CityLife Health and Jefferson Health form a Strategic Partnership to Improve Health Outcomes of Medicaid Recipients in Philadelphia

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Feb. 5, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- CityLife Health, a Medicaid value-based care provider building a scalable platform to address access, quality and cost for Medicaid populations in low-income, urban communities has entered into a Clinical Affiliation Agreement with Jefferson Health. CityLife partners with Medicaid managed care organizations and local health systems to engage members, align providers, close gaps-in-care, assess social determinants of health and behavioral health, while improving access to care.

"The magnitude of our partnership with Jefferson Health and participation in the execution of its Medicaid strategy is critical to the launch of CityLife Health. We join a leading, innovative health system along the value-based care journey, collaborating across multiple departments to address health disparities of vulnerable populations," says Tim Petrikin, CEO of CityLife Health. "Importantly, this model can transition to health systems and communities across the country."

CityLife and its health plan and health system partners meet Medicaid recipients where they are, in their community, when they want care, unscheduled and often after hours or on weekends. The key to CityLife's success is turning a walk-in visit into an opportunity to assess social determinants of health, behavioral health, and importantly address quality gaps-in-care.

"Jefferson Health's strategic partnership, beginning with a Clinical Affiliation Agreement and co-location of a CityLife Health clinic at Jefferson Frankford Hospital, is completely aligned with Jefferson's mission and vision; including its participation in the Medicaid Transformation Project," says Dr. Katherine Behan, Senior Vice President and Chief Population Health Officer. "Importantly, this initiative focuses on addressing health disparities across ZIP codes within the Philadelphia region. We can't effectively address those disparities in the emergency department or without community-based care resources designed to meet the consumer's needs. We look forward to further collaboration with CityLife Health's platform as Jefferson adds to its portfolio of care delivery and population health resources."

CityLife Health leverages technology to engage Medicaid recipients, enabling its care team members to optimize every visit, coordinate with primary care physicians and specialists, and communicate with health plan and health system partners. Its technology partners, combined with its proprietary data platform, provide a longitudinal view of Medicaid recipients in low-income, urban communities.

• Alternative Access: Provide an emergency department alternative for low-acuity, non-emergent visits and outreach; and, provide adult and pediatric visits for Medicaid recipients without a visit to a primary care physician in the past year.
• Care Coordination: Close gaps-in-care and assess social determinants of health and behavioral health at every visit.
• Care Management: Support complex condition management for highly prevalent conditions that lend themselves to self-management with proactive support, such as, diabetes, asthma, hypertension, and prenatal care.
• Value-Based Care: Build an aligned, proactive platform that improves health outcomes and lowers costs, so health system partnerships can be successful along the value-based journey through alternative payment models, including risk.

"Access is foundational to value-based care success," according to Petrikin. "You can't close quality gaps-in-care until you close gaps-in-access to care. A combination of too few primary care physicians, often with closed panels to new Medicaid recipients; and few, if any, urgent care or retail clinic alternatives means emergency departments are often the only accessible options for primary care in low-income, urban communities."

CityLife Health continues to build on its early success with clinics in North and West Philadelphia and plans to open a clinic in Northeast Philadelphia on the campus of Jefferson Frankford Hospital in the first quarter of 2020. The company's clinics serve members of Health Partners Plans, Keystone First and Aetna Better Health in the Philadelphia region. CityLife recently expanded to New Jersey with the opening of a clinic in the Central Ward of Newark in August of 2019.

About CityLife Health
Launched in 2018, CityLife Health is building a platform for Medicaid value-based care success by meeting the needs of Medicaid consumers in low-income, urban communities. CityLife is addressing access, cost and quality needs of its customers - Medicaid managed care organizations - and partnering with health systems to provide lower cost, alternative access to the emergency department and align resources under alternative payment models.

For more information about CityLife Health, visit http://www.citylifehealth.com. Follow us on social media at Twitter.com/CityLifeHealth and Facebook.com/CityLifeHealth/.

About Jefferson Health
Jefferson Health, home of Sidney Kimmel Medical College, is reimagining health care in the greater Philadelphia region and southern New Jersey. Jefferson's dedicated team of doctors, nurses, health professionals and staff provides a range of primary to highly-specialized care through 14 hospitals (seven are Magnet®-designated by the ANCC for nursing excellence), more than 40 outpatient and urgent care locations, the NCI-designated Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Magee Rehabilitation and the JeffConnect® telemedicine program. For 2019-2020, Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals is ranked among the nation's best hospitals in eight specialties by U.S. News & World Report. Jefferson Health's mission is to improve the lives of patients in the communities it is privileged to serve through safe, effective, equitable, compassionate care.

For more information about Jefferson Health, visit http://www.jeffersonhealth.org.

SOURCE CityLife Health