(CHICAGO, IL – June 15, 2020) — Illinois Health Practice Alliance, a clinically-integrated behavioral health network including more than 90 providers, is partnering with NowPow to build a statewide coordinated network to address social needs among the state’s growing population of people with behavioral health needs.
IHPA will integrate NowPow into its population health platform, Health EC, and will first roll this initiative out among 15,000 Medicaid beneficiaries with co-occurring physical, behavioral health and social needs with plans to expand in the future.
“We’re seeing a significant rise in the number of Illinoisans experiencing behavioral health issues like mental health and substance abuse in tandem with a rise in social risk factors like housing instability, justice involvement and unemployment,” said David Berkey, CEO, IHPA. “We are teaming up with NowPow to create an infrastructure to connect people across the whole state, including rural areas, with the vital social services they need.”
NowPow is a community referral technology company that has strong relationships with community-based organizations (CBOs) in Illinois. Its closed loop referrals are highly matched, tracked and coordinated to ensure people are connected with the right resources so their needs are met.
“We know stabilizing social needs leads to greater compliance with treatment plans,” explains Berkey. “We plan to mirror the power of the data within NowPow with the power of the data in our claims system to draw those things together in parallel so we can demonstrate better outcomes from both a clinical standpoint and a social return on investment. That’s what will drive much needed policy changes at both the state and federal level.”
This partnership will have immediate impact during the COVID-19 pandemic, as nearly half of adults in the U.S. reported their mental health has been negatively impacted because of things like stress, job loss, loss of a loved one or isolation.
“As our state and nation face a continued onslaught of rising behavioral health and social needs, it is critical to have a digital infrastructure in place to connect healthcare with self-care,” said Rachel Kohler, CEO, NowPow. “This partnership advances our steadfast vision to make whole person care, which encompasses physical, behavioral and social care, a reality throughout the state of Illinois.”
This partnership will also help IHPA when the state of Illinois rolls out its integrated health home model in 2021, which requires that integrated health homes demonstrate stabilization of members’ clinical as well as social needs.
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About Illinois Health Practice Alliance
The Illinois Health Practice Alliance (IHPA) is a payor/provider joint venture that was created to support the implementation of value based payor agreements within the Community Mental Health Center community in Illinois. IHPA is an independent provider association that negotiates and supports the operationalization of managed care agreements on behalf of it 90+ providers across Illinois. The work of the providers is supported by our best in class population health platform, HealthEC, which allows our providers to demonstrate success in managing client care in accordance with their payor agreement metrics. The value driven by these improved client outcomes is then shared by the providers and the payors.
About NowPow
NowPow’s personalized community referral platform reflects the current COVID-19 operating status for more than 45,000 community services in 15 geographies. NowPow’s referrals are highly matched and filtered, making it easy to connect people to just the right community resources so everyone can stay well, meet basic needs, manage with illness and care for others. NowPow’s unique population health solution also provides deep community resource and referral insights to support process improvement, network health and quality, and care access and experience. Find more information at www.NowPow.com.