HERSHEY, Pa. — Penn State Health is partnering with Modivcare, a digitally enabled, member focused healthcare company and its subsidiary, Higi, to empower people across central Pennsylvania to measure and act upon important health information.
Through its Higi platform, Modivcare provides free, self-service Smart Health Stations located at dozens of pharmacies across the counties served by Penn State Health. By using them, people can quickly understand their risk for common chronic illnesses — and from there, opt into educational programs run by Penn State Health and connect with health system providers. The goal is to help people understand and manage both immediate and long-term health needs, including their personal risk for heart attack and stroke. Modivcare’s Higi Stations can also screen for social determinants of health needs and navigate people to needed resources.
“Penn State Health believes that everyone deserves access to high-quality health care,” said Chris LaCoe, vice president of virtual health at Penn State Health. “The Higi platform provides a simple yet powerful tool to better enable community access to care, helping people in communities across the region better understand their own health as well as the resources available to them for support.”
Using Modivcare’s Higi Smart Health Stations, people may choose to receive information from Penn State Health about a range of topics, including high blood pressure, smoking cessation, exercise and managing stress. The system also lets people take the next step in their care by offering to connect them with Penn State Health providers — and even have their health screening information shared directly with Penn State Health, if they wish.
The platform can also capture individual information about social and environmental factors that affect health, including access to food, shelter and transportation — and navigate people to available low-cost or free resources made available by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“This information helps us gain a better understanding of the health needs of central Pennsylvania residents and provides a seamless way for our doctors to help address these concerns, with appropriate navigation based on their personal risk factors and need,” said Ashley Visco, community health director at Penn State Health. “This new facet of our partnership with Higi provides another touch point in the community that allows us to provide additional knowledge and offer support from trusted Penn State Health providers.”
“We are excited to partner with Penn State Health to amplify healthcare capabilities to individuals in central Pennsylvania,” said L. Heath Sampson, president and chief executive officer of Modivcare. “Modivcare’s Higi platform provides important health insights which optimize preventative health interventions, and through this partnership, we can connect someone to the care they need. Bridging an individual’s health care needs to a health care provider is essential to keeping our communities healthy.”
The partnership between Penn State Health and Modivcare includes self-service Higi Smart Health Stations at select retail stores in counties in central Pennsylvania.
Access to Modivcare’s Higi platform also includes clinically vetted content as well as an offering that helps patients set and meet health care goals, ultimately helping them stay engaged and motivated to achieve positive outcomes. The care teams at Penn State Health can use this information to better understand the health of the populations they care for, as well as keep track of their patients’ progress as they check back in with Modivcare over time.