Centering® Healthcare Institute Launches Groundbreaking Health Outcomes Reporting System


Boston, June 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Centering Healthcare Institute (CHI) today announced the development of CenteringCounts™, an innovative, online data system made possible through a $475,000 grant from the Anthem Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Anthem, Inc. CenteringCounts is the first national database of its kind  that collects health outcomes for Centering group participants to better understand the intrinsic links in family health and to improve maternal child health outcomes through evidence-based data analysis.

CenteringCounts collects data from CenteringPregnancy® and CenteringParenting®, two unique programs offered through CHI. CenteringPregnancy® group care allows patients to engage in their care by taking their own weight and blood pressure, recording their own health data, and have private time with their provider for a belly check. CenteringParenting® provides family-centered well-child care for the first two years and actively allows parents to track their child’s growth, development, immunizations and oral health. An emphasis on self-care, wellness and women’s health is woven throughout the program as well. Through these programs, CenteringCounts ensures there is easy access to data collection and reporting which is critical to demonstrating the value it can make in improving the lives of women and their babies.

“We’ve been collecting data from our sites for years but now data collection and reporting will be streamlined and include all of our models of care,” says Angie Truesdale, CEO of Centering Healthcare Institute. “This tool will help us further ensure model fidelity and quality of care delivery through Centering, as well as articulate how Centering is positively affecting health outcomes, related health equity and overall family health.”

“As a strong community partner the Anthem Foundation is focused on improving the lives of individuals, families and our communities through programs that have a direct impact on good health, which includes helping mothers-to-be and their infants have access to resources and care that will help them have a healthy start in life,” said Karen Shea, vice president maternal and child services at Anthem. “The CenteringPregnancy model of prenatal care has demonstrated its effectiveness in improving birth outcomes and increased satisfaction for women and their care provider and mothers-to-be benefit from the extensive interaction that occurs during a centering visit including improvements in health literacy and peer support from women experiencing similar life changes. The Anthem Foundation is pleased support the Centering Healthcare Institute in their work to improve the quality of lives of both mother and child and provide greater access for CenteringPregnancy and CenteringParenting.” CHI has been piloting CenteringCounts since January 2018 and has received positive feedback from multiple users indicating through the initials stages that the tool provides more detailed information explaining the data and the ability to run reports on certain risk factors and medical causes. The information presented through CenteringCounts has created a flexible, user-friendly environment to collect and organize data more efficiently.

The database is HIPAA compliant and will also house CHI's quality assurance process, called Site Accreditation.  The accreditation process assures that each Centering-accredited site has fidelity to the evidence-based model and that sites are of comparable quality nationally. The data submitted annually through accreditation also allows CHI to support sites with continuous quality improvement.



####

CHI is improving health by transforming care through Centering groups. With over two decades of experience in group healthcare, CHI has developed and sustained the Centering model in more than 500 practice sites and within some of the largest health systems in the world. The evidence-based model of group medical visits brings patients out of the exam room and into a group setting where they learn from their providers and each other.  Working with many dedicated individuals and organizations, CHI is building a future where group healthcare becomes the standard of care.

The Anthem Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Anthem, Inc. and through charitable contributions and programs, the Foundation promotes the inherent commitment of Anthem, Inc. to enhance the health and well-being of individuals and families in communities that Anthem, Inc. and its affiliated health plans serve. The Foundation focuses its funding on strategic initiatives that address and provide innovative solutions to health care challenges, as well as promoting the Healthy Generations Program, a multi-generational initiative that targets specific disease states and medical conditions. These disease states and medical conditions include: prenatal care in the first trimester, low birth weight babies, cardiac morbidity rates, long term activities that decrease obesity and increase physical activity, diabetes prevalence in adult populations, adult pneumococcal and influenza vaccinations and smoking cessation. The Foundation also coordinates the company’s year-round Associate Giving program which provides a 50 percent match of associates’ pledges, as well as its Volunteer Time Off and Dollars for Doers community service programs. To learn more about the Anthem Foundation, please visit http://www.anthem.foundation and its blog at https://medium.com/anthemfoundation.

Attachments


            

Contact Data