The University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester is teaming with the state to develop a program that will streamline funding and delivery of care for patients that qualify for both Medicaid and Medicare.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Baltimore provided $1 million in funding to develop the program.
It will test how care is managed and delivered for about 115,000 patients who qualify for both programs. About three-quarters of the patients in the program have chronic medical conditions and almost two-thirds have mental illnesses or suffer from substance abuse.
The program is aimed at studying the impacts of combining funding and care for patients that qualify for both Medicare, a government-run health care plan for the elderly, and Medicaid, which is a similar program for the poor.
Stephanie Anthony, a principal associate at UMass Medical School’s Center for Health Law and Economics, will help lead the project.
