Peter Sirois, Chief Executive Officer for Northern Maine Medical Center (NMMC), was informed on June 22, 2015, that NMMC has earned the distinction of high performing preferred hospital by the Maine Municipal Employees Health Trust (MMEHT) and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine. This is the second consecutive year that NMMC has achieved the preferred designation.
Anthony Richard, Director of Employee Benefits for The University of Maine System, (UMS) said in a letter, “We celebrate your achievements in meeting the goal of improved quality at lower cost for our population.” UMS works collaboratively with a multi-stakeholder Task Force comprised of faculty, staff, union and non-represented employees to address health plan costs within UMS. According to Mr. Richard’s letter, the MMEHT Task Force, in collaboration with Anthem, have developed a mechanism to encourage MMEHT members to receive care at Maine hospitals that have demonstrated their ability to meet higher standards for quality, using a common set of measures and lower unit costs. The resulting hospital tiering designations made on the basis of quality and unit cost will be effective for a number of the MMEHT health medical plans for calendar year 2015. Both quality and unit cost designations are updated on an annual basis. The MMEHT quality scoring is aligned with the Maine Health Management coalition’s (MHMC) quality scoring published on www.getbettermaine.org, which focuses on patient safety, effectiveness of care, and patient experience. Get Better Maine says, “Providing the right care at the right time leads to better outcomes for patients.” Some of the top scores attained by NMMC were in the areas of blood clot care, medication safety and communication with nurses.
In addition to the higher quality standards, there may be significant financial advantages for individuals receiving services from a Preferred Hospital Facility or Hospital of Distinction. For eligible patients, there may be reduced deductibles and co pays applicable to qualifying services received from a Tier I hospital, depending on the insured’s plan coverage. For questions regarding this program, call the Health Trust Member Service at 1-800-852-8300.
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