Medill Reports
December 12, 2012
Chicagoans voice their hopes and concerns about Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
From Medill Reports:
Through a program launching early next year, more than 700,000 low-income Illinois residents may benefit from more coordinated and efficient healthcare due to a new program, Together4Health.
Chicago-based nonprofit organization Heartland Alliance Health, a partner of anti-poverty organization Heartland Alliance, will run the program. Together4Health will coordinate care for adults with disabilities and seniors in Illinois who are currently on Medicaid, and will likely improve medical care for patients with pre-existing conditions, according to Heartland Alliance.
For example, the program will make sure the all the doctors, pharmacists and social workers involved in an individual’s care receive the pertinent medical records to facilitate treatment.
“It’s a new way of approaching health care,” said Colt Coffin, the senior medical case manager at Heartland Alliance Health. He added that the goal of the program is to start working with primary care physicians, hospitals, and health specialists, “to better coordinate care for people, so they can experience those improved long-term health benefits.”
Partners working with Together4Health will be compensated on health outcomes, not services provided.
“The idea is, if you can make sure you’re coordinating care for the clients, you’re going to do a better job of keeping them healthy and getting them preventive care,” said Mike Claffey, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, the organization which selected Heartland Alliance Health to coordinate this new system.
