Chicago, IL - Earlier this year, four Chicago hospitals, six family health centers and one behavioral health provider came together to create MyCare Chicago, an Accountable Care Entity (ACE) and new managed care healthcare plan for individuals and families based in Cook County. MyCare is for children, parents and caregivers who are Medicaid eligible or on Medicaid or All Kids and who currently have an HFS medical card.
Accountable Care Entities take a data driven approach to managing care in a new model, developed by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services’ initiative to transition most Medicaid clients to managed care plans by spring of 2015. The ACE brings healthcare providers together through shared data and processes to better serve the growing population of Medicaid patients. The State aims to improve patient outcomes and reduce its Medicaid cost by having patients see providers within a single system or network. In April, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago joined the three founding hospital members of MyCare Chicago, (Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, Norwegian American Hospital and Swedish Covenant Hospital) and 6 Family Health Centers to create the MyCare Chicago ACE. The six founding Family Health Centers (Asian Human Services Family Health Center, Erie Family Health Centers, Heartland Health Centers, Mercy Family Health Center, Near North Health Centers, and two PCC Community Wellness Center sites—West Town Family Health Center and Walk-In Wellness Center at Norwegian American Hospital), and Lurie Children’s Uptown and Lincoln Park Clinics, Swedish Medical Group and Infant Welfare Society form the broad ambulatory care network of over 200 family doctors and 700 specialists.
Uniquely, MyCare Chicago is also owned by a major behavioral health provider: Community Counseling Centers of Chicago (C4). C4 offers care coordination for behavioral and mental health concerns. MyCare Chicago creates a coordinated system for all of a patient’s medical needs from regular doctor visits to labs, medications, physical therapy and behavioral health. They also provide direct access to a team of doctors, nurses, social workers and others who help coordinate member’s care, from office visits to hospital stays.
“These organizations joined together to create MyCare Chicago, ensuring that patients get access to the right care at the right time”, said Mark Newton, Board Chair for MyCare Chicago and CEO of Swedish Covenant Hospital. “As safety net providers we are very familiar with the needs of Medicaid patients. Creating a cutting-edge model to manage the resources needed for good health is a unique opportunity for community based providers in assuring access for the most vulnerable.” Kathy DeVine, Executive Director of MyCare went on to state, “All of our organizations are well known in their communities for providing a welcome place for health and wellness services. Together we can simply do that more seamlessly by offering patients who enroll in MyCare, coordinated care and access to over 200 primary care providers and 700 specialist, including 500 pediatric subspecialists.”
Members will continue to receive all of the benefits they currently receive with their HFS card and will also benefit from supportive services that include health education, prevention and wellness, linkages to community-based programs including transportation, housing, utility assistance and day care, disease management and chronic care programs. To learn more about Health Plan choices, prospective enrollees should contact Illinois Client Enrollment Services at 1-877-912-8880 (TTY: 1-866-565-8576 or visit http://enrollhfs.illinois.gov.”
To learn more about MyCare Chicago or find out if a physician is a member of MyCare Chicago, call MyCare, toll free at: 1-(844) 320-CARE (2273) or Voice/TTY: 1-(844) 510-CARE (2273) or visit http://www.mycarechicago.org.
