Dec. 3, 2014: Update on the Johns Hopkins Community Health Partnership

In mid-2012, a new health care delivery model called the Johns Hopkins Community Health Partnership  launched with a $19.9 million, three-year "innovation grant" from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Built on existing efforts, the initiative addresses one of the nation's largest health care challenges: how to improve the quality of patient care and the overall health of the community while preventing unnecessary and costly hospital readmissions and emergency room visits. Seeking to improve the health of East Baltimore, the Johns Hopkins Community Health Partnership may provide a national model for transforming health care delivery in an urban environment. This exciting program contributes to several of our strategic priorities in the five-year Strategic Plan, including patient- and family-centered care, integration, and performance.

Tremendous progress has been made as the first quarter of the third year ends, with over 59,048 program participants enrolled to date and approximately 2,800 patients who have been assigned a community health worker, who coordinates between patients and their care teams. Thirty-four inpatient units have been deployed at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Cen­ter and The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Eight participating community practice sites have also been established, as well as partnerships with five neighboring skilled nursing facilities. And The Johns Hopkins University has hired and trained 95 new health care workers.

A new website and two videos: Johns Hopkins Community Health Partnership 101 and J-CHiP: Leading the Change in a New Era of Healthcare, have been created to spread the word and explain in detail how the partnership advances this new model of patient-centered care. A recent article in USA Today also highlights the program's impact on our community. We encourage you to check out these resources and share them with your colleagues to learn more about the partnership and to see how your role contributes to creating better health and health care for our patients.

Sincerely,

Patricia M.C. Brown, Esq.
SVP, Managed Care and Population Health, Johns Hopkins Medicine
President, Johns Hopkins HealthCare LLC
Senior Counsel, Johns Hopkins Health System

Scott Berkowitz, M.D., M.B.A.
Medical Director, Accountable Care
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology
Executive Director, Johns Hopkins Medicine Alliance for Patients LLC