Establishing the vital link between clinical and social needs.
Accountable Health Communities
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) selected 32 participants for the Assistance and Alignment Tracks of the Accountable Health Communities (AHC) Model. The CMS cooperative agreement awardees implemented and tested the AHC model to support local communities in addressing the health-related social needs of Medicare and Medicaid recipients by bridging the gap between clinical and community service providers.
The cooperative agreement offered the resources needed to continue to build the infrastructure to expand Health Net as a centralized hub and to foster the growth of established strategic partnerships with the following organizations:
- Arbor Circle
- Catholic Charities West Michigan
- Cherry Health
- Family Outreach Center
- Heart of West Michigan United Way
- University of Michigan Health-West
- Corewell Health and Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital (Formerly Spectrum Health and Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital)
AHC Model
More information about the Accountable Health Communities Model is available on :
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services website
- Our Media release
- Accountable Health Communities Model: Fact Sheet: First 750,000 Completed Screenings
- Building Strong Community Partnerships to Address Social Needs
- Multisector Partnerships Such As ACHs: How Can They Improve Population Health And Reduce Health Inequities?
How Accountable Health Communities Applies to Michigan
The Accountable Health Communities Model had three goals:
1) Help Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries with unmet health-related social needs connect with community resources through screening, referral, and navigation services.
2) Optimize community capacity to address health-related social needs through quality improvement, data-driven decision making, and coordination and alignment of community-based resources.
3) Reduce inpatient and outpatient healthcare use and total costs by addressing unmet health-related social needs through referral and connection to community services.
Part of the community alignment process included implementing a centralized system to screen the following health-related social needs:
- Housing instability
- Utility needs
- Food insecurity
- Transportation
- Interpersonal violence
To learn more about why these health-related social needs were chosen as focus areas, read Standardized Screening for Health-Related Social Needs in Clinical Settings.
Non-Discrimination Notice
Health Net of West Michigan doesn’t exclude, deny benefits to, or otherwise discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, sex, or age in admission to, participation in, or receipt of the services and benefits under any of its programs and activities, whether carried out by Health Net directly or through a contractor or any other entity with which Health Net arranges to carry out its programs and activities.
Notice of Availability of Auxiliary Aids and Services
We are taking steps to make sure that people with disabilities have an equal opportunity to participate in our services, activities, programs, and other benefits. People with disabilities include those who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have low vision or other sensory limitations. If you need materials in a different format than provided, please email info@healthnetwm.org or call us at 616-726-8204 to request materials.
How to File a Complaint
If you believe you’ve been subjected to discrimination in a Health Net of West Michigan program or activity, there are three ways to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights:
- Online
- By phone: Call 1-800-368-1019. TDD users should call 1-800-537-7697
- In writing: Send information about your complaint to:
Office for Civil Rights
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, SW
Room 509F, HHH Building
Washington, D.C. 20201