Cityblock, Alliance Health partner on behavioral health
Cityblock will provide care to members with serious mental illness and/or substance use disorder in Alliance's behavioral health plan.
Photo: Basak Gurbuz/Getty Images
Cityblock, a value-based healthcare provider for Medicaid and dually eligible beneficiaries, is entering into a partnership with Alliance Health, a managed care organization responsible for 137,000 Medicaid-eligible members across North Carolina.
Under the terms of the new arrangement, Cityblock will provide comprehensive, integrated medical and behavioral healthcare to members with serious mental illness and/or substance use disorder enrolled in Alliance Health's Behavioral Health and Intellectual/Development Disability (BH I/DD) Tailored Plan.
The partnership launched in Mecklenburg, Cumberland and Wake counties on July 1 and coincides with the state's ongoing Medicaid transformation efforts. Cityblock has been operating in North Carolina since 2021.
WHAT'S THE IMPACT?
Citing a lengthy history as a behavioral health managed care organization, Alliance Health has developed a network of service providers that delivers an array of community-based and innovative services for individuals with severe and persistent mental illness, substance use disorders, and intellectual and developmental disabilities.
As a fully integrated BH I/DD Tailored Plan, Alliance Health has expanded its network to include primary care providers, specialists, ancillary health providers, pharmacies, and contracts with a number of provider organizations and systems in an effort to provide comprehensive care.
Alliance Health also makes care management services available to all of its BH I/DD Tailored Plan members, either directly or through contracts with certified provider agencies.
Alliance Health will partner with Cityblock to provide eligible members access to the latter's primary care and behavioral healthcare services across modalities, where members will have the option to see their care team virtually, in their homes or at existing Cityblock clinics. Cityblock's care model connects enrolled and eligible members to a multidisciplinary care team that includes primary care providers, behavioral health specialists, community health partners, nurse care managers and pharmacy navigators.
The value-based arrangement is Alliance's first shared risk arrangement, which both companies expect will increase care access, close equity gaps and drive sustainable value.
THE LARGER TREND
Cityblock has been making a number of partnerships as of late. In May, it teamed with Florida-based Sunshine Health, a Centene subsidiary, to provide primary care and care coordination services to high-need, hard-to-reach Medicaid members in 11 Central Florida counties.
The partnership includes wraparound services offered to members 24/7, across modalities, allowing members the option to see their multidisciplinary care team virtually, in the home or at a local clinic.
In April, Cityblock unveiled a partnership with Senior Whole Health by Molina to enhance care for its members in Massachusetts to provide a team of healthcare professionals that will link Senior Whole Health members to personalized medical, behavioral health and social-care support.
The focus will be on dual eligible Molina members, who will be able to receive care from primary care providers, behavioral health providers and community health partners.
Jeff Lagasse is editor of Healthcare Finance News.
Email: jlagasse@himss.org
Healthcare Finance News is a HIMSS Media publication.
