Philadelphia’s Jefferson Health has entered into a clinical affiliation agreement with a Nashville-based startup called CityLife Health that says it is building a scalable platform to address access, quality and cost for Medicaid populations in low-income, urban communities.
Launched in 2018, CityLife says it partners with Medicaid managed care organizations and local health systems to engage members, align providers, close gaps-in-care, assess social determinants of health and behavioral health, while improving access to care.
CityLife says it meets Medicaid recipients where they are, in their community, when they want care, unscheduled and often after hours or on weekends. The company adds that the key to its approach is turning a walk-in visit into an opportunity to assess social determinants of health, behavioral health, and importantly address quality gaps in care. The company says that its technology partners, combined with its proprietary data platform, provide a longitudinal view of Medicaid recipients in low-income, urban communities.
CityLife Health first opened clinics in North and West Philadelphia and plans to open a clinic in Northeast Philadelphia on the campus of Jefferson Frankford Hospital in the first quarter of 2020. The company's clinics serve members of Health Partners Plans, Keystone First and Aetna Better Health in the Philadelphia region. CityLife recently expanded to New Jersey with the opening of a clinic in the Central Ward of Newark in August of 2019.
The strategic partnership aligns with Jefferson's mission and vision, including its participation in the Medicaid Transformation Project, said Katherine Behan, M.D., the health system's senior vice president and chief population health officer, in a prepared statement. "Importantly, this initiative focuses on addressing health disparities across ZIP codes within the Philadelphia region. We can't effectively address those disparities in the emergency department or without community-based care resources designed to meet the consumer's needs. We look forward to further collaboration with CityLife Health's platform as Jefferson adds to its portfolio of care delivery and population health resources."
Jefferson has grown in recent years to include 14 hospitals and more than 40 outpatient and urgent care locations.
