Press Releases
Disease Management and Chronic Care Programs from McKesson to Promote Community Health and Care of the Indigent
Charity care, transition care and chronic care solutions offered as Community Care Advantage
ATLANTA, Feb. 25, 2008—─Drawing on its extensive experience in disease management for Medicaid patients and success with consumer-based technologies, McKesson today announced its Community Care Advantage™ offering. Aimed at improving outcomes while eliminating unnecessary costs, Community Care Advantage supports hospitals and other provider-based organizations in their efforts to become more effective care managers for their community populations. This new suite of products and services leverages McKesson’s extensive experience delivering care management services, information technology and connectivity solutions to help meet the medical needs of indigent, chronically ill and newly discharged patients in a timely, high-quality manner.
“McKesson’s scope and scale provides the unique ability to combine our assets and help healthcare providers address their toughest challenges,” said Pamela Pure, President, McKesson Technology Solutions. “With Community Advantage, we’re extending expertise from our payor organization, leveraging proven connectivity solutions from RelayHealth, and drawing on the power of our technology footprint in the ambulatory and health system space to impact the health status of the community.”
According to recent statistics, health systems absorb more than $5 billion in bad-debt costs each year, and the cost of care for the 90 million Americans without consistent medical coverage is $125 billion. It costs Medicare $12 billion for preventable readmissions occurring within 30 days of discharge, and approximately 22% of all emergency department visits are not reimbursed each year. Community Care Advantage helps providers to drive a higher quality of care while mitigating their financial risk. The following solutions support community wellness and chronic disease programs that extend to the special needs of indigent patients and all patients who have recently been discharged from the hospital.
Community Health Serviceshelp to reduce the cost of serving indigent and high-cost populations by targeting non-reimbursed costs for readmissions, emergency department visits and hospital occupancy. Research shows that the sickest 20% of the population typically accounts for 80% of the healthcare spend. To that end, McKesson’s Community Health Services includes two programs that help to reduce bad-debt write-offs and readmissions, and help to ensure effective care delivery for charity care patients:
- Indigent Care Management – Drawing on McKesson’s experience supporting the primary care needs of 4 million Medicaid beneficiaries, this program helps provide the uninsured and the underinsured with individualized care coordination, access to a medical home, assistance obtaining medical resources and case management services.
- Readmissions Management –This program is designed to reduce readmission rates by addressing the needs of patients in the first four weeks after hospital discharge. During this time, McKesson helps ensure follow-up care is received, appropriate self-care is followed, and health deteriorations are recognized and treated early. This program helps to reduce the burden of readmissions for patients and health systems, and opens up capacity to deliver additional medical care.
Community Health Technologies provide the tools to enable health systems as they proactively support patients in the community with a chronic disease or those who require additional support from the local healthcare community. These innovative technologies assist in post-acute care and chronic care management. A vast array of community wellness and chronic disease programs are available for providers to directly assist patients, including a library of more than 5,000 health topics and more than 6,000 medication products. The use of Web-based patient education, including vibrant digital animations, and easy-to-understand videos and illustrations help ensure a reach to all socioeconomic population types, and they support ongoing management of post-treatment. These solutions also help to promote sustained compliance with treatment plans that are technology-enabled and delivered at home.
Consumer Convenience Solutions are designed for consumers seeking access, convenience and premier service. These solutions include secure messaging, reimbursable webVisit® consultations for non-urgent care, online bill payment, requests for appointments, medication renewals and the ability to receive test results online in a secure manner. The medical care experience is dramatically improved for both consumers and providers through these solutions.
“The opportunity to offer Community Care Advantage solutions that enable health systems to become more effective managers of the medical needs for the population they serve, particularly the uninsured and underinsured, is very exciting for McKesson,” said Emad Rizk, M.D., group president, McKesson Health Solutions. “With the growing problem of medical coverage affordability, the uninsured are increasingly turning to hospitals for their medical care. Hospitals are not designed to deliver primary care services for these patients and need assistance directing these patients to the appropriate settings for care. As health systems begin to play a new, larger role, McKesson is committed to support them with the services and technology they need to be successful and effective.”
About RelayHealth
RelayHealth, McKesson’s connectivity business, operates as a neutral partner in an open network environment, offering connectivity services and integration among all organizations, systems, and solutions. Its intelligent network is designed to streamline clinical, financial and administrative communication between patients, providers, payors, pharmacies and financial institutions. RelayHealth works to accelerate the delivery of high-quality care and improve financial performance through solutions such as online consultation of physicians by patients, electronic prescribing, point-of-service pharmacy claims resolution by payors, pre-visit patient financial clearance by providers, and post-visit provider bill settlement by payors and patients. RelayHealth securely processes more than 10 billion financial and clinical transactions annually. For more information, call (800) 778-6711, or visit our Web site at www.relayhealth.com.
About McKesson
About McKesson McKesson Corporation, currently ranked 18th on the FORTUNE 500, is a healthcare services and information technology company dedicated to helping its customers deliver high-quality healthcare by reducing costs, streamlining processes and improving the quality and safety of patient care. Over the course of its 175-year history, San Francisco-based McKesson has grown to provide pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management across the spectrum of care; healthcare information technology for hospitals, physicians, homecare and payors; hospital and retail pharmacy automation; and services for manufacturers and payors designed to improve outcomes for patients. For more information, visit us at www.McKesson.com
Media Contacts
Janeen Cook
(770) 237-7918
Janeen.Cook@relayhealth.com
