Pennsylvania’s hospitals and health systems are joining together in a new statewide effort to rectify generations of health inequities and disparities.
PA’s Department of Human Services (DHS) https://www.dhs.pa.gov plans to create 5 Regional Accountable Health Councils (RAHC) to include regional care providers, Managed Care Organizations (MCO), and community-based social service groups.
RAHC’s goals are to:
- Promote health equity and eliminate health disparities
- Identify and address regional social determinants of health
- Align a value-based purchasing initiative to provide better care and better health at lower costs
- Support population health efforts, including regional support for the integration of physical and behavioral healthcare
A RAHC will be established by MCOs and Behavioral Health Primary Contractors within each region. The RAHC will work in cooperation with all other Medical Assistance (MA) CHIPS, MCOs, and Behavioral Health Primary Contractors.
The five regional councils are charged with drafting a Regional Health Transformation Plan (RHTP) for their specific region to provide local solutions to improve health and opportunities for health equity in their region.
Each RAHC will include the following in each RHTP:
- Identify the demographic groups impacted by health disparities and geographic areas with significant health disparities
- Identify SDOH needs in areas and strategies for addressing these needs
- Identify population health priority measures across physical, behavioral, and integrated health measures that need to be improved and health strategies to use for improvement
- Identify strategies and interventions for bending the cost curve including aligning value-based purchasing arrangements across payers