Improving Population Health with Embedded Case Managers in an Open, Multi-Payor Community

Summary: There's education, there's experience, and then there's the 'right stuff' --- the indefinable personality traits that earmark an individual as a change agent, collaborator and ambassador of case management, says Annette Watson, senior vice president of community transformation for Taconic IPA (TIPA), of TIPA's requirements for the RN case managers it hires for its advanced patient-centered medical homes. Then there are the not insignificant contributions of the RN case manager to accountable and patient-centered care, which Ms. Watson describes in this interview. While staff-buy-in and communication continue to challenge the embedded case manager model, the participant in CMS Innovation Center's Comprehensive Primary Care (CPC) initiative says reimbursement for embedded case management is less of an obstacle today than in the past, due to funding-friendly care models and pilots descending from healthcare reform. Ms. Watson shared how TIPA has successfully embedded case managers in an open, multi-payor community during an October 9, 2013 webinar, "Improving Population Health with Embedded Case Managers in an Open, Multi-Payor Community."