California Health & Wellness Partners with Dignity Health on ED Navigator Program
Date: 05/04/17
Beginning May 1, 2017, California Health & Wellness (CH&W) will partner with Dignity Health on Dignity’s ED Navigator program. The program targets members who seek emergency room services in select Dignity facilities, educating them about available resources, promoting continuity and coordination of care, and encouraging members to be active participants in their health care.
CH&W will provide funding for the development of ED Navigator programs at selected Dignity hospitals: Mark Twain Medical Center, St. Elizabeth Community Hospital, and Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital. CH&W and Dignity will be working collaboratively to achieve the objectives of the program, including:
- Educating members on the appropriate use of emergency room services as well as primary care and urgent care levels of care.
- Ensuring that a relationship exists between member and their Primary Care Providers (PCP). If none exists, ED Navigator Program staff help the member select a new PCP.
- Identifying members with chronic medical issues and sharing this information with the plan and members’ PCP, so that better continuity of care can occur.
- Identifying additional social and economic issues that may exist that may require community-based referrals.
- Coordinating/scheduling PCP follow-up appointments, ideally to occur within 30 days of the ED visit.
- Reducing ER recidivism through education and coordination in individual communities.
- Identifying areas of concern relative to physician access and availability and other provider network access needs.
The ED Navigators will outreach to area PCPs to help members coordinate and navigate the members’ barriers to health. Active engagement and cooperation from member PCPs and other practitioners is critical to the success of the ED Navigator Program. We look forward to partnering with you to ensure that our members receive the appropriate care, how and when they need it.