COLUMBUS, Ohio—Molina Healthcare of Ohio awarded the Center for Community Based Care (CCBC) with a $125,000 grant. CCBC is a nonprofit foundation branch of the Ohio Council for Home Care & Hospice (OCHCH). The investment will fund efforts to address the shortage of nurses in homecare and hospice settings and support a new hotline that assists Ohioans in managing serious illnesses from home.
Molina provides Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare-Medicaid (Duals) and Health Insurance Exchange programs throughout Ohio. Additionally, it provides managed health care services under the Medicaid and Medicare programs, and through state insurance marketplaces.
The CCBC delivers community-based care through public awareness and consumer education and helps families receive the care they need throughout Ohio.
“Molina believes all individuals should have access to high-quality care and our support of CCBC will help create greater capacity for Ohioans to receive care from home,” said Ami Cole, plan president for Molina Healthcare of Ohio. “CCBC is reducing gaps in health equity, and we are proud to invest in their work.”
“Ultimately, this gift means better care for patients and meaningful, rewarding careers for caregivers across Ohio,” said Lisa Von Lehmden, executive director of the OCHCH. “Molina’s support will allow us to truly make these community-focused initiatives a reality by supporting our efforts to put Ohio on the map when it comes to supporting home and community-based services and workforce development in a thoughtful, unique and sustainable way.”
In support of increasing critical home health care needs, the Molina grant will promote two key initiatives:
- Home-based nursing student clinical rotations: CCBC will partner with Ohio nursing schools to develop home-based clinical rotation experiences for nursing students. These rotations aim to provide hands-on learning opportunities, exposing students to careers in hospice, homecare and home-based primary care. These rotations intend to increase the number of nursing students who experience home-based care during their education.
- Clinical advocate resource exchange (CARE): This telephone-based program provides care navigation assistance for patients and care teams by connecting them to necessary services, resources, transportation, homecare agencies, hospice providers and more. This service aims to enhance the health care continuum while relieving homecare clinicians of non-billable tasks required to fully support patients.
A survey from the U.S. Department of Resources and Services Administration found 5,700 registered nurses decreased their work in home health and hospice settings from 2018 to 2022. Additionally, the survey projected a need for roughly 275,000 more nurses by 2030. These industry needs are a result of the home health care population increasing during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a spike in telehealth appointments and in-home medical services.
