National Jewish to Provide Asthma Disease Management for AmeriChoice Medicaid Members in Pennsylvania
National Jewish Medical and Research Center has agreed to provide specialized asthma disease management services to beneficiaries of Medicaid and other government healthcare programs for the AmeriChoice health plan in Pennsylvania. AmeriChoice runs its own disease-management program, but has decided to outsource to National Jewish sicker asthma patients on Medicaid who have visited emergency rooms or been hospitalized for their disease.
"National Jewish's leadership role in management of respiratory diseases and its experience with Medicaid asthma patients played a key role in selecting them for this partnership," said Shivraj Desai, Medical Director of AmeriChoice of Pennsylvania.
The National Jewish program relies primarily on written materials and proactive phone calls, in both Spanish and English, to help asthma patients better understand and manage their asthma. Registered nurses evaluate the severity of patients' asthma, their knowledge of the disease, and their ability to manage an asthma episode.
Then they help patients develop detailed plans to manage their disease and encourage good self-monitoring techniques. They will send patients a variety of educational materials and a peak flow monitor, if needed. In addition, a 24/7 call center is available for incoming calls from patients who have questions or problems concerning their asthma.
National Jewish also communicates with the patients' primary care physicians in order to get participants on optimal treatment plans.
National Jewish has been delivering asthma disease-management services since 1995, and has enrolled more than 20,000 patients throughout the nation. Several of the programs serve exclusively Medicaid patients. Previous studies have shown that the National Jewish asthma disease management program can lead to significant reductions in both healthcare utilization and absenteeism.
National Jewish has been named the top respiratory hospital in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for six years running.
AmeriChoice, a business unit of UnitedHealth group, serves more than 1.2 million Medicaid, Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Medicare beneficiaries in more than a dozen states from coast to coast. It is one of the largest government healthcare programs companies in the country and has earned a strong reputation for the unique AmeriChoice Personal Care Model and it s innovative approaches to healthcare solutions for the medically-underserved. For more information, visit www.americhoice.com.
