On the Horizon
What is on the Horizon for HealthVine?
With a successful first year of work in the rear view, Cincinnati Children’s HealthVine already has plans for programs and initiatives that will continue to improve and expand the support it provides for children and families in the Greater Cincinnati area.
Throughout the coming year, the HealthVine team will continue to leverage its leadership in population health. Currently, plans exist to implement several organizational changes as well as launch new programs that will potentially lead to better health outcomes for HealthVine members.
New Organizational Changes and Clinical Initiatives
Through its new programs set to launch during the coming year, HealthVine will continue its commitment to reducing the impact of negative social determinants of health.
Expanding Support for Complex Behavioral Health Members Through OhioRISE
On July 1, 2022, the Ohio Department of Medicaid launched OhioRISE, a program that will, in time, provide services for an additional estimated 2,700 children through a new partnership with Aetna and the Ohio Department of Medicaid.
The program will offer high-fidelity, wrap-around care for children who face extensive multi-system needs, including those involved with the juvenile justice and foster care systems. These children may also have complex mental health diagnoses. Through this initiative, families will receive more targeted at-home support, with the goal of improving functioning and reducing out-of-home placements.
HealthVine was appointed to provide care coordination for youth in Eastern Hamilton, Clermont, Brown, Adams, Scioto, and Lawrence counties. The HealthVine OhioRISE team is in the active process of building and streamlining internal operations to have the maximum positive impact on the members they support. They have also been diligent in getting involved in community outreach efforts to build relationships with community organization partners throughout their care coordination region.
Estimated number of children supported through OhioRISE initiatives.
HealthVine supports youth in Eastern Hamilton, Clermont, Brown, Adams, Scioto and Lawrence counties.
Estimated number of children supported through OhioRISE initiatives.
HealthVine supports youth in Eastern Hamilton, Clermont, Brown, Adams, Scioto, and Lawrence counties.
Developing Clinically-Integrated Interventions Through the Research & Innovation Program
HealthVine’s Research & Innovation program, launched mid-2022, is working to redefine the development and implementation of clinically integrated patient care solutions in the population health space. The team identifies opportunities for researchers to pursue partnered projects on key challenges and opportunities within population health, as well as assess a variety of condition-specific interventions that may benefit the HealthVine member population.
“Looking ahead to our work in Research and Innovation, there are five buckets of ‘outcomes’ to measure: 1) medical health outcomes, things like hospitalizations and emergency department visits; 2) patient-reported outcomes, like their experience in the healthcare system, quality of life and symptom-free days; 3) what I call ‘community outcomes’—like the number of days that kids miss school and parents miss work; 4) the cost/value equation of projects we pursue; and 5) sharing what we find—through papers, grants, and other kinds of opportunities—with others who have a stake in improving children’s health," says Andrew Beck, MD, MPH, medical director for the HealthVine Research and Innovation program.
One of these opportunities is involvement in the Responding to Identified Sociomedical risks with Effective Unified Purpose (RISEUP) program. Funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ), RISEUP supports a three-pronged community health effort. It will:
- Study several health conditions to identify the neighborhood factors that drive inequities, potentially reducing hospitalization rates
- Work with patients, families, and community partners to design new improvement-oriented interventions based on medical and social needs
- Test the effectiveness of co-designed ideas in closing racial and socioeconomic gaps in utilization, hospitalization and emergency department visits
“It’s a challenge for any managed care organization like CareSource and its delegate HealthVine to align the moral and ethical imperative with the financial imperative. HealthVine provides us with a new opportunity to do that. If we prevent hospitalization, that is cost savings. It’s also a good thing for that child who stays in school or that parent who doesn’t have to miss work.”
Andrew Beck, MD, MPH, medical director, HealthVine Research and Innovation
Launch of the Asthma Learning Health System
The Asthma Learning Health System (ALHS), funded through the Cincinnati Children’s Academic Research Committee, is dedicated to creating an innovative approach to align data and analytic capabilities to design better interventions that will equitably improve asthma outcomes for children in Greater Cincinnati.
Through partnerships across healthcare facilities and community organizations, the ALHS aims to enhance integrated research and quality improvement that will lead to improved asthma-related clinical care, community connections and research.
Gearing Up for the Year Ahead
HealthVine is fully committed to improving the lives of the children we serve and to using our accomplishments as a springboard for greater progress in the future. In the coming months and years, HealthVine plans to grow its partnership with additional Medicaid and commercial payors, expanding the influence we have on pediatric care and outcomes in our region.
