Announcing Riverside Community Partners

Riverside Community Care, a behavioral healthcare and human services organization that provides services  to over 40,000 children, adolescents, and adults across Massachusetts, announced today that it has launched a new program, Riverside Community Partners.

Riverside Community Partners was selected by the state of Massachusetts in 2017 as one of MassHealth’s new Behavioral Health Community Partners (BH CP).  The BH CP program is the next step of the rollout of the MassHealth Accountable Care Organization (ACO) program, and is designed to provide specialty services and care coordination for members with complex needs.  Riverside Community Partners is one of eighteen BH CPs across the state that will partner with ACOs to integrate services and improve member health outcomes for approximately 60,000 MassHealth members with complex long term behavioral health needs.

“The Community Partners are experts in supporting members with disabilities or significant behavioral health needs in the community setting,” said Dan Tsai, Assistant Secretary for MassHealth. “These entities will receive over half a billion dollars in investments over five years to support their capacity to care for members in partnership with the ACOs. This level of investment in the community based system is unprecedented across the country and is made possible by our federal 1115 waiver.”

Managed by Riverside Community Care, affiliated partners include The Brookline Center, The Dimock Center, The Edinburg Center, Lynn Community Health Center, North Suffolk Mental Health Association, and Upham’s Corner Health Center.  Service areas will include towns and cities in Greater Boston, MetroWest, the North Shore, and South Central Massachusetts.

Enrollees of Riverside Community Partners will work with a team of care coordinators to help them access behavioral healthcare and supports.  Enrollees will get assistance creating a care plan, working with doctors and behavioral healthcare providers, and connecting to services, and will receive ongoing assessment and care coordination.

The program is a five year pilot program and is being funded by the Executive Office of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

“We are pleased that the state of Massachusetts chose Riverside to spearhead a partnership for this new initiative,” said Scott M. Bock, Founder and President/CEO of Riverside Community Care.  “We are excited to collaborate with our six affiliated partners and work with MassHealth enrollees to help them seek out and receive the best coordinated care.  We look forward to working with the Office of Health and Human Services, the ACOs, and the people we serve to ensure they have comprehensive care management and access to coordinated mental health services.”