Solution: Better Access

The generosity of the nearly 720,000 social workers in America is being recognized this month with the theme “The Time is Right for Social Work.” The theme underscores the positive contributions social workers have made to this nation for more than a century and how the services they provide are needed as we address economic inequality, systemic racism, the need for improved health and mental healthcare, Covid-19, and so many other critical issues.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”
Many of us remember this rhyme from our childhoods – shared to help us stand up to bullying and encourage us to let words roll off our backs. But words can have a destructive impact on patient care, particularly for patients of color and especially Black patients. As we observe Black History Month, with this year’s Black Health and Wellness theme, thinking about how words can cause pain and suffering in patient care is timely.

Diversity is not just nice to have in business – it is imperative to drive innovation, deliver relevant products and services that resonate with customers, and enhance corporate culture and productivity. Work Without Limits, an initiative of UMass Chan Medical School’s Commonwealth Medicine, knows businesses are working hard to enhance their efforts around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) yet often struggle with their comfort level and capacity to include individuals with disabilities.

Read the story of how Commonwealth Medicine experts applied over two decades of experience to create Massachusetts’ award winning state supplement program and learn more about what our team can do to enhance yours.

Commonwealth Medicine’s Enhanced Coordination of Benefits program takes a comprehensive and collaborative approach to controlling costs. Our ECOB Program Manager, Matthew Hemberger, blogs on how our experts use a combination of high tech data review and high touch engagement with providers and families to improve the coordination of care and save Masshealth millions.

Accountable care organizations are turning to community based organizations more and more often to help achieve their cost and healthcare outcome goals. But CBOs can have a difficult time positioning themselves as attractive prospects for partnership. Catie Geary, MPH, shares how Commonwealth Medicine can help CBOs communicate the high-value benefits they can bring to potential ACO partners in a new blog.

We are proud to support the HHS Office of Minority Health and other partners to encourage communities to be vaccine-ready. This National Minority Health Month, learn what role we all play in raising vaccine confidence.

For more than 40 years, case management techniques have proven effective at meeting health plan members’ complex behavioral health needs. Still, today, when it comes to case management services, individuals coming out of correctional facilities remain underserved. Many community-based health plans fail to recognize that these individuals require at least the same intensity of case management services they would need as someone who is discharged from a psychiatric hospital or detox facility.

For justice-involved individuals, the lack of solid community-based relationships is among the most significant social determinants of poor health. Katharine London and Meaghan Dupuis share the benefits of collaborative relationships between health plans and community-based service organizations in this blog.

ACOs and CBOs: Don’t get lost in the gap! Process improvement expert Jessica Carpenter explains how the gap between your organization’s policies and everyday practices is where efficiency and compliance can fall or become lost. Read Jessica’s blog to learn the three key steps to achieve process improvement and deliver better results on a more consistent basis.