PHA Announces 2024 Named Award Recipients for excellence in two categories Chronic Care
Transformation in Chronic Care and Service of the Underserved
WASHINGTON, Oct. 24, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — The Population Health Alliance (PHA) today announced PHA 2024 Named Award Recipients for excellence in two categories Transformation in Chronic Care and Service of the Underserved. The awards focus on an area of excellence in Population Health Improvement supported by PHA. The awards are open to PHA Member Companies.
Recipients were announced at the PHA Annual Meeting-Innovation and Adoption Summit, the events 25th Anniversary October 23 & 24th in Washington D.C. at the Top of the Hill Conference Center. The PHA Named Award program is expected to grow overtime as award categories are expanded.
“PHA is grateful for the support of the Stone Family and Bill Lucia Associates to recognize the excellent work of our members CareFirst and Keystone Health. PHA will expand this important program to further advance innovation”, said Rose Maljanian PHA, Board Chair & Chair Emeritus and CEO HealthCAWSPost this
The Transformation in Chronic Care Award in Memory of Robert E. Stone, former PHA Board Member and President by the Stone Family was presented to PHA member CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst).
CareFirst, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, is a not-for-profit healthcare company which, through its affiliates and subsidiaries, offers a comprehensive portfolio of health insurance products and administrative services to 3.5 million individuals in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia. Diabetes care continues to be one of the most expensive chronic conditions CareFirst members face with total costs exceeding $120 million dollars annually. CareFirst’s innovation and investment arm, Healthworx, incubated a new company, Ryse Health, to address this issue. CareFirst reported a two-point decrease in hemoglobin A1c levels within 90 days and beyond, which was described as outpacing traditional or virtual-only solutions by 50% or more. CareFirst reported 2023 provider performance scores in the 95th percentile for several HEDIS measures.
“CareFirst is honored to receive the PHA Award for Chronic Care Transformation recognizing our work addressing diabetes in our communities,” said Dr. Bryan O. Buckley, Head of Public Health for CareFirst. “CareFirst is deeply committed to improving care and outcomes for those with chronic conditions, and while diabetes is prevalent, it’s also preventable. Through innovative partnership models, we can meet our members where and when they need it most. With exciting initial success, we look forward to seeing what our work can accomplish in the future.”
Jeremy Stone, Chief Commercial Officer at TimeDoc Health, who has followed the trail his father blazed in the population health industry, expressed, “It is an incredible honor to have the Population Health Alliance award the Robert E. Stone Award for Transforming Chronic Care in my father’s name. Dad’s lifelong dedication to improving population health through co-founding Healthways and the Disease Management Association of America (DMAA) was always driven by his unwavering commitment to creating a healthier world, one person at a time. Our family is grateful for the opportunity to recognize leaders cut from the same mold and driven by this same purpose.”
Service of the Underserved Award by Bill Lucia Managing Director, Bill Lucia Associates, a current PHA Board Director was presented to PHA Member Keystone Health. Keystone Health was founded in 1986 to provide health care to the migrant agricultural workers in Franklin County. Today, Keystone Health has more than 540 employees and sees over 59,000 patients annually. Keystone Health is the only federally-qualified Community Health Center serving Franklin County. Keystone Health reported high performance in its Value-Based contracts as well as its MSSP ACO participation including lower PMPM costs than the ACO average and better clinical outcomes on a significant number of eligible metrics than the network average.
“Keystone Health is honored to receive the Population Health Alliance Award for Care to the Underserved. We value diversity and health equity in our community by empowering our workforce to eliminate disparities in the care we provide to our patients so that they may realize their full potential”, said Joanne Cochran, President and CEO.
“I am proud to support an award for Population Health Innovation focused on the underserved in our nation. Having served the Medicaid program for 25 years, I believe we have significant health equity, quality and other challenges facing this population. I’m excited that PHA has and will continue to award those who are driving positive impact on the population of the underserved in our nation”, said Bill Lucia Managing Director Bill Lucia Associates, LLC.
“PHA is grateful for the support of both the Stone Family and Bill Lucia Associates in order to recognize the excellent work of our members CareFirst and Keystone Health. We look forward to building on this important program to further innovation and recognize more members each year”, said Rose Maljanian Population Health Alliance, Chairman of the Board and Chair Emeritus and Chairman & CEO HealthCAWS.
