Southeast Mental Health Services awarded $1.4 million Healthcare Innovation Grant

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation announced on Friday, June 15^th, that Southeast Mental Health Services was awarded a $1.4 million grant under the Health Care Innovation Challenge.  The Innovation Challenge awarded up to $1 billion in total funding to applicants who implement the most compelling new ideas to deliver better health, improved care and lower costs to people enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), particularly those with the highest health care needs.

“This grant is an opportunity for us to focus on the healthcare needs of our community by strengthening our workforce.  Through our collaboration with Otero Junior College and the curriculum they are developing, southeastern Colorado will become a magnet for integrated rural healthcare training,” said Becky Otteman, CEO/Executive Director of Southeast Mental Health Services.  “Our primary healthcare partners—High Plains Community Health Center, Prowers Medical Center and Prowers County Public Health—have supported us in this endeavor to make sure the citizens of Prowers County receive the right care at the right time for the right cost.”

 The project is entitled “TIPPING POINT:  Total Integration, Patient Navigation and Provider Training Project for Prowers County, Colorado,” and is designed to push years of healthcare integration efforts past the “tipping point” to achieve the triple aim of healthcare reform.  The project has an estimated 3- year savings of $1,875,000 in taxpayer dollars through the Medicaid, Medicare and CHP+ programs.  The intervention will be carefully studied to measure its impact and the potential to replicate its findings to other rural communities across the nation.

For more information on Colorado awardees, please ClickHere!