A brand new research printed within the New England Journal of Drugs Catalyst confirmed that Waymark’s community-based interventions lowered hospital and emergency division visits and improved care high quality.
San Francisco-based Waymark works with well being plans, main care suppliers, well being methods and federally certified well being facilities. It helps Medicaid sufferers by connecting them with group well being staff, therapists, pharmacists and care coordinators of their space. Waymark helps them entry group assets like meals and housing, psychological well being assist, medical appointments and medical gear. The corporate at the moment operates in Virginia and Washington.
The research evaluated outcomes for 64,278 sufferers in two Medicaid well being plans in Virginia and Washington. Rising-risk sufferers (these prone to have increased healthcare wants) engaged with Waymark had been matched with a cohort of rising-risk sufferers not engaged with Waymark. The well being plans additionally assigned these sufferers to 2,298 in-network main care suppliers.
After a 6-month follow-up interval, the researchers discovered that Waymark’s mannequin decreased all-cause ED and hospital visits by 22.9%. This features a 20.4% lower in avoidable ED visits and a 48.3% lower in avoidable hospitalizations for rising-risk sufferers.
As well as, the research checked out 9 high quality metrics and located that seven improved by a mean of 11.8 share factors over a calendar yr. These metrics had been completion of annual well-child visits, antidepressant remedy administration, follow-up after hospitalization for psychological sickness, follow-up after ED go to for psychological sickness, diabetes hemoglobin A1c administration, breast most cancers screening and postpartum care.
Waymark additionally has sufferers establish their targets once they first interact with the corporate, like bettering blood strain or managing substance use. The research discovered that amongst sufferers engaged with Waymark, 63.3% of targets had been accomplished.
“After we based the corporate, we dedicated, it doesn’t matter what the outcomes, whether or not they had been favorable or unfavorable, we wished to be publishing our outcomes from this calendar yr in a peer evaluate journal. … [We found that] sufferers are using care extra successfully and effectively, the standard of their care has improved and so they’re assembly their very own targets,” stated Dr. Rajaie Batniji, co-founder and CEO of Waymark, in an interview.
Batniji added that the findings come at a time when a number of Medicaid plans are dealing with headwinds.
“They’re slashing their earnings steering due to the truth that prices are coming in increased,” he stated. “And it appears to be the best unanswered query in healthcare right this moment: How do you really handle Medicaid? I feel each payer and each supplier really is aware of the reply. They’re by no means stunned once they hear from us what we’re doing and the way it works. I feel the problem for all of them has been, are you able to really implement these sorts of options at scale? Can they be reproduced?”
Scaling is precisely Waymark’s plan for 2025, in accordance with Batniji. This previous yr has been about proving its mannequin, and now it goals to duplicate its mannequin in different elements of the nation.
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