The charitable arm of health insurer Centene is partnering with the National Association of Community Health Centers to “support personalized, whole health solutions across the nation.”
In an announcement Wednesday before the annual Forbes Healthcare Summit at NYU Langone Health in New York where Centene chief executive officer Sarah London is a speaker, the company said the partnership between The Centene Foundation and the association includes a $3 million commitment over three years to strengthen community health centers across the country given their role as the country’s premier safety net primary care system.
Community health centers are critical to underserved populations that are in Centene’s wheelhouse as one of the nation’s largest providers of Medicaid coverage for poor Americans and other government-subsidized health benefits including individual coverage, also known as Obamacare, under the Affordable Care Act.
Community health centers deliver low-cost primary care while addressing barriers these populations face, including “transportation, translation, patient education, care management, and connection to social services.” Centene will work with the community health centers to improve maternal health outcomes and by developing value-based payment models that reimburse medical care providers based on how they improve outcomes rather than fee-for-service payments that are based on volume of care delivered to patients.
The partnership will “launch with a national value-based care adoption strategy” that will begin with an annual survey to assess community health center “participation in and understanding of value-based payment models.”
“Insights from the survey will guide the creation of a tailored learning curriculum to improve value-based care literacy, supplemented by NACHC’s Elevate learning platform,” Centene said in its statement announcing the partnership. “The platform offers evidence-based educational content designed to improve health center proficiency in critical areas of value-based care. Findings from the survey and learning initiatives will shape case studies and guide policy and advocacy strategy recommendations.”
The partnership will also roll out a “Maternal Health Innovation Exchange” that will focus on reducing racial, ethnic and geographic disparities in maternal and child health outcomes. The exchange will allow participating community health centers to share best practices and educational information.
“Community Health Centers are vital partners in care delivery who truly understand the populations we jointly serve because they are deeply embedded in the community,” London said. “We’re excited to strengthen our partnership with NACHC through this insights-driven program to develop innovative resources and solutions. By supporting value-based care adoption and improving maternal and child health interventions, we can better meet the needs of historically underserved populations while driving efficiencies that benefit patients and providers alike.”
Community health centers serve more than 32 million Americans across the country.
“Now, in partnership with the Centene Foundation, we are positioned to expand value-based payment adoption to improve efficiency and capacity at health centers while improving maternal health outcomes for hundreds of thousands of pregnant individuals,” National Association of Community Health Centers president and chief executive Dr. Kyu Rhee said.
