Recognition brings expanded home-based care to Houstonians covered by both Medicare and Medicaid

HOUSTON, Oct. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- CATCH Greater Houston is part of two of the ten teams named Phase 1 winners of the Health at Home Challenge, a national competition of the Administration for Community Living (ACL) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. CATCH won as a community care hub within the national consortium led by the Oregon Wellness Network, which spans eight hubs in eight states, and as designated lead of the Texas Hub Network, a statewide consortium formed with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

The Challenge supports independence, improves health, and reduces costs for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries who are dually eligible or near-dually eligible — older adults and people with disabilities living with multiple chronic conditions and at least one functional limitation. ACL aims to reach up to one million of them nationally through advanced community care networks led by community care hubs.

Both teams advanced to Phase 2, the Implementation Accelerator, running August 2026 through July 2027. ACL will select up to five Phase 2 winners, and only those teams advance to Phase 3 scaling awards in August 2027.

"Houston is not just participating in this work — we are helping lead it. For the people we serve, that means more days at home, fewer trips back to the hospital, and someone whose job it is to make their care make sense. Our founding partners believed in this model first, and our health systems chose to build it with us," said Janice Sparks, Executive Director of CATCH Greater Houston.

What This Means for Greater Houston
CATCH delivers this work with committed health care partners across the region — the Houston Health Department, Memorial Hermann Health System, Harris Health, the CommonSpirit Baylor St. Luke's accountable care organization, and UT Physicians. Hospitals, primary care practices, and health plans refer patients directly to CATCH, which provides the Challenge's five core services: navigation, care coordination and management, care transitions, evidence-based health promotion, and nutrition.

In practice, that means dually eligible and near-dually eligible Houstonians get help returning home safely after a hospital or nursing facility stay, care plans supported by nurses and community health workers, fall prevention and chronic disease programs close to home, and meals delivered to their door.

One Shared Record
All eight hubs in the national consortium will operate on a single shared AthenaOne electronic medical record — a first for community-based care at this scale — with analytics that help care teams identify at-risk individuals earlier and measure what matters: days spent at home and the total cost of care. The UTHealth Houston School of Public Health will independently evaluate outcomes nationwide.

Houston-area residents and families can learn more at www.catchgh.org or call 832-509-6141.

About CATCH Greater Houston
CATCH Greater Houston is a non-profit community care hub founded by the Houston Health Department, the Ibn Sina Foundation, the Houston Health Foundation, and the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health. CATCH organizes community-based organizations across greater Houston to deliver care coordination, care transitions, social-needs screening, and evidence-based health promotion in partnership with the region's hospitals, health systems, and health plans.

The Health at Home Challenge is administered by the Administration for Community Living. This announcement does not imply endorsement by ACL, HHS, or the federal government.

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SOURCE CATCH Greater Houston