare (Medicaid) clients' enrollment into the Wyoming Department of Health's EqualityCare Health Management program, Healthy Together(SM). CHWC estimates approximately 30% of its patients will be EqualityCare clients.

"The placement of a Health Coach at Cheyenne Health and Wellness will give EqualityCare clients the ability to enroll in a program that provides them support from a nurse, education about their illness or condition and tools to empower them to manage their own care," explains Jerry Kiplinger, APS' Executive Director of the Wyoming EqualityCare Health Management program of the new model of health care delivery.

EqualityCare clients currently enrolled in Healthy Together are managed telephonically by their Health Coaches. "With the placement of a clinician locally," adds Teri Green, Wyoming Medicaid Policy Manager, "our ability to collect data as well as get them enrolled in the program, at the point of care, is significantly enhanced." Additionally, the Health Coach will act as a conduit to the Department of Family Services--which determines eligibility for EqualityCare--by providing information for those patients seeking EqualityCare coverage, Green adds.

"The opportunity to provide EqualityCare clients, who often are the most high-risk patients, with extra support and resources through Healthy Together was the real motivator behind this collaboration," says Sharon Montagnino, Chief Executive Officer of the Cheyenne Health and Wellness Center, which is the city's only Federally Qualified Healthcare Center (FQHC) providing care to underinsured and uninsured populations. "We are looking forward to working together to improve the health and quality of life for this population."

Healthy Together offers free services to EqualityCare clients who have been diagnosed with the highest-cost and highest-risk chronic illnesses, such as asthma, diabetes, heart failure, coronary artery disease, COPD and depression. In addition, it offers support and education to healthy clients, such as pregnant EqualityCare mothers in order to help them have a healthy pregnancy and child.

For more information, please contact David Hunsaker, President of APS Public Programs [phone] or [e-mail].

APS is a provider of specialty healthcare solutions that cover more than 20 million members in the United States and Puerto Rico. The company's portfolio of products encompasses the full-range of healthcare services, including disease management programs, behavioral and medical management programs, employee assistance programs, work/life services, absence management, as well as physical medicine and informatics consulting. APS operates three dedicated business units: APS Public Programs, which offers a wide variety of specialty physical, disease management and behavioral health services to government clients including 20 states, the Tricare Department of Defense program and Medicaid programs that cover approximately 30% of the U.S. Medicaid population; APS Health Management Programs, which offers a wide variety of disease and medical management services to employers and health plans; and APS Commercial Behavioral Management, which serves more than 900 clients, including corporate and public sector employers and health plans. All of APS' programs combine the company's core competencies in behavioral, disease and medical management into a holistic patient-centric approach, which improves clinical outcomes and creates a superior return on investment for customers. APS is committed to "Helping People Lead Healthier Lives(SM) "through the implementation of customized programs that meet each customer's unique needs.