MGM Resorts’ Direct Care Health Plan is a patient-centered medical home model that contracts with local physicians to control increasing medical and drug costs by reinforcing healthy lifestyle choices, proper benefit utilization, and patient care delivery. The program uses comprehensive utilization analytics, population health initiatives, and care delivery metrics to improve health outcomes and reduce costs. Enrollment in the Direct Care Plan has increased by 40% for 2014 to over 7,000 employees, with a 94% satisfaction rating among those who have opted-in. Further expansion is planned for 2015 including allowing other employers to opt-in and increasing participation of local health care providers in Nevada. 

Physicians who contract with MGM invest their time in discussing how best to adapt the principles of the medical home model to the unique challenges that Nevada’s health care system presents. Specifically they have worked to address:

• Patient access to medical care including wait times delay, timely identification, and treatment of conditions.
• Appropriate physician reimbursement that values physicians for their time, which allows sufficient time to answer patient questions, and accurately diagnose and treat the patient. It is a health plan that reimburses physicians more for quality and outcomes.
• Patient engagement in, and accountability of, their health that includes prevention/early detection/annual physicals.
• Use of technology for physician collection and review of medical data to increase the efficiency of medical care that is provided and to proactively manage the health of their patient population.