Harvard Pilgrim Awards Close to $1 Million in Quality Grants to 14 Physician Groups

Program supports delivery of quality care

WELLESLEY, Mass., May 5, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Physician practices in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine will receive grants totaling almost $1 million from Harvard Pilgrim Health Care's Quality Grants Program. Harvard Pilgrim's twelfth annual program will fund 14 physician group initiatives that support the Patient Centered Medical Home concept – a care model that engages patients to partner with their primary care physician to achieve better health outcomes.

"This year, Harvard Pilgrim's Quality Grants Program is supporting the Patient Centered Medical Home, an emerging care delivery model that has already been shown to lead to less fragmentation and improved clinical outcomes," said Dr. Michael Sherman, Harvard Pilgrim's Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President. "The grant recipients are transforming how primary care practices operate and have an opportunity to drive improvements that can positively impact not only Harvard Pilgrim members but all of their patients."

In the Patient Centered Medical Home approach, care teams attend to the multi-faceted needs of patients and provide "whole person," comprehensive and coordinated patient-centered care. The needs and desires of the patient come first in an environment where patients have a collaborative relationship with their primary care physician and care team.

Physician leaders from the Harvard Pilgrim Physician Association helped select the winning proposals from 28 submissions. Review criteria included demonstrated need, innovation in providing care, sustainability and the potential for transferring successful programs to other practice settings. The results of earlier grant programs have been shared with other Harvard Pilgrim providers at regular meetings so that "best practices" can benefit a broader patient population.

The following provider groups received grants from Harvard Pilgrim for initiatives that focus on one or more aspect of care coordination – a critical component of the Patient Centered Medical Home model of care:

• Advantage Network PHO/Foundation Medical Partners, Nashua, New Hampshire
• Boston Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts
• East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, Boston, Massachusetts
• Greater Lawrence Family Health Center, Lawrence, Massachusetts
• Health Partners of New Hampshire, Inc., Dover, New Hampshire
• Healthcare Associates-BIDMC, Boston, Massachusetts
• Maine Medical Center PHO, Portland, Maine
• Mid-State Health Center, Plymouth, New Hampshire
• Northeast PHO, Beverly, Massachusetts
• NovaHealth, LLC, Yarmouth, Maine
• Physicians Association of Rochester, Rochester, New Hampshire
• Quality Counts, Augusta, Maine
• St. Mary's Regional Medical Center, Lewiston, Maine
• UMassMemorial Health Care, Worcester, Massachusetts

About Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
Harvard Pilgrim is a not-for-profit health plan that provides a variety of insurance plan options and self-funding arrangements to more than one million members in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. For the third year in a row, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care is the highest-ranked health insurance plan for overall member satisfaction in the New England region according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2011 Member Health Insurance Plan Study (SM). * In addition, for the seventh consecutive year**, Harvard Pilgrim was named the #1 private health plan in America according to an annual ranking of the nation's best health plans by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). For more information, please visit harvardpilgrim.org.

* Harvard Pilgrim Health Care received the highest numerical score among commercial health plans in the New England region (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT) in the proprietary J.D. Power and Associates 2011 U.S. Member Health Insurance Plan Study (SM). Study based on 33,039 total member responses, measuring 9 plans in the New England region (excludes Medicare and Medicaid). Proprietary study results are based on experiences and perceptions of members surveyed December 2010-January 2011. Your experiences may vary. Visit jdpower.com.

** NCQA's Health Insurance Plan Rankings 2010-11 – Private. U.S. News/NCQA America's Best Health Insurance Plans 2005-2009 (annual). America's Best Health Insurance Plans is a trademark of U.S. News & World Report. NCQA The State of Health Care Quality 2004.

Contact: Joanne Kaplan
(617) 509-2843
[email protected]

SOURCE Harvard Pilgrim Health Care