Calif. payors, providers unite for ACO initiative

Blue Shield of California, Greater Newport Physicians and Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian announced a three-year accountable care initiative designed to provide integrated healthcare to approximately 11,000 Blue Shield HMO members in Orange County, Calif.

The partners stated they expect the collaboration to result in little to no increase in healthcare costs for these members in the first year of the collaboration, and low single-digit increases in the two subsequent years.

To achieve this goal, the organizations will identify and implement long-term strategies aimed at improving quality and efficiency. The healthcare entities will work together to share clinical and case management information and coordinate healthcare services. The organizations' incentives will be aligned to improve healthcare quality and patient services at lower costs.

This initiative launches July 1 and will continue for a minimum of 36 months. It is the parties' collective intent to extend the collaboration even longer in order to have a material, sustainable impact on healthcare costs for members and employers over time. The goal is to build a care delivery model that improves quality through better coordination of care while taking costs out of the healthcare delivery system. Preliminary work is already underway across the three organizations, and will accelerate in the coming months.

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