Creating a Volunteer Health Care Agent Matching Program in Massachusetts

A study led by David Sontag highlighting the Coalition's Health Care Agent Matching Program was published in HealthCare: The Journal of Delivery Science and Innovation. The article describes the experience of creating and running the program as a partnership between Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA), the Massachusetts Coalition for Serious Illness Care, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) (part of Beth Israel Lahey Health (BILH)), and Commonwealth Care Alliance, Inc. (CCA). It includes a toolkit containing all of the resources we have developed to make it easier for others who are interested in developing a similar program. 

Key points:

• Every day in Massachusetts, patients experience delayed hospital discharge due to a lack of a health care agent (HCA).
• This issue not only negatively impacts patient health but also creates capacity and cost challenges for healthcare systems.
• Our program showed that utilizing volunteers is an effective method for matching unrepresented patients with HCAs.
• Comprehensive training for both volunteers and staff on the HCA role is crucial, as is providing ongoing support.