First-year results from Cigna's (NYSE: CI) collaborative accountable care initiative with The Jackson Clinic indicate that the program is showing progress toward achieving the “triple aim” of improved health, affordability and patient experience. The Jackson Clinic serves over 5,500 individuals covered by a Cigna health plan and has shown significantly positive results in delivering quality care while controlling total medical cost trend.
Horizon BCBSNJ compared how health care was delivered to 70,000 members in patient-centered practices to the health care delivered to members in other primary care practices. The results showed impressive improvements in care and reduced costs to those members in the Program, including:
Providing Better Care
5 percent higher rate in improved diabetes control (HbA1c).
3 percent higher rate in breast cancer screenings.
Independence Blue Cross (IBC) announces the results of a series of three-year studies that demonstrate significant reductions in medical costs for patients with chronic conditions treated in primary care practices that have transformed into medical homes. Most notably, diabetic members treated in a medical home practice had 21 percent lower total medical costs, driven by a 44-percent reduction in hospital costs. Lower emergency room costs were seen after one year.
Partners HealthCare, one of just 32 Pioneer Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) in the nation, has successfully lowered health care cost growth among approximately 52,000 Medicare patients, according to new federal data. The Pioneer ACO initiative, sponsored by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center, aims to transform the way that health care is delivered by providing Medicare patients with higher quality, while slowing cost growth through enhanced care coordination.
The Pioneer Accountable Care Organization at the Beth Israel Deaconess Care Organization saved 4.2 percent of its budget for patient care in the first year of operation, generating substantial savings for the federal Medicare health care program.
In 2011, BIDCO was named one of only 32 provider organizations across the country chosen to work with the Centers for Medicare &Medicaid Services to provide Medicare beneficiaries with higher quality care, while reducing growth in Medicare expenditures through enhanced care coordination.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the associations between partial and incremental implementation of the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model and measures of cost and quality of care.
DATE SOURCE: We combined validated, self-reported PCMH capabilities data with administrative claims data for a diverse statewide population of 2,432 primary care practices in Michigan. These data were supplemented with contextual data from the Area Resource File.
BACKGROUND: There is growing evidence that even small and solo primary care practices can successfully transition to full Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) status when provided with support, including practice redesign, care managers, and a revised payment plan. Less is known about the quality and efficiency outcomes associated with this transition.
OBJECTIVE: Test quality and efficiency outcomes associated with 2-year transition to PCMH status among physicians in intervention versus control practices.
Currently, nearly 3,600 primary care providers (primary care physicians and nurse practitioners) participate in CareFirst’s PCMH program. One hundred-ninety six of the 297 eligible panels (66 percent) earned OIAs for the 2012 program year; 60 percent of panels earned OIAs in the program’s first year. The level of OIA for each Panel is based on both the level of quality and degree of savings achieved by the participants of the Panel.
