Medicaid Policy Center Releases Nicholson-Funded Road Map on Transforming Medicaid ACOs into Regional Health Hubs

The New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute’s (NJHCQI) Medicaid Policy Center, which is funded by The Nicholson Foundation, has released a Road Map showing how community-based coalitions can develop into coordinated Regional Health Hubs. The Hub model would allow the coalitions to continue to grow and innovate as they work to improve care for people with complex health and social needs.

The Road Map creates a vision for the state-certified Medicaid Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) in Camden, Trenton and Newark, and one “look-a-like” Medicaid ACO serving Paterson, to evolve into coordinated Regional Health Hubs. The Road Map also outlines how other communities can develop Hubs.

In 2011, The Nicholson Foundation and the State of New Jersey supported NJHCQI and additional partners in developing Medicaid ACOs as a demonstration project. The ACOs were developed to advance innovations that address social barriers to health and well-being, with an emphasis on analyzing patient-level data to inform care decisions and building partnerships between local governments, non-profit organizations, and health care providers to improve the overall health of a community.

With that demonstration project now ending, the Roadmap shows how the successful elements of the ACOs can be applied to the Regional Health Hub model. Hubs can play an important role in the way state and federal dollars are spent on healthcare in New Jersey by maximizing resources and improving population health. New Jersey’s Medicaid program spends more than $17 billion of state and federal funds annually and provides comprehensive health care coverage to more than 1.7 million New Jersey residents.

Learn More

• Download the Road Map
• Medicaid Policy Center project page 

Press Coverage

• NJ Spotlight
• NJ Biz