Information provided by San Benito Medical Associates.
San Benito Medical Associates (SBMA) IPA said it is a recipient/participant in the Health Net Community Grants Program and received over $300,000 in grants for both the Assessment Phase in 2018 and the Implementation Phase currently in progress through September 2020. The goal of the program is to improve the health of the state’s most vulnerable populations through a variety of interventions, according to a recent release.
One goal of Health Net’s Encounter Data Improvement Program is to improve the quality and timeliness of information available describing the medical conditions and measuring the effectiveness of treatments provided by the medical community. Health Net has been supportive of both process and infrastructure improvements of the Medi-Cal health care delivery system, particularly for Medi-Cal providers contracted with managed care plans, the release said.
San Benito County is a designated Health Professional Shortage Area. It is essential that quality encounter data be made available to the state of California and other healthcare entities for analysis, to ensure quality health care is provided in San Benito County and to inform statewide healthcare program planning.
In collaboration with northern California consulting firm Infiniti Consulting Group (an InterVision company) and Pacific Health Alliance (SBMA consultants), the Phase 1 assessment project successfully assessed and identified barriers and challenges experienced by SBMA and its providers, and recommended steps towards improving encounter data quality.
The current Implementation Phase project aims to implement technology solutions to enhance electronic claims processing in alignment with industry standards and to improve the quality of the information collected, with the ultimate goal of providing the most cost-effective health care services for the community.