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WellCare Awards $50,000 To The Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics To Support The Patient-Centered Medical Home


Tampa, Florida USA – WEBWIRE –

WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE: WCG) today announced that the WellCare Community Foundation has awarded a $50,000 grant to the Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to help provide training and resources to enable pediatricians in Georgia to become recognized as Patient-Centered Medical Homes (PCMHs) by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).

A PCMH is a care delivery model in which a patient’s treatment is more effectively coordinated. The objective is to have a centralized setting that fosters partnerships between individual patients, their primary care physicians, and when appropriate, the patient’s family. Care is facilitated by registries, information technology, health information exchanges and other means to help ensure that patients get culturally- and linguistically-sensitive care when and where they need and want it.

“This is an enhanced model of primary care that makes health care more accessible, comprehensive, coordinated and patient-focused,” said Roman Kulich, WellCare’s region president, Georgia and South Carolina. “Support for the PCMH model has grown significantly within the U.S. health care delivery system, and for good reason. By fostering a strong physician-patient relationship that emphasizes proactive care coordination, the PCMH can help to increase the quality of care, lower costs, reduce health disparities and achieve better health outcomes. WellCare looks forward to working with the Georgia Chapter of the AAP to help pediatric providers advance their practices to better serve children in the state.”

Currently, there are four recognized PCMH pediatric practices in Georgia. The Georgia Chapter of the AAP is working to help 20 additional pediatric practices begin the PCMH process over the next year.

“The Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics is grateful that WellCare is financially supporting our efforts to assist pediatric practices in becoming Patient-Centered Medical Homes,” said Dr. Robert Wiskind, Georgia Chapter president of the AAP. “This is an important step in improving care to individuals and communities while spending health care dollars wisely.”

As of January 2014, WellCare serves approximately 531,000 Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids® plan members, 28,000 Medicare Advantage plan members and 50,000 Medicare Prescription Drug Plan members in Georgia.

About WellCare Health Plans, Inc.

WellCare Health Plans, Inc. provides managed care services targeted to government-sponsored health care programs, focusing on Medicaid and Medicare. Headquartered in Tampa, Fla., WellCare offers a variety of health plans for families, children, and the aged, blind, and disabled, as well as prescription drug plans. The company serves approximately 3.3 million members nationwide as of January 2014. For more information about WellCare, please visit the company’s website at http://www.wellcare.com/.

About the WellCare Community Foundation

The WellCare Community Foundation was established in 2010 and is a non-profit, private foundation. Its mission is to foster and promote the health, well-being and quality of life for the poor, distressed and other medically underserved populations - including, those who are elderly, young and indigent - and the communities in which they live. The WellCare Community Foundation carries out this mission by supporting work that helps people live healthy, safe and productive lives, and by assisting groups with serious and neglected health needs. Underscoring this mission is the WellCare Community Foundation’s goal to serve as a national resource that fosters an environment where there is a continuum of education, access and quality health care, all of which improve the overall health, well-being and quality of life of targeted beneficiaries.

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