East Arkansas Family Health Center earns recognition

East Arkansas Family Health Center earns recognition

West Memphis receives Excellence in Patient Service award

United Healthcare East Arkansas Family Health Center was recently recognized with the 2015 United Healthcare PATH Excellence in Patient Service Award for its commitment to improving health outcomes for people enrolled in United Healthcare's Medicare Advantage plans.

East Arkansas Family Health Center, Inc earned the award by achieving performance metrics in the United Healthcare PATH Program and successfully addressing care opportunities when treating United Healthcare's Medicare Advantage members.

United Healthcare created the PATH program to help people enrolled in its Medicare Advantage plans be as healthy as possible by encouraging greater use of preventive health care services and proactive monitoring of chronic conditions. The program annually rewards physicians who meet certain performance-based criteria, including achieving or exceeding targets established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for specific Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measures. Health plans and CMS use HEDIS as a tool to measure performance on important dimensions of health care and service.

Examples of the quality measures used to evaluate care providers' performance in the 2015 PATH program include:

• the percentages of eligible UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage members who received a breast cancer screening or colorectal cancer screening;

• the percentage of members with diabetes who received an eye exam; and,

• the percentage of members who received advice from their doctor to maintain or enhance their level of physical activity.

By achieving the PATH program's performance metrics, East Arkansas Family Health Center, Inc also proactively addressed care opportunities for United Healthcare's Medicare Advantage members. A care opportunity exists when an individual hasn't received a health care service or medication recommended based on his or her age or health status.

In 2015, care providers nationwide participating in the PATH program addressed nearly 1.8 million care opportunities for United Healthcare's Medicare Advantage members.

“Our team works very hard to provide quality care to all of our patients, with the goal of helping them achieve optimal health. It's gratifying to be recognized for our efforts,” said Dr.

Susan Ward-Jones “We appreciate United Healthcare's support and look forward to continuing to work together to help improve their Medicare Advantage members' health and well-being.”

“We are grateful for East Arkansas Family Health Center's efforts to ensure our Medicare Advantage members receive the preventive

health care services

they need,” said Efrem Castillo, M.D., chief medical officer of United Healthcare Medicare & Retirement. “These awards are one of the ways we are supporting the transition to a value-based health care system that rewards physicians for the quality of care they deliver to the people we serve.”

Serving one in five Medicare beneficiaries, United Healthcare is the largest business dedicated to the health and well-being needs of seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries.

From Carrie Rhone