CLEVELAND - Through the Medicaid Technical Assistance and Policy Program (MEDTAPP) Healthcare Access Initiative (HAI), Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has secured $6.4 million in federal funds through Ohio Medicaid to support its longstanding involvement in the health of its community. The MEDTAPP HAI supports the development and retention of healthcare practitioners to serve Ohio’s Medicaid population using emerging healthcare delivery models and evidence-based practices.
The initiative was designed to align with established, successful programs and leverage existing resources to train and retain healthcare practitioners to serve Medicaid beneficiaries in the following areas: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Community Psychiatry with a Geriatric and/or Integrated Behavioral Health/Primary Care Focus, Pediatrics, Family Practice, Advanced Practice Nursing, and Dentistry. Ohio’s MEDTAPP HAI will train and place additional psychiatrists, primary care physicians, advance practice nurses, dentists, and other practitioners to serve Medicaid beneficiaries of all ages.
A veteran in urban health medicine, Case Western Reserve School of Medicine has been entrenched in the treatment of Northeast Ohio’s underserved populations for decades. By leveraging this foundation and MEDTAPP support, the school is able to expand its role in recruiting, attracting, and retaining a healthcare workforce focused on the needs of Medicaid patients.
“These projects will provide unique and diverse training opportunities,” said Ohio Medicaid Director John McCarthy. “After they graduate, participants will go on to work at clinics in neighborhoods in need of doctors and other healthcare professionals. They can help people there with both their short-term and long-term health needs, and help them learn more about what it takes to maintain a healthy lifestyle.”
The MEDTAPP HAI grants to Case Western Reserve School of Medicine will support the following:
• The Department of Family Medicine and the MetroHealth System will serve as the central hub to coordinate the integration of primary care and behavioral health trainees into the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model by teaching trainees the fundamental principles of PCMHs, integrating them in to the interdisciplinary team-based approach of practicing healthcare, and developing their leadership skills to better serve the needs of the underserved Medicaid population. MetroHealth and Family Medicine will also collaborate with the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing to develop an interdisciplinary educational program designed to enhance communication and interdisciplinary skills in new graduates in a spectrum of primary care roles. Students from nursing, social work, psychology masters and doctoral programs, as well as primary care residency graduates will work to challenge their conceptual framework around their combined disciplines for integrating and improving patient care and expanding their shared roles in the patient centered medical home teams. Training programs will foster integration across the continuum of medical education, from medical students to residents to faculty. Placement efforts focus on adding practitioners to serve in Northeastern Ohio’s disadvantaged neighborhoods and community clinics.
• The School of Dental Medicine will create a customized curriculum for new MEDTAPP dental scholars that will include training in cultural sensitivity and competency for serving the Medicaid population, promoting and teaching the inter-disciplinary Smiles for Life Curriculum in the community health clinic setting to engage non-dental providers in oral health activities, and training for quality improvement projects in oral healthcare. The MEDTAPP project also supports the training and placement of an oral health patient navigator (OHPN) to assist Medicaid families from area sealant programs to obtain referral care and establish a dental home. The OHPN will seek to expand the existing network of private dental offices that accept Medicaid children from sealant program referrals. The OHPN will also be trained in contemporary communication skills for patient education and will coordinate and advocate for the services and care needed by these families.
• The Department of Pediatrics will create Case Western Reserve University’s Children’s Access Now (CaseCAN) to rapidly expand the number of pediatricians and child health professionals serving Ohio’s pediatric Medicaid beneficiaries. Trainees include residents, fellows, and faculty with the goal of cultivating interest in careers that advance the healthcare of disadvantaged children. Individuals in the program will participate in structured educational programming, experiential learning, and mentored support.
• The Department of Psychiatry will enhance existing programs with the addition of new faculty and unique curricular elements and clinical placement opportunities to help increase the number of psychiatrists serving Ohio’s Medicaid beneficiaries. Efforts will focus on serving Ohio’s underserved Medicaid and medically indigent populations, both in the context of training experiences and following completion of training.
Founded in 1843, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine is the largest medical research institution in Ohio and is among the nation's top medical schools for research funding from the National Institutes of Health. The School of Medicine is recognized throughout the international medical community for outstanding achievements in teaching. The School's innovative and pioneering Western Reserve2 curriculum interweaves four themes--research and scholarship, clinical mastery, leadership, and civic professionalism--to prepare students for the practice of evidence-based medicine in the rapidly changing health care environment of the 21st century. Nine Nobel Laureates have been affiliated with the School of Medicine.
Annually, the School of Medicine trains more than 800 MD and MD/PhD students and ranks in the top 25 among U.S. research-oriented medical schools as designated by U.S. News & World Report's "Guide to Graduate Education."
The School of Medicine is affiliated with University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, MetroHealth Medical Center, the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and the Cleveland Clinic, with which it established the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University in 2002. case.edu/medicine.