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HUDSON HEALTH PLAN’S MARGARET LEONARD NAMED TO EXPERT PANEL TO REVIEW EFFECTIVENESS OF CARE COORDINATION


Study by Oregon Evidence-Based Research Center is the First Big Step in Defining and Documenting the Value of Care Coordination

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 7, 2010

(Tarrytown, NY)…Most health care experts agree that “coordinating care” can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of health care delivery, especially for patients with multiple, complex health conditions. Yet a workable definition of care coordination and the standards by which its effectiveness should be measured have remained elusive – until now.

The Oregon Evidence-based Practice Center has launched a comprehensive comparative effectiveness review of case management practices, and has invited Margaret Leonard, MS, RN-BC, FNP, Senior Vice President for Clinical Services at Hudson Health Plan, to join its technical expert panel.

“While care coordination has been around since the late 1980s, we still need to improve our ability to measure its effectiveness and even define what it is,” Ms. Leonard notes. “Everyone says care coordination is a good thing, but we want to find out exactly what it brings to the table.”

She emphasizes that there is a tremendous need to define what constitutes care coordination – also known as case management – and to measure how care coordination affects patient health.  She explains: “We need to know this before we ask ourselves, ‘how much are we willing to pay for it?’”

Ms. Leonard is no stranger to the topic. As former president of the National Case Management Society of America (CMSA), she spearheaded the development of CMSA’s own definition of care coordination. Ms. Leonard also participated in the National Quality Forum Steering Committee on care coordination measures, and is past co-chair of the New York State Department of Health Case Management Work Group, the American Nurses Credentialing Center Nurse Case Management Expert Panel, and a member of the Policy and Advocacy Task Force of the National Transitions of Care Coalition. Most recently, she was named to the New York State Board of Nursing, which oversees the practice of all nurses licensed in New York State.

Ideally, coordinating care would ensure a patient received all medically appropriate care while reducing redundant or unnecessary services. In fact, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), a research arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that specializes in quality improvement and patient safety, has called care coordination a top priority for national action in health care.

AHRQ is funding the evidence review, whose official name is “Comparative Effectiveness of Case Management for Adults with Medical Illness and Complex Care Needs.” David Hickam, MD, MPH, the review’s principal investigator, emphasizes that, “This is a major evidence review of a timely topic, the results of which will be of interest to policymakers, clinicians, patients, and their families.” 

At Hudson, Ms. Leonard leads a team of nurse case managers to assist patients with diabetes, risky pregnancies, severe mental illness and disabilities, asthma, and AIDS/HIV. More recently, she implemented an integrated-care case management model as part of a New York State Department of Health-funded Chronic Illness Demonstration Project (CIDP). She and her team are replicating the model at Hudson Health Plan with its members who have complex medical and behavioral health needs. Says Ms. Leonard, “Case management that includes motivational interviewing techniques, that promotes regular checkups and screenings, and that ensures patients are taking the drugs they’ve been prescribed, makes a real difference in a patient’s health status. We see case management working every day. But what we – and the nation – also need to see is a quantitative improvement in quality, and the Oregon Evidenced-based Practice Center study will be the first big step in defining and documenting the value of care coordination.” 

About Hudson Health Plan

Founded in the mid-1980s by a coalition of community health centers, Hudson’s mission statement is "to promote and provide access to excellent health services for all people." The Tarrytown-based not-for-profit organization provides comprehensive medical and dental coverage to more than 100,000 members in New York’s Hudson Valley. Hudson has been driving health care innovation by developing technology to support clinical quality initiatives and to streamline the enrollment process for Medicaid Managed Care, Child Health Plus, and Family Health Plus. According to A Consumer’s Guide to Medicaid Managed Care in the Hudson Valley, it has earned the highest ratings in overall satisfaction among Medicaid Managed Care members in the Hudson Valley region every year since 2003.

Hudson Health Plan is the winner of the 2010 Platinum Award for Overall Case Management from the Case Management Society of America’s Case in Point Magazine; the Case Management Society of America 2007 Award for Excellence in Medication Adherence Management; the 2006 Poughkeepsie Journal Diversity in the Workplace Award; the 2005 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Corporate Award for Diversity from the YWCA of White Plains and Central Westchester; the 2005 Advancements in Health Care Award from Hudson Valley Life and Hudson Valley Parent; and the 2003 Community Leadership Award from The New York Health Plan Association. Visit Hudson on the Web at www.hudsonhealthplan.org.

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