OLYMPIA -- Snohomish County pilot project sponsored by the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) has won acclaim in a national study that found it provided integrated care for Medicaid clients with chronic conditions.

"This is a pilot project that is one more step along the path we are taking to explore new best practices that address issues of quality care and costs," said Doug Porter, Assistant Secretary of the Health and Recovery Services Administration in DSHS.

He added: "The crucial lesson is that bringing our programs together put the clients at the center of care."

The Washington Medicaid Integration Partnership (WMIP) began in January 2005 as an experiment in bringing together medical care, chemical dependency services, mental health treatment, and long-term care in a single program administered by a managed care contractor, Molina Healthcare of Washington.

The Snohomish County project currently includes approximately 2,800 clients with multiple chronic conditions, all participating in the program on a voluntary basis.

Normally, those different services are delivered separately to Medicaid clients – administered by separate rules and programs, and handled by separate program staff in different parts of DSHS. Under WMIP, the services were bundled so that a patient's primary care provider was in touch with all of his or her health-care needs, not narrowly focused on a particular kind of treatment.

"We are very excited and pleased that this study shows the value this program brings to Medicaid clients and the State of Washington" said Dale Ahlskog, President of Molina Healthcare of Washington, Inc.

The WMIP program was one of ten selected nationally by the Center for Health Care Strategies' Medicaid Value Program, which was reviewing approaches in different states and measuring how effective the different interventions were in dealing with clients who have chronic conditions.

The ten programs ranged from urban settings like Washington, D.C., to a California program that focused on depression, and an Oregon attempt to use complex case management of the state's most expensive Medicaid clients.

All of the programs showed some successes, but the Washington WMIP pilot was one of two that was singled out as clearly showing positive results.

"Washington State's Medicaid Integration Partnership focused on better coordination of primary care, mental health, substance abuse, and long-term care for categorically needy aged, blind and disabled beneficiaries," the center’s study concluded.

It noted that the integrated services included "health risk assessment, monitoring of patient symptoms, provider education, and coordination of services, which is particularly intense for those with extensive needs."

The study also said the Washington results appeared to be relevant to other states even though each state and region would need to adapt some of the "organizational context" in implementing the program.

It said the other lesson of the pilot was that "the focus on integration addresses an important area of long-standing interest and provides evidence that care could potentially be improved by centralizing attention to diverse components of care that are often independently provided."

The WMIP study:

The complete Center for Health Care Strategies' study is posted on the Washington Medicaid Integration Partnership  Web site.

FOR ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND, CONTACT:

Dale Ahlskog, President, Molina Healthcare of Washington, Inc., 425-424-1100

Jim Stevenson, Communications Director, HRSA, DSHS, 360-902-7604 (Pager: 360-971-4067).