Hearst Health and the Jefferson College of Population Health announced three finalists for its inaugural $100,000 prize to honor healthcare organizations that focus on managing and improving health.
The three finalists are Centering Healthcare Institute in Boston, Community Care of North Carolina in Raleigh, and Jersey City Medical Center-Barnabas Health in Jersey City.
More than 125 hospitals and health systems, academic medical centers, academic medical centers, academic institutions, community organizations, nonprofits and health departments submitted an application.
The winner will be announced at the 16th annual Population Health Colloquium in Philadelphia on March 8 at 8 a.m. Each finalist will present their program on March 7 at 5:30 p.m. at the colloquium.
Centering Healthcare Institute is being honored for its CenteringPregnancy group care delivery model, which has reached more than 125,000 pregnant women in 400 U.S. practice sites. The program has been credited with a 33 percent to 47 percent reduction in preterm birth, an increase in birth weight and lower healthcare costs.
Community Care of North Carolina’s transitional care management model is geared towards 1.4 million Medicaid beneficiaries, most of whom have chronic medical conditions and are at risk for hospitalization or readmission. Since 2008, the rates of hospitalizations and readmissions have declined 10 percent and 16 percent. Meanwhile, Medicaid costs have been reduced 9 percent. The program has also established real-time data connections with 87 hospitals.
Jersey City Medical Center-Barnabas Health’s Wealth from Health program is geared towards 25,000 adults and children with complex chronic diseases such as asthma, sickle-cell anemia, HIV, renal stage disease and behavioral health issues. Through the program, the medical center has seen a 40 percent reduction in inpatient admissions for members enrolled at least six months and a 32 percent reduction in cost for patients with at least two chronic conditions. In addition, members enrolled in the program for at least a year have saved $2.1 million compared with the previous year.
The Hearst Health network includes First Databank, Zynx Health, MCG, Homecare Homebase, Hearst Health International, Hearst Health Ventures and the Hearst Health Innovation Lab.
The Jefferson College of Population Health, which was established in 2008, is part of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.
Executive Editor
Tim Casey joined TriMed Media Group in 2015 as Executive Editor. For the previous four years, he worked as an editor and writer for HMP Communications, primarily focused on covering managed care issues and reporting from medical and health care conferences. He was also a staff reporter at the Sacramento Bee for more than four years covering professional, college and high school sports. He earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Notre Dame and his MBA degree from Georgetown University.