New CMO’s Advanced Illness Management Program Receives Innovation Award from CMS

When April Feld, VNSNY’s Director of Population Health Management, finished her presentation on the organization’s Advanced Illness Management (AIM) program at the Home Care Association of New York State’s annual conference last month, she was surprised to see a senior official from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) walking up to her.

“It was Dennis Wagner, Director of CMS’s Quality Improvement and Innovation Group, who had delivered the keynote address for our session,” recalls April. After congratulating VNSNY on its AIM initiative, Wagner handed April a Quality Improvement and Innovation Group Challenge Coin, an award given by CMS to exceptionally innovative healthcare programs.

“Getting this award from CMS is clearly an honor,” says Rose Madden-Baer, who heads VNSNY’s Population Health division. “But more importantly, it’s additional confirmation that our AIM model works.”

The AIM program is designed to care for individuals who are approaching the end of life but haven’t yet entered hospice care. To address their needs, VNSNY’s newly launched Care Management Organization (CMO) is collaborating with VNSNY CHOICE Health Plans and VNSNY Home Care to proactively manage the symptoms and challenges for these individuals. When appropriate, the team will also initiate conversations about shifting to end-of-life hospice care.

“The goals of AIM are to ensure that these very ill patients and plan members receive the right level of care, while also ‘normalizing’ discussions around end-of-life planning,” says Rose. Although AIM works with people at an especially vulnerable time in their lives, she adds, “The positive comments we’re hearing reflect the high level of empathy and effective support that AIM participants and their family members are experiencing.”