TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) As part of a $40 Million federal grant under the Affordable Health Care Act, local providers see some of those funds included in the state health care innovation plan.

“We're going to optimize the time that we have and the resources that we have utilizing this Patient Centered Medical Home because while we can't automatically bring 1,000 more doctors to the Magic Valley, we can at the very minimum provide a better quality care,” said Dr. Bart Repepi, Family Physician.

The Patient Centered Medical Home grant aims to improve the quality of healthcare while reducing the costs.

“The grant itself provides, for example some financial resources to help us with the implementation,” said David Pepper, Practice Manager at St. Luke’s Clinic Physician Center.

Last year St. Luke's Clinic Physician Center learned they alongside 55 other clinics statewide received the funding.

Implementation begins this year.

“We have two clinics for St. Luke's clinic in cohort 2 which runs from January of 2017 through the end of the year,” said Pepper.

Programs like this will benefit everyone, by examining the health of the population.

“Looking at our entire panel of patients,” said Dr. Bart Repepi, Family Physician.

Things like vaccinations and screenings, or lack of, affect the entire community.

“So If everyone gets a pneumonia shot, our risk of pneumonia should be lowered,” said Repepi. “As a result last year Idaho had a very high rate of pneumonia compared to the rest of the country.”

Funds will go directly toward improving patient care.

“In a town where we have quite a bit of depression we might be able to use that money to get a counselor in our clinic,” said Repepi. “So if someone comes in with depression instead of having to wait three to four weeks for a visit you might be able to just go down the hall and meet with a counselor.”

In turn this will improve affordability.

“The cost of healthcare is going higher and higher and what we want to do is we want to reduce that cost by doing everything we can in the outpatient setting and pass on those savings to the patient,” said Repepi.

Source: http://www.kmvt.com/