Silver Spring, Maryland (PRWEB) October 22, 2013
A 14 person delegation of local leaders in health care is traveling to Cambridge Massachusetts this week to engage in a two-day idea exchange session with the leaders of many innovative health care organizations in New England.
As the health insurance marketplaces mandated under the Affordable Care Act roll out, much attention is focused on enrolling individuals into some form of health insurance coverage. But what happens after thousands of people in our community have health insurance and the demand for health services explodes?
Dubbed a Learning Journey, this event will look beyond the immediate concerns of outreach and enrollment and examine opportunities to shape and refine Montgomery County’s local health care system to be more responsive to the needs of the population and ensure that even the most vulnerable members of our community have access to high quality health care.
“I am excited to take part in this event that will bring health policy leaders together to share ideas and best practices and look in-depth at how one region can learn from the experiences of another. We will have hours of meaningful dialogue with some truly cutting edge organizations. I am sure at the end of this we from Montgomery County will have learned a great deal and so will our counterparts at the organizations we will be working with.” Said Councilmember George Leventhal, Chair of the Montgomery County Council Health and Human Services Committee.
The Montgomery County delegation will include Councilmember Leventhal, Director of Health and Human Services, Uma Ahluwalia, and representatives from both Adventist and Holy Cross health systems, among others.
The Learning Journey, which is being coordinated by the Primary Care Coalition of Montgomery County (PCC) under a grant provided by the Consumer Health Foundation (http://consumerhealthfdn.org), will provide an opportunity for delegates to have a shared learning experience and engage in discussions that will help to align collective work in Montgomery County in order to move toward a more integrated system of care for underserved community members.
Hosted by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (http://IHI.org) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the event will take place on October 23 and 24, and will include presentations from a variety of notable organizations including the Cambridge Health Alliance (http://challiance.org), Community Catalyst (http://communitycatalyst.org), the Massachusetts Health Connection (http://mahealthconnector.org), the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers (http://massleague.org), and the Vermont Blueprint for Health.
Following the Learning Journey, the delegates will continue to work together to identify programs and initiatives that will mold our evolving health care system to be more responsive, effective, and efficient. “This event is just the beginning,” said Steve Galen, President and CEO of the Primary Care Coalition, “This provides an opportunity to begin an ongoing discussion about how we can develop and implement systems that will advance the health services that are available to all members of the Montgomery County community, but especially our most vulnerable neighbors.”
The Primary Care Coalition of Montgomery County is making health care happen. PCC works with clinics, hospitals, health care providers, and other community partners to coordinate health services for low-income, uninsured residents of Montgomery County, Maryland and the National Capital Area. Our vision is a community in which all residents will have the opportunity to live healthy lives. PCC is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization.