Health Care Innovation Awards: Wyoming

Notes and Disclaimers: 

• Projects shown may have also operated in other states (see the Geographic Reach)
• Descriptions and project data (e.g. gross savings estimates, population served, etc.) are 3 year estimates provided by each organization and are based on budget submissions required by the Health Care Innovation Awards application process.
• While all projects were expected to produce cost savings beyond the 3 year grant award, some may not achieve net cost savings until after the initial 3-year period due to start-up-costs, change in care patterns and intervention effect on health status.

HEALTHLINKNOW, INC.

Project Title: "Patient-centered medical home for mental health services in Wyoming and Montana"
Geographic Reach: California, Montana, Washington, Wyoming
Funding Amount: $7,718,636
Estimated 3-Year Savings: $8,100,000

Summary: HealthLinkNow Inc, partnering with a number of local provider groups and health networks in Montana and Wyoming, is received an award to provide a Patient Centered Medical Home Program (PCMH) with mental health and substance abuse services in areas where geography and lack of psychiatrists and psychologists complicate access. This model will offer videoconferencing between local patients and HealthLinkNow psychiatrists; instant messaging, email, and telephone calls via HealthLinkNow between providers and patients; and a HealthLinkNow IT platform that allows billing, e-prescribing, and practice management. The program will improve access to psychiatric consultations, therapy, and long-term mental health case management. Lower costs through reduced hospital admissions and emergency room visits are anticipated. Over a three-year period, HealthLinkNow will hire 24 health care providers, including both psychiatrists and therapists.

MEMORIAL HOSPITAL OF LARAMIE COUNTY DBA CHEYENNE REGIONAL

Project Title: “Wyoming: a frontier state's strategic partnership for transforming care delivery”
Geographic Reach: Wyoming
Funding Amount: $14,246,153
Estimated 3-Year Savings: $33,227,238

Summary: The Wyoming Institute of Population Health, a Division of the Memorial Hospital of Laramie County (d/b/a Cheyenne Regional Medical Center), has assembled five strategic partners to deploy population health strategies in communities across Wyoming, creating medical neighborhoods to transform rural care delivery. Focus is placed on patients, wellness, and evidence-based chronic care delivery. Twenty-eight transforming PCMHs function as the core of the medical neighborhoods facilitating care coordination, developing inter-professional care teams, developing individualized care plans for complex patients, and maintaining connections with community-based services for referral and follow-up. Pharmacists, linked virtually by telehealth to the PCMHs, assist in medication therapy management and patient education. Patients hospitalized for serious illness or injury have a particular need for continuity between sites of care and transitions are facilitated by registered nurses specially trained in rural care transitions. Wyoming’s innovative Medication Donation Program has been expanded statewide to link the un/under-insured to prescription assistance. Telemedicine is utilized to facilitate physician desktop solutions, improving access to specialists, enhancing coordination between sites of care, and supporting clinical decision making. Payers/Purchasers, including the state Medicaid program, are partnering to play key roles in providing incentives for care coordination and sustainability. Over 30 jobs have been created through this effort. For more information, visit www.cheyenneregional.org/hcia-app.

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