ACT.md Selected to Connect Local Health Networks in Oregon's Fostering Hope Initiative, Improving Care for At-Risk Families

BOSTON, Sept. 6, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- ACT.md, a national provider of health collaboration software, today announced a partnership with the Fostering Hope Initiative in the mid-Willamette Valley of western Oregon, a neighborhood-based collective impact initiative comprised of government, public, and private organizations that have joined forces to improve health and well-being in neighborhoods with high rates of poverty and associated hardships. Catholic Community Services of the mid-Willamette Valley serves as Fostering Hope's lead organization, with technical assistance from Curandi, a not-for-profit organization. Curandi provides a new type of self-organizing provider panel capable of performance-based contracting with local Medicaid health plans.

Fostering Hope is building an integrated system of community-based health and social services to strengthen at-risk families, promote the positive development of children, and build more resilient neighborhoods and communities. In this model of care, integrated local service networks are designed to address the social determinants keeping neighborhoods and families from health and well-being. In a federally-funded study of Fostering Hope's success in reducing parental stress and preventing child maltreatment, relative to similar families in other neighborhoods, families receiving services through Fostering Hope reported statistically significant reductions in stress, and none had been the subject of a child maltreatment case.

Across Oregon's new local networks, ACT.md's cloud-based health collaboration hub will serve as the community care coordination infrastructure underlying the Fostering Hope model of care. Community Health Workers will use ACT.md to screen for health and social needs, refer families to local services, and engage families as active participants in their health and wellness plan. Within each local network, integrated groups of service providers will manage tasks and workflows, securely communicate with each other, and share data within ACT.md.

"We know that poor health and poverty inflict toxic stress on families, which has far-reaching effects on the physical, mental, social and emotional development of children," said Jim Seymour, Executive Director, Catholic Community Services of Oregon. "Safe, stable, nurturing relationships among family, friends, and neighbors is the most important factor in combating toxic stress, and if our interventions can reduce toxic stress to at least tolerable levels, then families will be in a better position to learn how to protect and nurture their children, and we can break the cycle."

"This is an opportunity to make real change, and an intentional departure from business-as-usual for the healthcare and social service agencies involved in this initiative," said Michael Rohwer, MD, Executive Director of Curandi. "ACT.md's technology will help us align many organizations around shared outcomes in the community, which in turn will transform local healthcare systems into living systems that work for every person at every point of care."

"Innovations in healthcare that look beyond an individual, and towards the health of families and communities are vital to improving the collective well-being of our country," said Amy Vreeland, Chief Commercial Officer, ACT.md. "Fostering Hope does exactly that, which is why we are delighted to be selected as the communication hub to support their efforts to promote positive development of children, build stronger community, and help families across Oregon thrive."

About ACT.md®

With ACT.md, everyone - clinicians, patients, families, and community partners - can act together to make health happen, wherever they are. ACT.md's health collaboration hub promises a better, safer, less expensive, and more flexible approach to managing healthcare's complex tasks and achieving your goals. Headquartered in Boston, Mass., ACT.md is privately held and venture-funded by the disruptive innovation investment firm, Rose Park Advisors. For more information, visit http://www.act.md.

SOURCE ACT.md