[B]URLINGTON — An industry group representing the majority of health care providers in Vermont is trying a different way of getting care for substance abuse or mental illness to older Vermonters.
The industry group, OneCare Vermont, is paying to place a clinician in two affordable senior housing developments in the Burlington area.
OneCare is an accountable care organization created by the University of Vermont Medical Center and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.
It is poised to begin routing payments next year of nearly $600 million from Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers to its member providers. The payments are part of Vermont’s so-called all-payer model and are intended to shift the state from a volume-based health care payment system to one based on outcomes for patients.
As part of its work to improve health outcomes, OneCare will also direct $27 million toward initiatives to improve primary care, coordinate care for some of the sickest patients, and invest in housing assistance.
OneCare is using $97,000 of that money to allow Howard Center, one of its member providers, to hire a full-time clinician who will work at two senior housing developments operated by Cathedral Square through its SASH program. “SASH” stands for Supports And Services at Home.
The OneCare effort will serve “seniors and individuals with special needs who wish to receive services in their homes,” said Catherine Simonson, Howard Center chief client services officer, in a statement.
“The embedded clinical care that Howard Center will provide at two Cathedral Square communities will ensure residents are receiving timely care, with a goal of fewer avoidable emergency room visits,” Simonson said.
Support from the Howard Center clinician will be available to roughly 200 elders and adults with disabilities at two Cathedral Square developments in the Burlington area, according to a news release from OneCare.
Cathedral Square would not identify the two sites, saying it wants to be intentional about how the program is rolled out in order to maximize participation.
The pilot program started Nov. 1 and is expected to run through December 2018.
OneCare said it’s working to create a standardized process to solicit and evaluate similar initiatives to improve the health of patients across its provider network.
