BATON ROUGE – Aledade’s physician-led Accountable Care Organization (ACO) in Louisiana will join the Blue Cross Quality Blue Value Partnership (QBVP) program – expanding the ACO to provide care coordination for Louisianans covered by the cross and shield.
Aledade reps said Aledade’s Louisiana ACO is made up of six leading primary care practices in Lafayette, New Iberia, Abbeville and Opelousas, providing care to 5,200 Medicare beneficiaries and is the only physician-led ACO in Louisiana to start in 2016 through the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). They said Aledade’s partnership with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana will double the number of patients benefiting from the coordinated, high-quality care delivered by Aledade’s Louisiana ACO. This is Aledade’s first commercial contract.
“This unique partnership further benefits Louisianans looking for quality, affordable care,” said Dr. Farzad Mostashari, CEO and co-founder of Aledade. “We are impressed with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana’s Quality Blue program and the alignment it creates to provide quality, value based health care across all patient populations.”
Aledade’s partnership with the Blue Cross QVBP program also represents an opportunity for doctors in Louisiana.
“This partnership allows independent primary care practices in Louisiana to take advantage of savings opportunities with Blue Cross that have previously only been available to the largest physician networks and hospital providers,” Blaine Lindsey, Aledade Louisiana ACO Executive Director, said. “By joining us, they can remain independent but share in the upside of reducing health care costs.”
Aledade offers a new model of primary care by partnering with physicians to build and lead Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) – networks of physicians who band together to deliver coordinated care to patients. Aledade ACOs allow doctors to stay independent, practice medicine like they’ve always wanted to, and thrive by keeping people healthy, company reps said. The Aledade model operates under a value-based payment structure that rewards positive health outcomes for patients, instead of the volume of health care services delivered.
The Aledade ACO and its member physicians will take on accountability for the total health care experience of Blue Cross patients cared for by the ACO’s practices. Blue Cross will provide the ACO with expertise and experience in care management and quality improvement as well as comprehensive data of the care provided. This gives the ACO’s physicians the ability to see beyond the walls of their practice for a comprehensive view of their patients’ health; empowering the physicians to provide more seamless care. Through this partnership, Aledade and Blue Cross will strive to create value in health care by improving the quality and reducing the cost of health care, Aledade reps said.
“We are excited to partner with Aledade on engagements with independent primary care physicians that promote the movement away from fee-for-service to fee-for-value,” Dr. Paul Murphree, Interim Chief Medical Officer at Blue Cross, said. “This brings another level of engagement to providers that are already participating in our Quality Blue Primary Care program. The capabilities that Aledade is bringing to these providers are impressive and we are encouraged that they will enable improvement in the cost and quality of care our members receive.”
Aledade ACOs focus on delivering the highest-quality care to patients, with an emphasis on preventive care. Company reps said in the Aledade model, primary care physicians are provided unparalleled regulatory expertise; best practices from a national network of hundreds of primary care doctors; user-friendly technology and data analytics that provide visibility into the spectrum of care their patients receive outside their office; and face-to-face practice transformation support.
Since its founding in June 2014, Aledade has grown significantly, partnering with more than 110 practices across 11 states, covering more than 100,000 patients and taking accountability for nearly a billion dollars of annual medical costs. Aledade is also expanding into new patient populations and entering new markets. Aledade recently announced additional partnerships with: (1) 10 Federal Qualified Health Centers in West Virginia to provide care to low-income patients, and (2) new ACOs forming in Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Utah/ Nevada.
New data shows that Aledade ACOs, in 2015, had a 251 percent average practice increase in preventive care visits and a 175 percent average practice increase in transitional care services, resulting in a decrease in hospital readmission rates. Aledade ACOs had a $51,000 average increase in practice revenue in 2015.
All Aledade practices offer same or next day appointments for patients with urgent needs, and 95 percent of Aledade physician partners provide 24 hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week patient access to an on-call doctor. All new and existing ACOs manage these cornerstones of care through Aledade’s proprietary, cloud-based technology and analytics platform.
