Highly specialized care—when and where it’s needed

CCA Primary Care

Because our health plan members have such significant and complex needs, CCA has developed specialized primary care facilities—welcoming environments where patients can receive comprehensive care tailored to people with disabilities, age-related conditions, behavioral health, or social support needs. In 2021 CCA Primary Care served approximately 1,300 patients through 10,920 face-to-face visits, 4,386 virtual visits, and over 50,000 telephonic encounters. In 2022 we will open a new, state-of-the-art Boston facility featuring an engagement center where members can access wellness education and find community and peer support. Learn more about CCA Primary Care.

Marie’s Place Crisis Stabilization Units (CSUs)

Individuals with behavioral health or substance use disorders are often in critical need of a community-based alternative to inpatient admission at a psychiatric facility. That is why CCA pioneered our Marie’s Place® Crisis Stabilization Unit—the only facility of its kind in Massachusetts—which provides respite care to CCA members in a structured setting where we can maintain patient safety, improve recovery, and promote a safe return to the community. Though ongoing COVID-19 protocols required us to reduce capacity in 2021, Marie’s Place provided 2,150 patient days of care to 430 members. In 2022 CCA plans to broaden and enhance the current CSU model to increase patient access to medical and psychiatric services. Learn more about Crisis Stabilization Units.

Palliative Care

The CCA Palliative Care program focuses on reaching members with serious illness early in their care trajectories, to better help them and their caregivers make informed decisions about treatment choices and align their treatment with their goals. The organization also serves as a consultative model for CCA, helping to improve palliative skills across the organization by providing training in how to have quality goals of care conversations—a project for which CCA was nationally recognized by the Center for Advancing Palliative Care. In 2021 CCA Palliative Care program served 670 patients and members through over 8,500 visits and encounters, providing $2.2 million in cost savings to CCA Learn more about palliative care.

Complex Transitional Care

This hospital-to-home program extends our deep expertise in complex care into the acute care setting by partnering with hospitals to improve member experience, outcomes, and cost of care. We identify CCA members presenting to the emergency department in real-time, and once they are admitted, we collaborate with hospital staff to assess unmet medical, behavioral, and social needs. Our multidisciplinary teams of clinicians and community health workers now include behavioral health clinicians, building relationships with emergency service providers and providing a seamless link to the CCA Crisis Stabilization Unit.

Results

In 2021 the program expanded to cover four of our highest-volume hospitals accounting for more than 14,000 ED visits annually for more than 6,700 patients. A CCA medical economics study demonstrated a reduction in admission rates at two hospitals, resulting in net savings of approximately $1 million annually.