A small Buffalo nonprofit was just awarded $37 million in federal funds. Now it must make WNY healthier

This article was originally published on The Buffalo News and can be found here.

Most local residents have probably never heard of Western New York Integrated Care Collaborative Inc.
The nonprofit, with seven employees and a $1 million budget, provides back-office administrative support for more than 70 local social service organizations, such as Catholic Charities of Buffalo, People Inc. and FeedMore WNY.
But the organization founded eight years ago is about to get a bigger presence: New York State is giving it up to $36.8 million over 2½ years to help Western New York – home to some of the state’s unhealthiest counties – get a little healthier.
Gov. Kathy Hochul this week announced that WNYICC is one of nine organizations statewide that will share a total of $500 million in federal funding over the next three years to create social care networks in regions across New York.
 
WNYICC will focus on Erie, Niagara, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties.

And its budget, payroll and potential community impact are about to grow. For one, the organization will probably be hiring 10 to 15 new employees, noted WNYICC Executive Director Nikki Kmicinski, who was the organization’s only employee when it was founded. And, she noted, the funding could be a “game changer” for its member organizations, now in line to receive sustainable reimbursements for delivering services.

“We’ve kind of said all along, this opportunity will put our infrastructure and our model that we’ve built on steroids,” Kmicinski said.
“We’ve got the infrastructure, we’ve got the pieces. We know how to do this, but now we’ll have this funding support to make it really effective for our region.”
 

The funds headed to WNYICC are anticipated to last through March 31, 2027, and whether the organization gets the full $36.8 million will depend on performance metrics set by the state that the network will have to meet, she added.

Where is this money coming from?
In early January, the state announced the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had approved its $7.5 billion Medicaid Section 1115 Demonstration Waiver. In some ways, the announcement flew under the radar, disclosed the same day that Hochul delivered her State of the State address, formally kicking off state budget negotiations.
But the waiver – despite its overly lengthy and complicated formal name – has the potential to be big news.
 
 
It includes nearly $6 billion in federal funding over the next three years, focused on actions that will boost health equity, cut health disparities and bolster access to primary and behavioral health care.
It fits into an ongoing trend in health care geared toward addressing the social drivers of health, defined as the conditions in which people are born, live and work that influence health and quality of life. The idea is simple: Help provide a more equitable environment for residents to live healthier lives and more costly trips to the hospital can be avoided. It could mean better health outcomes and lower health care costs.

The $500 million for social care networks across the state is just one component of the $7.5 billion waiver.
 
According to the state, the social care network program will address health disparities in communities by using federal funds to help Medicaid members access nutritional meals, housing support, transportation and other social services – the exact kinds of things that can significantly affect a person’s health.
 
“We traditionally invest health care dollars in direct patient care, yet, it is often the factors ‘outside the exam room’ that most need to be addressed,” state Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said. “This historic investment allows these partners to connect patients to factors that often most influence our health, such as finding stable housing, reliable transportation, health insurance and other factors that improve people’s personal health.”
 
 
State Medicaid Director Amir Bassiri said the social care network awards “will transform how health care and social care are delivered,” while also fitting into the state’s long-term strategy of integrating social care benefits into the Medicaid managed care program.
How a social care network works
WNYICC was concocted by a group of community leaders nearly a decade ago.
They saw a need to create a network of community-based organizations, which would help streamline fragmented, but needed, services for some of the most vulnerable community members. Having such an administrative hub meant centralizing member operations to address the social drivers of health and close gaps in care while also reducing costs through the scale of the network.
 
 
“The mission of WNYICC was founded on the belief of the power of coordinated and integrated services to leverage the results needed to ensure the health and wellbeing of underserved individuals,” explained WNYICC Board President Tish Brady, a former chief operating officer at Catholic Charities.
 
When Kmicinski was hired as the organization’s first employee, she spent a couple of years learning the health care landscape, examining funding opportunities and then building a network that integrated social care.
“Studies have shown that 85% of people’s health is affected by where they live, work and play,” Kmicinski said. “And the medical field is great at clinical care, but if someone can’t get a ride to pick up their medicines, or doesn’t have food in their home to follow a healthy diet, their health isn’t going to improve. They’re not going to be able to follow their doctor’s orders.”
WNYICC helps with care coordination. As Kmicinski explained, when the organization gets a referral, they validate it and then help figure out what is the best community-based organization to provide the service to the patient.
 
“It brings services that a lot of people aren’t aware of in the community and coordinates them in a way that is seamless and affordable,” said Nora OBrien-Suric, president of the Health Foundation for Western and Central New York who has worked closely with WNYICC since 2017.
 
WNYICC also provides technology support, compliance training, quality assurance and billing services, allowing its network members to focus on providing services. These kinds of services are particularly valuable to the smaller member organizations that might not have many employees. Kmicinski said WYNICC has member organizations of all sizes, including smaller agencies such as WNY Mobile Opioid Prevention Services, which provides in-home and on-the-spot access to Narcan kits.
With how the model is set up, Kmicinski explained, WNYICC receives the funds through its contracts with health plans or from grants, and then it pays its member community-based organizations for the services delivered.
With the new funding award, Kmicinski said one of the organization’s next steps is reaching out to the community, likely through community-based organizations, health care providers and community events.
 
So residents might soon hear the name Western New York Integrated Care Collaborative a little more often.
“It is really our mission to build up the community-based organizations, and we don’t need our agency to be some big agency,” Kmicinski said. “We’re really here to support the community-based organizations.”