CareMore Health System Announces Training and Research Collaboration with Gehr Family Center at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine

Dr. Sauda Bholat, former chief resident in internal medicine at Yale
University School of Medicine, selected as inaugural fellow

CERRITOS, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–CareMore Health System announces a collaboration with the Gehr Family
Center for Implementation Science at the University of Southern
California’s Keck School of Medicine to study novel approaches to caring
for high-cost, high-need patients and to train the next generation of
leaders in health care delivery and implementation science. The
collaboration allows for CareMore physicians, through the CareMore-Gehr
Fellowship, to receive policy and research training at Keck Medical
Center under the mentorship of Gehr Center faculty. The fellows will
work on health care delivery innovation projects related to CareMore’s
patient base. Dr. Sauda Bholat, most recently chief resident in internal
medicine at Yale University School of Medicine, has been chosen as the
inaugural fellow for the program.

“This fellowship is a novel partnership between a leading academic
medical center and an innovative managed care delivery system,” said Dr.
Michael Hochman, director of the Gehr Center. “Examining CareMore’s
model, which has successfully treated the highest risk patients in
complex health care delivery environments, will surely provide key
learnings around how we can provide more value to patients while
operating an efficient health system.”

The CareMore model was founded on the idea that providing better quality
care results in spending less on health care over time. It was developed
more than two decades ago to address the fact that chronically ill
patients comprise 15 percent of Medicare beneficiaries, but account for
75 percent of health care costs. Through the pillars of chronic care
management, acute care management, and predictive modeling and early
intervention, CareMore devised innovative solutions for chronic health
issues, particularly among the geriatric population, that treat patients
more comprehensively, and result in fewer hospital admissions over time.

With the ever-changing health care marketplace, it remains crucial to
continuously develop and recreate effective health care delivery
methods. The CareMore-Gehr Fellowship seeks to help with that.

“Dr. Bholat’s work with the Gehr Center will help us better understand
our existing model of care and identify opportunities to change it to
more effectively serve patients,” noted Dr. Sachin Jain, CareMore
president. “The Gehr Center at the Keck School of Medicine is one of the
premier institutions in the emerging fields of health care delivery
science and implementation.”

The CareMore and Gehr Center collaboration also provides a model for
effective academic partnerships with novel health systems and delivery
models.

“Some of the most exciting ideas in health care are generated in
clinical practice outside of the academic medical center environment,”
said Dr. Edward Crandall, chair of the Department of Medicine at the
Keck School of Medicine. “Academic study of health systems like CareMore
can help us understand how these models work to improve care delivery.”

The program will also provide important training for future clinical
leaders. Many of the skills that will be emphasized in the CareMore-Gehr
Fellowship program are imperative for effectively improving the quality
and efficiency of care delivery, as well as the health of populations.

“The CareMore-Gehr Fellowship will create a pipeline of clinicians with
the skills to be effective health system leaders in the years ahead,”
said Dr. Jain. “There has been a lot of discussion about how to create
‘learning’ health systems, and a program like this may be one way to
make this concept a reality.”

The Fellowship will be co-led by Dr. Anil Hanuman, regional chief
medical officer at CareMore, and Dr. Michael Hochman, director of the
Gehr Center at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of
Medicine.

CareMore

CareMore
Health System has invested in developing an extensive clinical
infrastructure centered on high-touch patient care for Medicare
beneficiaries and other populations. Its clinical model is an innovative
health care delivery approach that proactively addresses the health
needs of members of Medicare and/or Medicaid plans by focusing on
prevention and highly coordinated care, resulting in clinical outcomes
above the national average. Today, the CareMore model provides care for
more than 100,000 Medicare Advantage and Medicaid members of health
plans in California, Nevada, Arizona, Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, Iowa
and Georgia. CareMore also is participating in a dual demonstration
project in parts of Los Angeles County in conjunction with state and
federal regulators to coordinate care for people eligible for both
Medicare and Medicaid.

The Gehr Family Center for Implementation Science at the Keck School
of Medicine of the University of Southern California

The mission of the Gehr
Family Center for Implementation Science at the Keck School of
Medicine at the University of Southern California is to advance the
field of care delivery by implementing and studying strategies for
improving the quality and efficiency of care, as well as population
health, within “real-world” settings. Faculty from the Gehr Center work
with health systems in the Los Angeles community to test and evaluate
new ideas using a rigorous scientific process. The Gehr Center also
offers innovation grants for those with ideas for improving care
delivery; a program for students interested in becoming health care
delivery leaders; and a quarterly speakers series on campus.

Contacts

CareMore
Emily Hackel
(347) 852-0066
Emily.Hackel@anthem.com
or
The
Gehr Family Center for Implementation Science
Mary Dacuma
(323)
865-7839
Mary.Dacuma@med.usc.edu