CMS Approves Medicaid Reimbursement for eConsults in Connecticut
Middletown, CT (PRWEB) March 01, 2016 -- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) have approved payment by Medicaid to federally qualified health centers in Connecticut for electronic consultations (eConsults) with medical specialists, giving the state’s medically underserved population greater access to expert care.
Connecticut is the first state in the nation to obtain Medicaid reimbursements for eConsults.
“This is good news for our patients and for our primary care providers,” said Daren Anderson, MD, director of the Weitzman Institute, the research and quality improvement arm of Community Health Center, Inc. (CHC). “Use of eConsults can improve access to care and promote better communication between primary care providers and specialists,” he said.
Anderson and the Weitzman Institute studied the use of eConsults for CHC patients in Connecticut over the course of one year. “We found eConsults effective at increasing access to specialty care for underserved populations, reducing the need for face-to-face specialty care, streamlining specialty referrals and potentially reducing emergency department use,” said Anderson. The study will appear in the March-April issue of the Annals of Family Practice, available March 7.
Based on the positive research, Anderson worked with the Department of Social Services to obtain Medicaid reimbursement for the eConsults service. The state agency submitted the request to CMS, which approved it on Feb. 16.
According to Anderson, there is a scarcity of specialty providers willing to see Medicaid patients , creating a lead time for appointments that can be as long as a year. “Inadequate access to care is a significant contributor to healthcare disparities, higher rates of disability, and complications in chronic diseases,” said Anderson.
CHC has begun contracting with state and federal agencies, as well as private insurers, to provide eConsults to medically underserved patients across the U.S.
“As an organization devoted to providing high quality primary care to the underserved, we are focused on establishing new benchmarks for both quality and efficiency,” said Mark Masselli, CEO of CHC. “We believe eConsults is another example of our leadership in transforming the delivery of primary care locally and nationally.”
Leslie Gianelli, Community Health Center, Inc., http://www.chc1.com, +1 860-918-7504, [email protected]
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