Ellicott City, MD and Hunt Valley, MD, July 11, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- July 11, 2018 - Ellicott City, MD and Hunt Valley, MD – Warrior Centric Health® (WCH), the nation’s pre-eminent health equity solutions provider, and ArmadaHealth, a leading health data science and services organization, are combining forces to ensure that veterans and their families can locate the most optimal WCH-credentialed specialists and WCH-recognized facilities, based on their specific health and life circumstances. The new patient-physician matching platform will empower millions of Americans to receive care consistent with their specific needs, while rewarding the healthcare organizations that provide it.
Currently, the one-size-fits-all approach to healthcare leaves vulnerable patient populations under-served, with a higher rate of sub-optimal outcomes. Our nation’s 23 million veterans, Reserves, and National Guard stand out as a population that warrants optimal care, but faces significant hurdles in receiving it. As a 2018 RAND Corporation study states: “Veterans represent a clinically complex population, experiencing higher rates of suicide, post-traumatic stress disorder, diabetes, hearing loss, and cancer.” In addition:
- 79% of Gulf War Era veterans report multiple chronic diseases.
- Male veterans, ages 45-64, are significantly more likely than non-veterans to suffer from two or more chronic health conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, asthma and kidney disease.
- Veterans experience a higher prevalence of pain and more severe pain than non-veterans.
Nine out of ten veterans currently receive some level of healthcare in the private sector and more than seven in ten receive ALL healthcare from private healthcare facilities, which are woefully unprepared to diagnose and treat them. To mitigate this growing crisis, Warrior Centric Health and ArmadaHealth will provide private healthcare facilities the tools to address it and empower veterans to find “veteran centric” facilities.
When the 2008 RAND Corporation report, Invisible Wounds of War, was released, Warrior Centric Health spent eight years researching and developing veteran health solutions with the Department of Defense. The result was a comprehensive Warrior Centric Health® Education & Training program, the cornerstone of the Warrior Centric Solution Suite®. A healthcare facility, provider or support staff that achieves competency through the WCH program can be identified as an Authorized Warrior Centric Health Facility®, Recognized Warrior Centric Health Providers® or Recognized Warrior Centric Health Champions®, respectively. These designations assure veterans and family members their unique healthcare needs will be met.
The ArmadaHealth SIENA™ intelligence platform will be accessed by veterans through ArmadaHealth’s SpecialtyCare Connect® (SCC) program. The solution enables veterans and their families to find the appropriate WCH-designated professionals. SIENA is a data science platform driven by proprietary clinical insights that optimizes patient navigations and provides visibility into the gaps of quality specialty care. By exploiting machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies, combined with experienced patient navigation professionals, health systems are able to reduce both the friction of patient referrals and the number of inappropriate referrals. This results in more precise alignment of a specialist to meet the veteran’s clinical and non-clinical needs, expediting care while saving the veteran time and frustration.
Developing a single platform that combines the WCH and ArmadaHealth solutions will not only accelerate the value and impact of health systems’ investment in the WCH Solutions Suite, but also dramatically increase the volume and velocity of data to further support the improvement of healthcare delivery to service members, veterans and their families.
According to Ron Steptoe, Founder and CEO of Warrior Centric Health, “By helping veterans get the care they desperately need, the new WCH/ArmadaHealth platform will offer another powerful incentive for healthcare professionals and institutions to commit to solving the veteran health crisis with WCH solutions.”
Steve Schaefer, CEO of ArmadaHealth commented, “Our patient-physician matching solution renders optimal access to health systems and limited networks. We take a 360° degree approach to matching, which includes military service and WCH provider credentials. This is essential to ensure our service members and veterans get access to care they deserve. The relationships we develop with patients enables us to also provide feedback to the healthcare organization. Together with WCH’s WarriorMark™ Analytics & Insights, we can provide healthcare organizations the ability to see trends in outcomes and a patient’s experience.”
“Our data science team and the 35+ specialists on our world renowned clinical advisory board work collaboratively to define and evaluate quality at the specialty, subspecialty and condition level. This has propelled us to play an integral role in helping health systems solve their access problems and meet the new demands and opportunities of value-based care,” continued Mr. Schaefer.
The solution is ideal for healthcare organizations with closed networks where members/patients are matched to the best provider that is suited for their condition, coverage and other relevant determinants of health such as veteran status.
For more information about the program, contact Warrior Centric Health: (833) 924-4376 x1
About Warrior Centric Health
Warrior Centric Health is the nation’s first commercial health equity solutions provider. WCH enables healthcare providers and institutions to provide better care for vulnerable populations - such as veterans and their families - who share unique health and wellness issues.
About ArmadaHealth
ArmadaHealth is a rapidly growing health data science and services company. Our innovative navigation solutions, SpecialtyCare Connect and TopDoc Connect, improve the efficiency, expediency and effectiveness of how people access the healthcare system. These solutions are powered by our proprietary data science platform, ArmadaHealth SIENA™, and can be leveraged in a multitude of ways to enhance existing care coordination efforts and the value and utility of provider directories. The result is improved health outcomes, reduced healthcare expenses and exceptional patient satisfaction.
Press Contact: Kate Van Name, kate@warriorcentrichealth.com | (833) 924-4376 x701