Cityblock Health Expands to Indiana With MDwise Partnership
MDwise, an Indianapolis-based health maintenance organization serving more than 410,000 Hoosiers, is partnering with Cityblock Health, a value-based healthcare provider for Medicaid, dually eligible and lower-income Medicare beneficiaries, to provide care to approximately 10,000 people.
Cityblock, which also has operations in New York; Connecticut; Massachusetts; Washington, D.C.; North Carolina; and Ohio, delivers medical care, behavioral health, and social services to individuals from historically underserved and marginalized communities, in particular those with complex needs. This care includes 24/7 access to multi-modal care delivery, with doctors and other clinical and non-clinical caregivers treating patients in their homes and community settings, via telehealth or at local Cityblock hubs.
"MDwise is excited to partner with Cityblock to bring their innovative value-based approach and proven outcomes to Indiana," said Jessica Cromer, president and CEO of MDwise, in a statement. "Our most vulnerable members can be the hardest to reach, but we will be relentless in providing our members access to great healthcare to improve their health outcomes and quality of life."
Addressing a Primary Care Collaborative event in May 2022, Kameron Matthews, M.D., J.D., Cityblock’s chief health officer, spoke about the approach that Cityblock takes. “Before we start any kind of conversation around your medical concerns as a patient of mine, I need that trust, I need that engagement, I need to understand the community that you're in. And we need to be customizing our partnerships, our technology, even our services, to meet those needs,”
She added that Cityblock tries to be as interdisciplinary as possible, not just primary care and behavioral health, but bringing community-based organizations to the table as well, “so that we can be addressing food insecurity or homelessness right at the table, alongside behavioral health concerns. They're all equally as impactful on that patient's outcomes and on that patient's well-being.”
Cityblock has established several innovations such as an ED-at-Home program where they are sending EMTs into the homes instead of having their patients go into emergency departments. “We are working on having the services that are really ingrained in the community, and even meeting some of our patients on foot, at park benches even. None of that is easily possible or at all under a different financial model,” Matthews said.
"We share MDwise's belief that every person deserves access to high-quality, compassionate care," said Toyin Ajayi, M.D., M.Phil., Cityblock's CEO and co-founder, in a statement. "We are proud to partner with MDwise and Indiana's local organizations, healthcare providers and behavioral health specialists to deliver comprehensive care, improve health outcomes, and drive access to truly equitable healthcare for those who need it the most."
