NORTHWINDS INTEGRATED HEALTH NETWORK IPA

2024 was a strong year for Northwinds, marked by significant advancements in healthcare innovation and collaboration across rural and underserved regions. Our commitment to enhancing care coordination, leveraging data-driven insights, and forging strategic partnerships created remarkable results.Financially, Northwinds secured $138,000 in shared savings from our 2023 Value-Based Payment (VBP) Contract with Fidelis, having met 100% of the Citizenship Requirements. This achievement underscores our operational efficiency and adherence to contractual obligations.Expanding our network and influence, Northwinds joined the HRSA-funded Chronic Disease Care Coordination Network, strengthening clinic-community linkages and broadening access to high-quality chronic disease self-management services. Additionally, we collaborated with Adirondack Health Institute (AHI) and Fort Drum to pursue an 1115 Waiver application, aiming to become the designated System of Care Network (SCN) for the North Country, fostering a more integrated healthcare ecosystem.A key partnership was established with Lambency, LLC, led by Dave Shilane. This collaboration focused on improving services and linkages between behavioral health and primary medical care patients. Dave Shilane's development of a multivariate reporting structure in R has empowered our partners with comprehensive data for informed decision-making and holistic care.At the state level, Northwinds led a statewide Behavioral Health IPA planning committee, working alongside three other IPAs and with support from the NYS Council for Community Behavioral Health, to advance the value position and support of our Behavioral Health networks. On a national stage, we presented at the National Council for Wellbeings annual conference in St. Louis, MO, in partnership with AHI, sharing our expertise on risk contracting in rural settings.A strong partnership was formed with Fort Drum, Finger Lakes and Southern Tier IPA, and Mohawk Valley IPA to pursue the OMH VBP Hospital Discharge Planning grant, with a potential shared award of $1,018,173. This collaborative effort aims to improve Behavioral Health and Substance Use Disorder (SUD) metrics.