Putting Care at the Center is the annual conference of the National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs. Putting Care at the Center 2020: Virtual is the first virtual conference from the National Center and will take place October 27-28, 2020.
Putting Care at the Center is an opportunity for innovators and advocates for care delivery reform from across the country, both pioneers and newcomers, to learn, network, and create a shared agenda for the emerging field of complex care.
This conference is interprofessional and cross-sector by design. We welcome consumers, providers, administrators, researchers, policymakers, caregivers, students, and others who are working to improve care for people with complex health and social needs. Past attendees have represented sectors and institutions including healthcare systems, community-based organizations, social service providers, advocacy organizations, health plans, foundations, universities, and local, state, and federal government agencies. For the latest updates on Putting Care at the Center 2020: Virtual, sign up for our newsletter, and follow along on Twitter using the hashtag #CenteringCare20.
Complex care focuses on individuals with complex health and social needs, who experience combinations of medical, behavioral health, and social challenges that result in extreme patterns of healthcare utilization and cost. They repeatedly cycle through multiple healthcare, social service, and other systems but do not derive lasting benefit from those interactions.
There’s a growing recognition—coinciding with efforts to reform how we pay for care—that to see different results we must deliver care differently. Care must be flexible, interdisciplinary, and centered on the needs, goals, and circumstances of the individual.
Complex care seeks to coordinate better care for these individuals while reshaping ecosystems of services and healthcare. By better addressing complex needs, complex care can reduce unnecessary spending in both healthcare and social services sectors.
Complex care is person-centered, equitable, cross-sector, team-based, and data-driven. It is designed in partnership with consumers and communities, transcends traditional boundaries, and is financed and delivered in new and more integrated ways.
For more information about the field of complex care, see the Blueprint for Complex Care. The Blueprint was published in 2018 by the National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs, the Center for Health Care Strategies, and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
The National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs was launched in 2016 as an initiative of the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers. The Camden Coalition is a nonprofit organization working in Camden, NJ to innovate and test person-centered healthcare delivery models to improve patient outcomes and reduce the cost of their care. The Camden Coalition launched the National Center in order to provide a professional home for individuals, programs, and organizations across the country working to improve care for people with complex health and social needs.
The National Center is catalyzing the emerging field of complex care by inspiring, connecting, and supporting an evolving community of complex care practitioners and leaders, including providers, healthcare systems, social service organizations, and individuals with lived experience who are working to develop equitable, person-centered, relationship-based ecosystems of care. We also engage and collaborate with payers, funders, researchers, and policymakers to build the knowledge base and payment environment required for complex care to spread to communities throughout the nation.
The National Center's founding sponsors are the Atlantic Philanthropies, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and AARP.
LaKeesha Dumas, Multnomah County Mental Health and Addictions Services Division
Bonnie Ewald, Rush University Medical Center
Dennis Heaphy, Disability Policy Consortium
Jim Hickman, Center for Youth Wellness
Nirav Shah, Stanford School of Medicine
Kathy Stillo, UnitedHealthcare
Alayna Tillman, USC Family Caregiver Support Center
Michelle Wong, Kaiser Permanente