With HRSA Grant, Memphis Medical Center To Create Care Management Plan for the Uninsured

Tennessee's Regional Medical Center at Memphis, also known as "The Med," will use a federal grant to create what the Memphis Business Journal calls the "nation's first case management system for the uninsured," with the goal of decreasing emergency room use and better managing chronic conditions. With $1 million from a HRSA Community Access Grant, The Med -- a last-resort care provider for "most of the county's 64,000 uninsured people -- plans to first create an information system that will link the facility with clinics and primary care physicians. That way, the Memphis Business Journal reports, ER physicians can easily access medical information for patients that have other providers, as well as encouraging such patients to use "their own doctor" before turning to the emergency department. Non-emergency care at The Med's ER accounts for 75% of unpaid outpatient care a year. The Med will also provide case management for uninsured patients, though such services will be limited to the "most costly" diseases at first. "Aggressive" disease management can reduce costs by two-thirds by keeping patients healthier, the Business Journal reports. After the "core" of the project is established, the system will branch out to other clinics and facilities that treat a "high number" of uninsured patients, including mental health centers, in an effort to simplify the referral process between facilities. In addition, the system will help the uninsured enroll in "whatever insurance they can get," including TennCare, the state's Medicaid managed care program. Colleen Gibson, CEO of the Memphis Health Center -- a multispecialty clinic that treats a number of uninsured patients -- said, "More TennCare will take away some of the burden from the people classified as self-pay, and allow more dollars to flow into our clinics from TennCare. But our main goal is to make sure the patients out there don't get lost in the system and not have any follow-up care." While the HRSA grant is awarded on a yearly basis, project coordinator Brenda Theus said The Med will "see this project through, whether grant money is awarded next year or not" (Shepard, Memphis Business Journal, 4/10).