Amerigroup conducts meet and greet breakfast in Albany

ALBANY — An entity that helps provide access to health care to more than 294,000 low-income Georgians through Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids conducted a meet and greet breakfast on Wednesday as a way to connect with their partners in the Southwest Georgia area.

Amerigroup, which manages publicly-funded health programs in a dozen states, including Georgia, held the breakfast at the Hilton Garden Inn. A few of the partners with representatives there included the Albany Housing Authority, Albany Area Primary Health Care, Tift County Head Start and the Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital Network of Trust program.

Through Amerigroup, officials at the breakfast said, Georgians with Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids get benefits such as a primary care provider, low- or no-cost prescriptions, hospitalization, specialist referrals, vision and dental care for children, immunizations, well-child and well-adult checkups, and access to prenatal care through the Taking Care of Baby and Me program.

There are also extra benefits, such as a free Boys and Girls Club membership, free Sesame Street cookbooks, a free SafeLink cell phone, a free coupon booklet, round-trip transportation, free flu shots, vision and dental exams, over $200 a year per member for certain over-the-counter drugs, up to $65 in gift cards as part of the Taking Care of Baby and Me, a 24-hour nurse line and at least four Weight Watchers meeting vouchers.

“The bottom line is what matters, so whatever discounts we can provide, the better,” said Crystal Boggs, regional marketing manager for Amerigroup.

David Bolt, director of training at Amerigroup, talked about a new program that started up March 3 called Georgia Families 360 as part of an effort for the Georgia Department of Community Health to transition children, youth and young adults in foster care, children and youth getting adoption assistance and select youth in the juvenile justice system to a single statewide care management organization.

Already with thousands of enrollees in the program, Georgia Families 360 has care coordinators assigned to each child to fill in the gaps in their health care needs. There is a behavioral health component to take care of that need, as well as an ombudsman component to address what issues may arise as far as access to care, Bolt said.

Several representatives there from the Southwest Georgia community reflected on their partnership with Amerigroup and how it has served their clients. Among them was Danita Wiggins, assistant to the director at the Albany Housing Authority.

“It provides assistance to our residents to help them be self-sufficient,” she said.

The others included Angie Barber, director of Phoebe Network of Trust; Brook Shivers, case worker with Mirian Worthy Women’s Health Center; Morris Alexander, community representative for Tift County Head Start, and Krystal Heath, operations manager with the East Albany Pediatric and Adolescent Center.

Shivers said that roughly 70 percent of the women’s center patients, which number about 1,300 a month, are on Medicaid. The women there are provided, through Amerigroup, with literature on various topics, including childbirth education.

Alexander said his interaction with Amerigroup has been through presentations to families.

“We establish a presence (at Head Start centers) in case parents have questions,” Boggs said.

Heath commended the service Amerigroup has given to its providers as well as the patients, noting how its representatives make themselves accessible to parents to ensure they are clear on what their child’s coverage is.

“You get the check,” she said. “You pass the test.”

While praising the relationship Amerigroup has with its partners, Grester Rush, regional director of provider relations with Amerigroup, gave a tip on how to spread the word on what her company does.

“Have an event in your parking lot,” she said.