Integrated Health Partners Launched To Meet 21st Century Patient Needs
Council of Community Clinics Launches Ambitious Effort with 10 Clinics Covering Over 250,000 Patients Molina Healthcare's Matovsky Tapped to Lead Effort
SAN DIEGO, Nov. 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Henry Tuttle, CEO of the Council of Community Clinics (CCC), announced the formation of an exciting new venture, Integrated Health Partners (IHP), a clinically-integrated primary care network. Integrated Health Partners is a subsidiary of CCC and brings together 10 founding community health center members, representing over 250,000 Medi-Cal patients in San Diego County.
IHP's goal is to improve quality of care and patient health outcomes by integrating the efforts of these 10 health centers. IHP will negotiate with insurers and government health care programs to reduce total health care costs while providing a stronger voice for members and patients. Also, this network will seek to partner with other physician groups and hospital systems in southern California to provide more comprehensive health care options for patients.
"This is a significant undertaking," said Tuttle, "There are only a few clinically integrated networks of this kind in California that target the safety net population. We are excited about this opportunity to provide top quality primary care across our network and, together with payer partners, improve patient health outcomes while driving costs out of the system. It's a win-win-win for everyone."
A clinically integrated network jointly defines the highest care quality standards, shares clinical and claims data, best practices, faster processing of in-network referrals, aligns technology standards and education and training. "This will put us on a level playing field with other large health care systems in California," noted Tuttle. "Our health care outcomes always rate very highly but imagine gaining the economies of scale that will allow us to significantly impact the long term health of our patients and communities."
Tuttle also announced that senior health care executive Sabra Matovsky has been tapped to run IHP. She will be IHP's Executive Vice President reporting directly to Tuttle. Matovsky, recently Associate Vice President and Market Leader for Molina Healthcare, was responsible for leading and managing Molina's largest business market and the second largest Medi-Cal health plan in San Diego. Also, Matovsky assisted in expanding Molina's Medi-Cal and Medicare presence in Imperial County. Matovsky has extensive experience in negotiating contracts for integrated physician associations, HMO's and health plans. Tuttle commented, "Her extensive experience in successfully concluding complex and demanding negotiations, her leadership in developing innovative programs and her close working relationship with our founding members made her an ideal candidate for this critical role."
"Whether it is achieving Level 3 Patient Centered Medical Home status or integrating behavioral health with primary care, San Diego's health centers have demonstrated their commitment to excellence in quality. Our new organization will allow us to aggregate our data and standardize best practices to provide unparalleled, comprehensive, coordinated care through IHP members in the service of all San Diegans. I am honored to lead this effort," added Matovsky, who holds an MBA from San Diego State University.
IHP has a 7-member board of managers, representing the membership, led by North County Health Services CEO Irma Cota. "Integrated Health Partners is the culmination of a multi-year effort that began at the grassroots level. IHP will allow us to better serve our patients and elevate the way we deliver health care, and focus on long term outcomes," said Cota, "As we perform our role as safety net providers for the uninsured and underinsured, our network of health centers have created a system of care achieving quality outcomes comparable to, or even better than, private practitioners and hospital-based practices. IHP will allow us to more effectively fulfill our mission and provide health care to everyone in need."
About the Council of Community Clinics
The Council of Community Clinics and its subsidiaries represent and support community clinics and health centers in their efforts to provide access to quality health care and related services for the diverse communities they serve with an emphasis on low income and uninsured populations. For more information, please visit www.ccc-sd.org.
SOURCE The Council of Community Clinics
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