2018 NY Heritage Healthcare Innovation Awards Winners Team Up to Promote Better Self-Management in Individuals with Behavioral Health Conditions
Coordinated Behavioral Care (CBC), a New York City, member-led, not-for-profit organization has partnered with Wellth, a digital health company offering incentive-based behavioral change programs. CBC leverages a Network of 50 community-based organizations, serving over 200,000 Medicaid recipients, offering a comprehensive approach to behavioral, medical and social determinants of health for this population. The Wellth app will be offered to individuals who receive services through CBC’s innovative Pathway Home program to improve adherence to medications and self-care plans among those with serious mental illness, chronic health conditions and/or substance use disorders.
“We are excited to partner with and learn from CBC, a team with tremendous success in serving underserved and complex patient populations,” said Wellth CEO Matt Loper. “Both CBC and Wellth recently won Heritage Healthcare Innovation Awards for New York, so it is exciting to team up and advance our mission to improve patient care and outcomes in new ways.”
The 2018 Heritage Healthcare Innovation Awards honored both organizations last month for making “measurable improvements in health status, improving access to healthcare, positively impacting patient quality of care and demonstrating long-term affordability” in New York.
The new partnership between CBC and Wellth will aim to use behavioral economic principles to improve medication adherence, blood glucose monitoring, weight monitoring, and other health behaviors among individuals impacted by chronic physical and behavioral health conditions. Based on previous studies, only 50% of individuals with chronic conditions in the general population follows their care plan as prescribed [World Health Organization, 2003]. This leads to preventable and unwanted health outcomes that lead to hospitalizations, poorer quality of life, and excessive costs for individuals and the healthcare system.
“At CBC, we strive to be at the forefront of innovation in technology,” said Dr. Jorge Petit, President and CEO, “as we strive at improving the lives of the individuals we serve. We are very excited to partner with Wellth in our effort to offer a technology solution that provides real time access to critical health information and offer incentives to individuals who achieve their health and medication adherence goals. Under the direction of Senior Director for Pathway Home, Barry Granek, the five NYC Pathway Home teams will pilot Wellth. Pathway Home provides Care Transition services to individuals with SMI entering the community after a psychiatric hospitalization, a critical time in one’s care, so providing tools to maintain health is critical.”
The Wellth app reminds patients to take their medications, test their glucose levels, weigh themselves, or complete other condition-specific prescribed activities. Patients are motivated to use the app through financial and other incentives. Wellth has worked with patients with chronic diseases in several Medicaid and other populations impacted by social determinants of health and produced an average of 89% adherence to medications and care plan behaviors.
Partnerships like CBC and Wellth’s help both organizations improve the quality and value of care, and realize better healthcare for the residents of New York City.
About Coordinated Behavioral Care (CBC)
CBC is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of care for New Yorkers with serious mental illness, chronic health conditions and/or substance use disorders. CBC brings together over fifty community based health and human services organizations which provide access to quality treatment, housing, employment and other needed services. CBC operates a Health Home that provides care coordination services to tens of thousands of New Yorkers of all ages, with 50+ community-based care management agencies located in all five boroughs. CBC also operates an Independent Practice Association (IPA) including a citywide network of New York State-licensed primary care, mental health and substance use treatment services, thousands of units of supportive housing, primary medical, recovery and support services, and assistance with concrete needs such as food, employment and housing. Among CBC’s innovations is the Pathway Home program, offering Care Transition services during the transition to the community following discharge from a psychiatric admission.
About Wellth
Wellth is a digital health company headquartered in New York that helps patients better follow their care plans by using evidence-based incentive strategies from behavioral economics. Our mission is to make healthy choices easy choices to benefit people living with chronic conditions, their healthcare providers, and insurers by driving better clinical outcomes and lower costs of care. Our advisory board includes former CEOs of the American Diabetes Association and American College of Cardiology, and we have been recognized with digital health innovation awards from the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, and Accenture.
The company applies behavioral economics through mobile technology to achieve better patient adherence, engagement and health at scale. This improves care manager efficiency so they can deliver more effective, higher touch care.
Contact Information
Jorge R. Petit, MD
Coordinated Behavioral Care
646–930–8803
Matthew Loper
Wellth, Inc.
(714) 235 1998
