For Immediate Release
Cheyenne, Wyoming
November 15, 2007
APS Healthcare’s Health Management Program Helps Wyoming Medicaid Avoid More than $17 Million in Expenditures
APS Healthcare, one of the country’s leading specialty healthcare companies, and the Wyoming Department of Health EqualityCare (Medicaid) program announced today that for the second consecutive year APS’ Healthy Togethersm total population health management program helped the state avoid millions of dollars in medical, behavioral and pharmacy costs.
The cost avoidance for EqualityCare is a reduction relative to trended baseline costs and is partially calculated by comparing expenditures for clients in the Wyoming EqualityCare program with recipients in similar state Medicaid programs that do not offer health management programs. The program helped the state avoid nearly $13 million in expenditures in 2005 and $17 million in 2006. These results were confirmed by Milliman USA, a global consulting and actuarial firm.
“While this program helps us contain costs, more importantly it also signals that our Medicaid population is healthier and is taking proactive steps to prevent disease,” said Dr. Brent Sherard, Wyoming Department of Health Director and State Health Officer. “There’s been an increase in EqualityCare clients who reported quitting smoking and who received flu shots. More patients with coronary artery disease are obtaining important tests and more diabetic patients are getting retinal exams.”
The program contributed to a 40 percent reduction in the number of in-patient hospital admissions and an 18 percent decline in the number of days clients spent in the hospital from 2005 to 2006.
“Population health improvement strategies, such as those employed in Wyoming, offer an effective approach to keeping chronic conditions in check,” said Tracey Moorhead, president and CEO of DMAA: The Care Continuum Alliance. “Wyoming demonstrates well the value inherent in these programs. Our experience there and in many other states is clear: Population-based care improves health and saves money.”
About Healthy Together!
Healthy Together! is offered by the Wyoming Department of Health to all Wyoming EqualityCare clients. The program provides clients with one-on-one support from a nurse health coach, educational materials to encourage the self management of their health and assistance in coordinating their care among multiple providers at no cost. Healthy Together! also provides EqualityCare clients with information on weight loss, smoking cessation and how to adopt healthy lifestyles. Healthy Together! was named the Best Government Disease Management Program by the Disease Management Association of America in 2005.
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