Best Practice Partners (BPP), a leader in health IT optimization, is pleased to announce a new division which will focus on assisting payers and providers optimize their existing Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and assist in standing up new ACOs. The division will operate as a federated partnership, drawing on the complimentary skills and expertise of individuals and organizations representing Best Practices for each of the strategic components which go into building a successful ACO.

“We are very excited to have assembled a World class team of industry thought leaders to launch this important initiative”, said Mark Stevens, Vice President for Strategic Partnerships at Best Practice Partners, and Director of this new division. Stevens is the former Executive Director of the PA eHealth Initiative and co-founder of the Central PA chapter of HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society). “The Best Practice Partners approach we will be applying to our ACO offerings is “People and Process First”, while leveraging and aligning our IT offerings to the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) ACO/HIT Framework and our patient engagement strategies to the National eHealth Collaborative’s (NeHC) Patient Engagement Framework.” Stevens continued, “We think this approach is unique and very much needed in the marketplace, and critical to the overall success of health reform, which will rely on our ability to transition from a fee-for-service to accountable, patient-centric and outcome-focused care model.” Concluding, Stevens said “Our goal is to empower end-uses, nurses and physicians, through this process, while maintaining a patient-centric focus, giving our clients an “unfair” advantage."

Best Practice Partners’ lead partner in this new venture, Stella Technology, is a national leader in clinical integration and care coordination. They will manage all the key technology components of the initiative’s offerings, including Health Information Exchange, analytics and patient engagement solutions. Stella Technology is supporting some of the nation’s most successful, long standing and sustainable statewide, community and private HIEs. “We are very excited to partner with Best Practice Partners and the entire ACO team on this important initiative,” said Lalo Valdez, CEO at Stella Technology. “We see a strong differentiator in the marketplace as we combine our “Best Practices” and “People First” approach with technology expertise, and leverage superior industry guidance through the CCHIT and NeHC frameworks.”

The Components of a Successful ACO, and their team representatives, are as follows: 

• Provider Relations – Steve Narigon, RN, CEO, Best Practice Partners
• Payer Relations – Gary M. Austin – President, TranzformHealth
• Clinical Integration, Technology & Analytics – Salim Kizaraly, Principal Consultant, Stella Technology, Inc.
• Risk Modeling & Legal Applications – Barbara Youngberg, RN, Esq., Academic Director, Online Education, Loyola Law School; Board Member, National Patient Safety Foundation
• Consulting, Implementation & Support Services – Bill O’Byrne, Executive Director, New Jersey Health     Information Technology Extension Center (NJ-HITEC)
• Patient Engagement – Teresa Younkin, CEO, EHR Explained; former Community Engagement Manager, Geisinger Keystone Beacon Community