With just 24 hours’ notice, the plug was pulled on a statewide network of comprehensive care for those chronically ill and on Medicaid. HEALTH HOMES is a program designed to provide coordinated services for Medicaid recipients who suffer a chronic condition such as diabetes or heart disease and/or have a serious mental health disorder. THE MENTAL health component of the program is still on tap to launch Aug. 1, which is good but not as good had the broader program been implemented from the get-go.
The launch date for Kansas Health Homes was July 1. Health officials were notified June 30 it was a no-go.
“That’s several hundred hours and untold resources down the drain,” said Krista Postai, executive director of the Pittsburg-based Southeast Kansas Community Health Center, which has several satellite clinics, including Iola.
Forgive her frustration.
In fact, Postai remains a big fan.
“Oh, it’s a fabulous idea,” she said.
The program now has been pushed back to the first of 2015, to qualified response.
“The question is, can I afford to gear up twice?” Postai asked.
Because mental health and physical health problems often overlap, the goal is to integrate patient care. Mental health professionals and physicians will keep each other abreast of a patient’s status and see that necessary screenings and tests were kept current.
The results are better care and lower costs. Healthy patients don’t need to use a hospital as frequently as those who have let their conditions reach a crisis level.
Kansas modeled its Health Homes project after Missouri, one of the first states in the nation to implement the program. Its hospital system has since seen a 13 percent reduction in overall admissions by Medicaid patients. Because these patients typically have no means to pay for their hospital or ER stays — and because neither Kansas nor Missouri has expanded their Medicaid programs — that’s a substantial savings, according to Dr. Robert Moser, director of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, which oversees KanCare.
Health care costs continue to be the number one reason for personal bankruptcy.
There’s somewhat of a workaround. Those who suffer a persistent mental illness and also happen to have a chronic physical ailment will be able to have a case manager address both issues. Again, better care and efficiencies are the expected outcomes.
Funding comes through the Affordable Care Act; 90 percent federal funds, 10 percent state.
The three managed care organizations that contract with the state’s Medicaid program, KanCare, will oversee the program.
There is no cost to clients to participate in the program, and they can opt out if they prefer not to receive the extra care.
By law clients must have at least two options for care from health professionals, which is one reason the chronically physical ill portion of the program was halted, according to Postai.
Sparsely populated sections of the state are having difficulty meeting that requirement.
Postai said a regional concept for the Health Homes program is now being considered, which may make it easier to implement.
The good news is the entire program was not halted, or worse, scrapped.
Going back to square one is awfully hard. Fingers crossed for second beginnings.
— Susan Lynn
Partial rollout of Health Homes still brings needed services
