Oklahoma and Tulsa counties are part of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) “accountable health community” model grant program, which aims to reduce health care spending by connecting patients to social services. Hospitals and other providers will screen Medicare and Medicaid patients about whether they can afford food, housing, utilities and transportation, and whether they are at risk of violence.
If patients say they need help, the providers will enter that information into MyHealth Access Network, which already maintains medical records that various health systems can access. MyHealth will add new features onto that system so that navigators at health departments in Oklahoma and Tulsa counties can log in and connect patients to social service agencies that can meet the needs noted in their charts.
The project is one of dozens the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are funding nationwide to find out whether paying for social services navigation will reduce health care costs. The two health departments and MyHealth are part of an Oklahoma organization known as the Route 66 Coalition, which will receive $4.5 million over five years and have a goal of screening about 75,000 people each year.
The full story is available here on The Oklahoman’s website.
