Warm Health Announces Renewed Partnership With P2 Collaborative of Western New York To Deliver Colorectal Cancer Educational Outreach To Drive Cancer Screenings In New York State

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Warm Health, a provider of interactive care management communications, is pleased to announce a renewal of contract to deliver a Colorectal Cancer Screening Outreach Initiative in New York. This program has been funded for a second year by the P² Collaborative of Western New York under a contract with the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH)/Health Research, Inc. Funding for this project comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Colorectal Cancer Control Program.

“Our ability to deliver interactive outreach to a large population to drive health outcomes, while also gathering information on barriers to access, is unsurpassed. We are thrilled to deliver this important program again to the people of New York.”

The goal of this program is to conduct educational outreach to residents of New York State who are not up–to-date with their colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. Calls will be made to targeted groups of Commercial, Medicaid and/or Medicare recipients in New York and to clients of the NYSDOH Cancer Services Program (CSP). To effectively communicate with this large target audience, Warm Health will utilize an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) automated telephone call series to deliver education to men and women ages 50–64 with the goal of increasing CRC screenings in New York State.

“Working with the P² Collaborative in New York State is a fantastic opportunity for which Warm Health is uniquely suited,” said Michael Lunzer, President and Co-founder of Warm Health. “Our ability to deliver interactive outreach to a large population to drive health outcomes, while also gathering information on barriers to access, is unsurpassed. We are thrilled to deliver this important program again to the people of New York.”

Results from the Warm Health outreach to CSP clients in 2011 showed that over 10% of individuals called asked for assistance in scheduling a screening. In total, over 5% of the individuals called completed a CRC screening.

Shelley Hirshberg, Executive Director of the P² Collaborative, is also pleased with phase one outcomes. “Our primary mission to improve the health of Western New Yorkers is well served by an outreach program of this type,” Hirshberg said. “We are pleased to continue our commitment for the project’s renewal.”

About the Cancer Services Program: The NYSDOH Cancer Services Program (CSP) works to improve cancer screening in New York State with the ultimate goal of increasing age appropriate, guideline-concordant cancer screening and decreasing cancer mortality. The CSP facilitates access to and provides funding for colorectal, breast and cervical cancer screening and diagnostic services for uninsured and underinsured New Yorkers and assists those diagnosed with cancer to obtain prompt treatment through the New York State Medicaid Cancer Treatment Program (NYS MCTP). The CSP offers a number of resources for both providers and patients free of charge; to access a list of available materials, visit http://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/cancer/docs/cancer_serv_prog_resource_guide.pdf.

Uninsured NYS residents can call the CSP toll-free referral line (1-866-442-CANCER), 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to be directly connected to cancer screening services in the county in which they live or work. For more information about the NYS Cancer Services Program visit http://www.nyhealth.gov/cancerservicesprogram.

About Screen For Life: The CDC's multiyear, multimedia Screen for Life: National Colorectal Cancer Action Campaign informs men and women ages 50 years and older about the importance of having regular colorectal cancer screening tests. See: http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/colorectal/sfl/index.htm.

About the P² Collaborative of WNY: P² (Pursuing Perfection) Collaborative of Western New York is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health of people in Western New York. For more information see http://www.p2wny.org/.

About Warm Health: Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Warm Health is a healthcare communications company focused on building relationships between healthcare organizations and their members, which improve health outcomes, increase revenues and decrease costs. Warm Health offers interactive management programs for chronic conditions, maternal health, and Star and HEDIS initiatives using automated telephone, text messaging service, web/email and a smartphone app. Warm Health programs leverage a comprehensive library of clinically approved healthcare communications to support Medicare, Medicaid and commercial health plan members. For more information visit www.warmhealth.com.