Report examines lessons learned from payer-provider collaboration
A report from the Milbank Memorial Fund highlights lessons learned in multi-state efforts to align payers and providers to transform primary care.
Since 2009, the Multi-State Collaborative (MC), a voluntary group composed of representatives of state-based primary care initiatives, has provided a forum for its members to share data, participate in collaborative learning and advocate for improved collaboration between the states and the federal government on primary care transformation.
The MC began with five states in 2009 and expanded to include 17 states by the spring of 2014 due to the strong benefits of sharing information about their experiences with system transformation. Each MC initiative had the following components:
- Innovative payment reforms to support primary care
- Multiple payer participation
- State government convening role
- Standards for patient-centered medical home (PCMH) identification
- New staffing models for team-based primary care
- Technical assistance to practice sites
- Common measurement of performance
- Collaborative learning
The report highlights the following lessons learned from these collaborative efforts:
- Healthcare cost containment, and therefore affordability, cannot be achieved without delivery system transformation across multiple aligned payers.
- Delivery system transformation is predicated upon access to high-quality primary care and supporting services.
- High-quality primary care is more likely to occur in a consistently supported and formally recognized PCMH setting.
- The creation and nurturing of primary care transformation can only be successful in a uniformly applied multi-payer model coupled with collaborative learning and team-based care
Read the full 52-page report here.