Texas Tech Health Sciences Center
Health Sciences Center One of Select Few
Chosen to Participate in Medicare Pilot Project
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center was announced as one of six organizations nationwide, and the only one based in Texas, to operate a three-year demonstration project to help Medicare beneficiaries improve their quality of life while reducing their medical expenses and Medicare program costs.
�The pilot project will focus on Medicare beneficiaries who are considered �high cost� and �high risk� and will seek to improve their health through better quality care,� says Mark B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.D., administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. �Beneficiaries with multiple progressive chronic conditions typically see numerous doctors without any one doctor knowing about or coordinating the care provided by the other doctors.�
On average, these patients see seven different physicians and have 20 prescriptions each year.
Texas Senior Trails, a consortium of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Texas Tech Physician Associates and TrailBlazer Health Enterprises LLC, will coordinate an integrated health care delivery pilot project for beneficiaries in 48 counties in the Texas Panhandle and South Plains area.
The project will offer cost-effective quality care in a large group practice setting in the Lubbock and Amarillo demonstration site, as well as provide leadership for transforming cost-effective care at a national level, says Lorri Velten, Texas Senior Trails Project administrator.
At the Health Sciences Center, Texas Senior Trails will be a collaborative effort between School of Medicine physicians and clinics, the School of Nursing and the School of Pharmacy on the Lubbock and Amarillo campuses.
The Care Management for High Cost Beneficiaries demonstration will be the first effort by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to focus specifically on provider-directed models of care for high-cost, fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries. The Senior Trails Project will begin enrolling beneficiaries as early as March 2006.
The Texas Senior Trails Project will receive a monthly fee for each beneficiary participating in the program to cover their administrative and care management costs. Texas Senior Trails will employ a variety of models including health care coordination, physician and nurse home visits, self-care and caregiver support, tracking and reminders of individuals� preventive care needs, behavioral health care management and transportation services.
-Julie Toland