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Health Integrated Hosts Industry Collaborative Focused on the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH)

Posted on: Monday, 6 July 2009, 06:45 CDT

TAMPA, Fla., July 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Health Integrated, a leading provider of Health Management Solutions, has formally launched a collaborative focused on the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH), an emerging healthcare delivery model focused on improving care while reducing healthcare costs.

With the debut of the Health Integrated PCMH Community Blog, members of the healthcare community interested in sharing insights or learning more about the PCMH concept now have an open, neutral and educational online environment in which to explore topics and issues. The registration link for the blog, which is the first dialogue-based program of several planned to support the collaborative, can be found at http://www.healthintegrated.com/blog-intro.html.

"With a few simple key strokes, health insurers, physicians, educators and others interested in contributing to the growing PCMH industry knowledge base are able to gain access to and join the ongoing discussions online, at any time of the day," says Christopher Valerian, DO, executive medical director of Health Integrated and moderator of the Health Integrated PCMH Blog.

PCMH is garnering significant attention on the national healthcare scene as a model that could address some of the fundamental concerns experienced by high-usage chronic patient groups. Because PCMH holds potential to provide a much-needed focal point for every challenged patient in a complex healthcare system, it is being implemented or considered by most major managed care organizations and professional associations with several high-profile pilots currently in process.

"Any model that looks at the whole patient, including PCMH, will provide a good platform for integrating effective care to improve physical, psychological and behavioral outcomes -- particularly among the highest risk patients that are most challenged in a disconnected system," Valerian adds.

As part of an ongoing initiative around bringing PCMH solutions to market, Health Integrated decided to launch a collaborative exploring PCMH after health plan customers expressed interest in sharing lessons learned and best practices during the most recent Executive Leadership Series forums hosted by the Company. As part of the collaborative, Health Integrated will facilitate email communications, conduct interactive opinion-leader hosted Webinars, launch and report topical surveys, provide access to clinicians focused on building medical home and PCMH experts and disseminate materials important to PCMH implementation and operation.

"Our health plan partners, who are on the front lines of identifying ways to improve the quality of care for their members, are interested in PCMH as one strategy to address a complex set of healthcare problems," says Steve Wigginton, president of Health Integrated. "The intent of PCMH is to enable patients to more easily access care that is integrated, comprehensive and patient-centered. As such, PCMH may be especially beneficial for high-need members, such as the chronically ill." Chronically ill patients with co-morbid conditions, including complex psychosocial issues, represent the greatest disproportionate costs for the nation's health plans.

Health Integrated's PCMH Blog is designed for industry professionals interested in PCMH and requires registration and a password. It will be moderated and updated on an ongoing basis.

About Health Integrated

Health Integrated is the leading innovation partner for health plans, providing evidence-based solutions to accelerate achievement of health management goals for clinical outcomes, quality measures and cost containment. For more information, visit http://www.healthintegrated.com.

Images: Screen shots of Health Integrated's PCMH Collaborative Community Blog

http://www.ereleases.com/pr/2009-HealthIntegrated1.jpg

http://www.ereleases.com/pr/2009-HealthIntegrated2.jpg

Caption: Screen shots of Health Integrated's home page and new interactive PCMH blog, open to members of the healthcare community interested in engaging in dialogue about the PCMH concept. PCMH has emerged in the last few years as a new model for a "whole patient" approach, and is being considered by many healthcare providers and insurers as a way to effectively improve care while reducing costs. http://www.healthintegrated.com/blog-intro.html.

CONTACT: Mike Miniati, Health Integrated 813-388-4030 or mminiati@healthintegrated.com

This release was issued through eReleases(TM). For more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com.

SOURCE Health Integrated

Source: PR Newswire

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