Experts: Major Effort Needed to Coordinate Healthcare in NJ

It will take a major effort by state officials, health providers and advocates to improve coordination and delivery of healthcare in some of the state’s most economically challenged communities, health leaders said yesterday.

But if that effort is successful, it could have implications for the entire country, according to participants in a conference attended by about 160 healthcare experts.

The conference focused on the launch of Medicaid accountable care organizations (ACOs) next year. In ACOs, healthcare providers are paid based on patient outcomes and their record of keeping costs down rather than for each service they provide.

“The service delivery models inside specialty care and primary care need to be completely and totally revamped,” said Dr. Jeffrey Brenner, founder and executive director of the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers. “When we’re done, they won’t look anything like they do now.”

Brenner, who has become nationally prominent for his efforts to improve healthcare coordination, said state government has a big role to play in reforming the healthcare delivery system, including aligning the criteria and coordination of different programs, eliminating unnecessary barriers and making health claims data publicly available.

“We’re going to have to choose as a state whether we’re going to fix this,” Brenner said.

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