Older adults, people with disabilities and behavioral health needs, people with multiple chronic diseases, and people with unmet social needs often have avoidable emergency department visits and inpatient stays due to lack of access to preventive care, insurance, or transportation. Community paramedicine and mobile integrated health programs provide urgent and primary care services in the home and have been shown to improve access to care, patient satisfaction, and patient quality of life, while reducing costs linked to avoidable hospitalizations.
This Better Care Playbook webinar, made possible through support from the Seven Foundation Collaborative, highlighted two community paramedicine programs — instED in New England and Community CaraMedic at Mission Health Partners in North Carolina — that serve people with complex needs. Program leaders and community paramedics from these programs shared insights on program design and workflow, payment and funding, implementation tips, and outcomes.
Agenda
I. Welcome and Introduction
Speaker: Logan Kelly, Senior Program Officer, Center for Health Care Strategies
II. instED: Urgent Medical Care in the Comfort of Your Home
Speakers: Dan Henderson, MD, MPH, Medical Director of instED; and Hannah McAbee, NRP, CP-C, Community Paramedic, SmartCare
D. Henderson and H. McAbee described the instED program, in which paramedics deliver urgent care to people with complex needs in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
III. Community CaraMedic Program at Mission Health Partners
Speakers: Amy Russell, MD, Medical Director; and Randy Fugate, Mobile Integrated Health Manager, Mission Health Partners
A. Russell and R. Fugate shared details on the CaraMedic program at Mission Health Partners, an accountable care organization in rural western North Carolina.
IV. Moderated Q&A
Moderator: L. Kelly