(Medford, Mass.) — Network Health, a Massachusetts health plan that provides high-quality health care coverage to more than 150,000 Massachusetts residents with low and moderate income, has partnered with Commonwealth Care Alliance (CCA), and its affiliate, Prevention and Access to Care and Treatment (PACT), to launch a unique, innovative program called Network Health Alliance. Through Network Health Alliance, Network Health members who have complex health needs will get enhanced care management services, care coordination, and extra clinical support.

Network Health will offer membership in Network Health Alliance first to Network Health members with primary care providers at Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), and later this year to members who receive primary care services at other provider sites. In addition to enhanced services, Network Health Alliance members will still get the same benefits they do through their enrollment in Network Health Together™ (MassHealth) and Network Health Forward™ (Commonwealth Care).

“By partnering with Commonwealth Care Alliance and utilizing the tremendous outreach capabilities of PACT, Network Health can offer more robust care management and coordination and improve the quality of care for our members with the greatest health needs,” said Christina Severin, president of Network Health. “We believe better care coordination will improve our members’ health outcomes and bring efficiencies to the health care system.”

Commonwealth Care Alliance, a Boston-based nonprofit company that works with doctors, nurses, and health plans, offers similar enhanced services to senior adults in Massachusetts.

“We at Commonwealth Care Alliance are convinced that the most effective way to improve care and manage costs for populations with the greatest burdens of chronic illness and disability is through redesigning, empowering, and enhancing primary care with nurses, nurse practitioners, social workers, and community health workers. It is critical that we provide infrastructure on a transformative scale to finally redress the inadequacies in care that those with the greatest need endure, and to dramatically reduce the spiraling costs associated with those inadequacies,” said Dr. Robert Master, president and CEO of Commonwealth Care Alliance. “It is an honor to work in partnership with Network Health, PACT, Cambridge Health Alliance, and so many committed primary care clinicians in this effort that fundamentally breaks new ground.”

PACT, founded in 1997 by Dr. Heidi Behforouz, is a joint effort between Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the international nonprofit organization Partners in Health.

 “Our care model is based on interventions that have transformed the fight against AIDS in rural Haiti,” says Dr. Behforouz. “By collaborating with Commonwealth Care Alliance and Network Health, we can now use that same model and experience in underserved Massachusetts communities. Based on our success improving health outcomes and reducing HIV/AIDS treatment costs, we can help people with diabetes and other chronic diseases improve their ability to stay healthy. ”

About Prevention and Access to Care and Treatment (PACT)

PACT’s health promotion and therapy programs target the hardest-to-reach patients — poor people of color living in inner-city Boston neighborhoods whom other health care delivery systems have not helped. The program trains and employs community members to check on men and women with HIV on a daily or weekly basis, making sure they attend medical appointments, take their medications, and have access to other essential needs and social services. In addition to having HIV, these men and women typically struggle with mental illness, drug or alcohol abuse, racial and language barriers, and social isolation. PACT’s community-based approach has achieved measurable success in improving health status and reducing costs.

About Commonwealth Care Alliance

Commonwealth Care Alliance is a nonprofit care delivery system committed to providing integrated health care and related social support services. Created in 2003, Commonwealth Care Alliance is a “consumer-governed” organization offering a full spectrum of medical and social services for people with complex needs covered under Medicaid and for those “dually eligible” for both Medicaid and Medicare. For more information, visit www.commonwealthcare.org.

Commonwealth Care Alliance is not affiliated with the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority’s Commonwealth Care program.

About Network Health

Since 1997, Network Health has provided access to high-quality health care to low- and moderate-income residents of Massachusetts. Based in Medford, Mass., Network Health is a comprehensive health plan serving members through its Network Health Together™ (MassHealth) and Network Health Forward™ (Commonwealth Care) plans.

Network Health provides its Network Health Together members with all the benefits of MassHealth, plus additional free and discounted benefits. Network Health’s Network Health Forward plan extends access to affordable health care for qualified Massachusetts residents 19 years or older who earn at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or up to approximately $32,496 a year for an individual (up to approximately $66,156 a year for a family of four). In addition to core health care benefits, Network Health offers its members extra benefits designed to encourage wellness.

Network Health is nationally recognized for its integrated model of care, which provides a team of in-house medical, mental health, social service, and pharmacy professionals to coordinate the care of members with complex health needs and address their nonmedical barriers to care. In its efforts to improve the health and well-being of its members and their diverse communities, Network Health partners with a growing network of nearly 18,000 primary care providers, specialists, hospitals, and community organizations to serve members in more than 300 cities and towns across Massachusetts.

Individuals must be eligible for MassHealth to join Network Health Together, a MassHealth plan. To learn about MassHealth eligibility, Massachusetts residents can contact the MassHealth Enrollment Center at 888-665-9993 (TTY: 888-665-9997), Monday through Friday, 8:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. Once enrolled, MassHealth members can learn about their MassHealth health plan options by calling the MassHealth Customer Service Center at 800-841-2900 (TTY: 800-497-4648), Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

To learn about Commonwealth Care health plan options, call the Commonwealth Care Customer Service Center at 877-MA-ENROLL or 877-623-6765 (TTY: 877-623-7773), Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Or visit www.mahealthconnector.org.
                                                                                                 

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