Tag: opwdd

Thirty organizations in Upstate New York, including 14 in the Finger Lakes region, have come together to form a regional hub to coordinate the care of intellectually and developmentally disabled individuals.

One of six new Care Coordination Organizations (CCO) founded under a new state directive, Prime Care Coordination will organize and direct all of the services a person receives for their developmental disability, as well as the coordination of health, wellness and mental health services through one individualized Life Plan. The Finger Lakes hub is headquartered in the CDS Life Transitions Inc. location in Webster.

The new system is designed to improve and enhance the care coordination for those who had been served under the Medicaid Service Coordination program (MSC).

“This is an incredible time for our community,” said Prime Care Executive Director Tracy Boff. “Many providers have come together to raise the system of care and coordination of services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to a greater level. Our number one priority will always be to work with those we serve to help them reach their goals.”

The MSC program that had been used to coordinate services was replaced on July 1 by a new program called Health Home Care Management. Health Home is a system of providers who will continue to provide the coordination that people currently receive, while also providing coordination of other services, the state Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) announced in March.

“Prime Care Coordination continues the path to managed care by addressing the coordination of each individual’s services,” said CDS Life President and CEO Sankar Sewnauth, at a press gathering this week. “Organizations across upstate, from Buffalo all the way to Binghamton, have come together to form Prime Care Coordination. It’s grassroots. It’s very diverse. And everybody has an equal stake in what goes on at Prime Care Coordination.”

Within the Finger Lakes, organizations involved in the new regional hub include: Baden Street Settlement of Rochester, Boys and Girls Clubs of Rochester, Catholic Charities Community Services, CDS Monarch, the Community Place of Greater Rochester, CP Rochester, Easterseals New York, Epilepsy Pralid, Happiness House, Ibero American Action League, Lifespan, Lochland School, Mary Cariola and the Center for Disability Rights.

“While we all serve different individuals, we found ourselves to be like-minded in our commitment to providing the best person-centered care,” Sewnauth said of the collaborative.

“One of the advantages I had was going to partner organizations across the state, meeting MSCs, leaders who were very nervous about this transition and didn’t know what to expect, staff that didn’t know what to expect, but what I can tell you, what I learned along the way is everybody’s dedication and compassion and commitment to the individuals we serve,” said Prime Care Executive Director Tracy Boff. “As soon as I knew that I knew that Prime Care was going to be OK. We’ll build the system, we’ll build the infrastructure, we’ll make that work, but at the end of the day it’s really about the individuals.”

Boff noted that Prime Care was able to keep much of the workforce who had worked as Medicaid Service Coordinators prior to the transition from MSCs to Health Home Care Management.

“I’m confident that in the future we are going to be the best CCO possible and provide the best home health care management possible for all the individuals we serve,” Boff said.

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