State wins funds to shift some Medicaid patients out of ERs

Massachusetts will get $4.6 million in federal money to move Medicaid patients with non-acute problems into community health centers and out of hospital emergency rooms to meet their primary care needs.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services has announced $50 million in four-year grants to 20 states for an Emergency Room Diversion Project. The funds will establish new community health centers, extend the hours at existing centers, educate patients about services, and set up electronic exchange of health information between health centers and hospitals, CMS said.

In Massachusetts, five cities designated as medically underserved were chosen: Brockton, Lawrence, Lynn, Lowell and Quincy. Community health centers and hospitals will use the grants to find ways to connect patients without primary care providers who come to emergency rooms to a “medical home” at the health centers, according to MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program. A medical home is defined as primary care that is accessible, comprehensive, and coordinated.