Palmetto Physician Connections Brings Medical Homes to South Carolina Healthy Connections with New Medicaid Managed Care Plan

COLUMBIA, S.C. – (April 1, 2011) – Palmetto Physician Connections, LLC (www.PalmettoPhysicianConnections.com) has successfully launched a new Medicaid managed care health plan in South Carolina’s Healthy Connections Choices program. Under a contract with the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS), Palmetto Physician Connections is providing healthcare services through a medical homes network to beneficiaries in 39 counties.

Under its health plan, Palmetto Physician Connections is establishing medical home networks to coordinate care for Medicaid beneficiaries in the South Carolina Healthy Connections program. Primary care physicians and other providers work in conjunction with case and disease managers to identify at-risk Medicaid beneficiaries and provide proactive care management and monitoring to improve outcomes and quality of life. Patient education on self-care and healthy lifestyles is also provided.

“We are driven by a very personal mission to enhance access to high-quality care for every member of our plan. As such, it is an honor to play a key role in improving the lives of our fellow South Carolinians in need of quality healthcare,” said Cesar D. Martinez, president and CEO, Palmetto Physician Connections. “Our vision is to create an effective and efficient healthcare system for Medicaid beneficiaries through a relationship-building approach that rewards providers for coordinating care through a shared savings and accountable care model.”

Central to the success of Palmetto Physician Connections is the ability to manage and share comprehensive, actionable information among and between all participants along the care spectrum. Access to contextually appropriate data that provides a real-time, 360-degree view of the patient is critical for identifying risk and severity levels.

“A comprehensive, user-appropriate patient view is crucial to ensure that all participants in our medical home network have the information they need to evaluate and monitor patients and, when necessary, respond when care gaps or status changes are identified,” said Gerald Harmon, M.D., medical director, Palmetto Physician Connections.

To accomplish this, Palmetto Physician Connections utilizes MedHOK (www.medhok.com) solutions. ICD-10 compliant and HIE-ready, MedHOK solutions leverage cloud computing, Google technologies, smart interfaces and advanced analytics to collect patient data from disparate systems, which is then aggregated, cleansed, standardized and optimized for use. This enables Palmetto Physician Connections to manage and measure care against national quality standards for optimal outcomes.

“We are committed to enabling innovative healthcare organizations like Palmetto Physician Connections to enhance clinical outcomes and care management, as well as quality measures and financial performance, through the application of advanced technologies that are easy-to-use, cost-efficient and rapidly deployed,” said Anil Kottoor, president and CEO, MedHOK, which recently earned full HEDIS® certification for 360Measures.

About Palmetto Physician Connections

Based in Irmo, S.C., Palmetto Physician Connections (www.palmettophysicianconnections.com) is a government-sponsored health plan that contracts with primary care and other healthcare providers to establish case management programs providing care coordination and disease management through a shared savings and accountable care model. This clinical focus identifies patients and plan members with health characteristics associated with high health risks and enables the primary care provider, case and disease managers to collaborate on managing and monitoring the patient’s health to drive improved outcomes and an enhanced quality of life. The case and disease management team also educate patients on healthy lifestyles for improved self-care.