HJNO Sep/Oct 2020

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS  I  SEP / OCT 2020 41 tective Equipment (PPE) and sterilization practices, as well as enhanced protocols for telehealth services, said Kliebert. “The primary objective for all the health plans is to ensure the safety of both patients and providers, and making sure that our health system remains flexi- ble to accommodate the needs of all com- munities and populations,” she explained. Enhancing Contact Tracing Louisiana’s Medicaid MCOs each have established care management programs that deliver coordination of services to high-risk members, including those di- agnosed with chronic conditions that put them at higher risk for complications from COVID-19. According to the LMMA, these robust care management programs help to enhance the state’s contact trac- ing efforts. “Through their care management teams, these health plans are already working closely with high-risk members and their primary care physicians, as well as with social service agencies that provide housing, food, and other sup- port services,” Kliebert stated. “A critical component in successful contact tracing efforts is working collaboratively across multiple agencies, and the MCOs are well positioned to support contact tracing activities, which will ultimately enhance clinical quality.” Implementing Educational Programs From innovative virtual, digital, and telephonic member outreach programs, to the distribution of PPE and promotion of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, Louisiana’s Med- icaid health plans have placed member education at the core of their COVID-19 strategies, said Kliebert. “The LMMA has found that the health plans’ outreach extends into its call cen- ters, quality departments, marketing teams, and beyond,” she said. “They’ve aligned their educational activities with the messaging and guidance of the Loui- siana Department of Health and the CDC, and they are ideally positioned to deliver that messaging to the populations who are most at risk from this virus.” Analyzing Data and Barriers Within the health plans’ established analytics teams exist the core compe- tencies required to document trends, risk factors, chronic conditions, and other key information, and have already produced a number of reports, including one re- lated to health disparities, according to LMMA. “These reports lay bare the racial and Stewart T. Gordon, MD, FAAP Chief Medical Officer, Medical Affairs Louisiana Healthcare Connections ethnic and geographic disparities in care that exist within our state,” Kliebert ex- plained. “These data sources can contrib- ute to solutions that benefit these vul- nerable populations while reversing the trends that have led to these disparities.” A Collaborative Effort Louisiana’s Medicaid MCOs are uniquely positioned to provide coordi- nated support for an integrated, long- term strategy to address racial, ethnic, and geographic disparities in care—now and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, ac- cording to the LMMA. “What we know is that communities of color and rural communities have been disproportionately affected by this virus, and we know, too, that such disparities have existed in our state for too long,” Kliebert said. “Right now, in the midst of this pandemic, we have an unparalleled opportunity to work collaboratively—the state, health plans, physicians, social service organizations, and others—to ad- dress these disparities and reverse the negative trends that exist in our health care system.” n REFERENCES 1 APM Research Labs, “The Color of Coronavirus: COVID-19 Deaths by Race and Ethnicity in the U.S.” July 22, 2020. www.apmresearchlab.org/ covid/deaths-by-race