Chris Palmieri Discusses CCA's Efforts to Provide Its Patients Social Service Supports (November 14th)

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As has been widely reported the US spends upwards of twice what other OCED countries on medical care however with worse or similar outcomes.  What explains this is in part the fact the US spends about one-third of what other OECD countries spend on social services such as food aid, housing assistance and transportation.  This despite knowing research shows basic measures of health are more closely and positively associated with social service spending.  “It’s hard to escape the conclusion,” a 2016 Brookings Institute op-ed concluded, “that we should gradually be redirecting a lot of money from medical series to so-called upstream factors [or social factors] that are associated with health.”  This was precisely the same conclusion drawn by a recent/September National Academies of Science’s (NAS) consensus study titled, “Integrating Social Care Into the Delivery of Health Care.”  The NAS report concluded health care be redesigned to integrate social care into health care and that financing of health care integrate social care spending. 

During this 30 minute conversation Mr. Palmieri briefly discusses CCA's business lines, moreover its One Care its Senior Care Options health plans that serve Medicaid-Medicare  beneficiaries (so called "Duals") and Medicare beneficiaries under a a Special Need Plan (SNP) designation.  He discusses how his patient population is recruited and moreover CCA's  whole person care approach, accomplished in part via care navigators, that includes providing CCA's patients with social service supports, e.g., CCA's medically tailored meals plan and its mobile integrated health program.  He also discusses how CCA care is financed and the spending efficiency CCA care achieves.  He concludes with a brief description of CCA's WinterStreet Ventures, a CCA affiliate that pilots/develops innovations in care delivery. 

Mr. Chris Palmieri has served since 2015 as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Massachusetts' Commonwealth Care Alliance (CCA).  Immediately prior, Mr. Palmieri served as the CEO of Remedy Partners, a bundled payment organization.  Prior still, Mr. Palmieri worked for ten years with Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY), as President and Chief Executive Officer of VNSNY Health Plans where he developed a $2 billion safety-net insurance organization.   Mr. Palmieri has also held senior positions with Amerigroup Corporation, Metropolitan Jewish Health System, Inc., and Faxton-St. Luke’s Health Care/Mohawk Valley Network.  In 2012, Chris was named one of Crain’s New York “40 Under 40,” a distinction for the top business leaders.  Mr. Palmieri currently serves as the Chair of the Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP), and the Vice Chair of the national Managed Long-Term Services and Supports (MLTSS) Association.

For more information on CCA go to: http://www.commonwealthcarealliance.org/. 

The Brookings' op-ed is at: https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/social-spending-not-medical-spending-is-key-to-health/.

The National Academy of Science report, again titled, "Integrating Social Care in to the Delivery of Health Care," is at: http://nationalacademies.org/hmd/Reports/2019/integrating-social-care-into-the-delivery-of-health-care.