Health IT, Payers

Evolent partners on Medicaid Center of Excellence

The Medicaid Center of Excellence will offer strategic, clinical, technology and administrative support to other Medicaid benefits administrators as they seek to improve care coordination and communication with beneficiaries.

medicaid

Population health IT vendor and consulting firm Evolent Health has joined with Medicaid managed care organization Passport Health Plan to establish the Medicaid Center of Excellence at Passport Health’s headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky. The two partners are calling the center the first of its kind in the nation.

The Medicaid Center of Excellence will offer strategic, clinical, technology and administrative support to other Medicaid benefits administrators as they seek to improve care coordination and communication with beneficiaries, according to Michael Rabkin, communications director for Passport Health Plan.

“We’re working together to create a model for collaboration and innovation,” Rabkin said. And by model, he means that Passport and Arlington, Virginia-based Evolent hope to spread their ideas for innovation and patient engagement nationwide. Rabkin said Passport expects to add “several hundred” jobs in the next few years to support the Medicaid Center of Excellence.

To start, current Passport programs will underpin the Center for Excellence, Rabkin said. That means such things as educating Medicaid populations on health and lifestyle choices and connecting patients to primary care physicians and dentists. Data underlies those efforts, as Passport is a current customer of Evolent.

The scope will expand, and there are plans to get Medicaid managed care plans in other states involved. “Those conversations are in the works right now,” Rabkin said.

“Passport and Evolent have a shared vision of changing the way health care is delivered by providing increased value for patients and providers,” Evolent Health CEO Frank Williams said in a statement. “We are thrilled to be collaborating with Passport to build the infrastructure for best-in-class, provider-led Medicaid health plans around the country.”

Photo: Flickr user Rochelle Hartman 

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