CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield Commits $1.3M to Four Initiatives in Maryland & DC

CareFirst logoCareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, a MACo Gold Corporate Partner, will give over $1.3 million in grants to four programs “designed to expand the use of telemedicine to treat patients with behavioral health care needs in underserved urban and rural areas of Maryland and Washington, D.C.”

From CareFirst’s news release:

…the following community health organizations demonstrated the demand for their telemedicine services, need for CareFirst’s funding, benefit to their community and sustainability of their treatment model:

  • Catholic Charities of Baltimore will use its $53,479 grant to provide behavioral health services to about 120 underserved children and adults in Baltimore City and Anne Arundel and Allegany counties using video-conferencing technology;
  • Atlantic General Hospital on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, in partnership with Baltimore’s Kennedy Krieger Institute, will use its $189,656 grant to provide initial evaluations and follow-up visits to about 325 children and young adults with learning disabilities and behavioral disorders in Worcester, Wicomico and Somerset counties;
  • La Clinica del Pueblo of Washington, D.C., will receive $424,635 to expand remote access to its bilingual counselors and health care providers through teleconferencing to about 650 patients in the D.C. area; and,
  • Baltimore’s Sheppard Pratt Health System will use its $647,200 grant to provide about 1,200 patients of federally qualified health centers in Worcester, Somerset, Garrett, Cecil, Caroline and Dorchester counties with access to psychiatrists via teleconferencing and video-conferencing.

During the next three years, CareFirst’s funding seeks to help health care providers treat nearly 2,300 children and adults who suffer from substance abuse, autism and other behavioral health disorders. Each program will use telecommunication technology – including video-conferencing, telephone and other electronic communications — to give health care providers the ability to assess, diagnose, treat and educate patients remotely.

To read the full story, visit CareFirst’s website.