In response to evolving patient needs, North End Waterfront Health (NEW Health) is pleased to announce that it now accepts BMC HealthNet and Network Health insurance plans.
The federally funded, Joint Commission-accredited health center, located at 332 Hanover Street in the North End, adds the two insurers to its comprehensive list of accepted health plans, including Mass Health, Medicare, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Harvard Pilgrim, Tufts, Neighborhood Health Plan, United Health Care, and GIC, among others.
“We continue to strive to meet the needs of our patients as the population we care for expands,” says Jim Luisi, CEO of NEW Health. “Our outreach workers are helping the uninsured to enroll in health plans such as BMC HealthNet and Network Health, so it only makes sense that we accept those plans as well.”
The addition of the two new health plans was made possible by an affiliation and referral agreement between NEW Health and Boston Medical Center (BMC). BMC HealthNet and Network Health patients will be referred to BMC for radiology and other specialty services. NEW Health patients with other accepted insurances will still be referred to Massachusetts General Hospital, with which the health center is also affiliated.
In addition to serving about 10,000 patients at its flagship site in the North End, NEW Health is expanding to surrounding communities to help meet the needs of the underserved. NEW Health began overseeing the Charlestown High School health center in September 2013, and has plans to open a satellite health center in Charlestown’s Bunker Hill Housing Development and a mobile dental van based out of Chelsea.
“Demographic analysis revealed that many of our patients do not live in the North End, but in surrounding neighborhoods,” Luisi says. “NEW Health’s mission is to provide quality healthcare that is consumer oriented, culturally appropriate, neighborhood-based, and affordable. By accepting BMC HealthNet and Network Health plans, and expanding to provide care where our patients live, we are furthering that mission.”
In addition to being the first Joint Commission-accredited health center in Massachusetts, NEW Health is an NCQA Level 3 Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH). The PCMH model of care uses evidence-based, patient-centered processes that focus on highly coordinated care and long term participative relationships. Research shows that patient-centered medical homes can lead to higher quality and lower costs, and improve both patients’ and providers’ reported experience of care.
