UCLA report provides close look at state ’s Whole Person Care pilot health program

California in 2016 introduced its Whole Person Care program, a pilot project designed to integrate medical, behavioral health  and social services for Medi-Cal patients who frequently accessed health services, incurred disproportionately high costs and had poor health outcomes. With that program scheduled to end next year, theUCLA Center for Health Policy Research has published apolicy brief that presents a detailed overview of the initiative —one the authors say could help inform future efforts to address the needs of high-risk groups.  The brief highlights several key characteristics of Whole Person Care — which comprises 25 local pilot programs covering 26 counties —including the populations targeted for enrollment, how each program identified and enrolled eligible individuals, how care coordination teams were structured, the types of services provided and the characteristics of enrollees.“The data provide a roadmap for the creation of similar programs intended support low-income patients with high levels of unmet needs for nontraditional health services, such as care coordination,”saidNadereh Pourat, associate director at the center and lead author of the brief. “Many of the strategies used by Whole Person Care pilots were innovative and have succeeded in engaging those enrolled in their care and addressing their needs.”Whole Person Care was implemented in late 2016 by the California Department of Health Care Services and focused on high-need, high-cost ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news