Accountable Care Initiative Launches in South Florida

Photo: The new accountable care program between UnitedHealthcare and Baptist Health Quality Network commits more resources to sharing information and identifying care opportunities while lowering costs.

UnitedHealthcare and Baptist Health Quality Network, LLC, launched an accountable care program that promotes a team approach to health care in South Florida to improve quality, lower costs and enhance the coordination of patient care.

This new accountable care relationship enables Baptist Health Quality Network to treat patients using an innovative and value-based model focused on keeping people healthy. Key to the model’s success is UnitedHealthcare sharing data with Baptist Health Quality Network to inform doctors of patients’ underlying medical conditions, past treatments, gaps in care, medications prescribed and future care needs. This takes the burden off patients from having to connect information from each of their doctor’s visits, reduces duplicative tests, and improves care coordination across specialties and care centers.

Through this initiative, UnitedHealthcare and Baptist Health Quality Network are able to identify clear, actionable information specific to individual patients’ health needs. This collaboration also improves the ability to identify patients who are at high risk and help them reduce emergency room visits and re-admissions to the hospital, manage their chronic health conditions and more efficiently manage their medication needs.

“Our multispecialty physician leadership and population health analytics have given Baptist Health Quality Network the ability to increase quality and efficiency while reducing redundancy and health care costs,” said Ralph E. Lawson, executive vice president and chief financial officer, Baptist Health South Florida. “We are enhancing care coordination across care settings, and our new accountable care relationship with UnitedHealthcare enables Baptist Health to provide improved care to more patients in our community.”

Nearly 250,000 people enrolled in UnitedHealthcare’s employer and individual health plans are eligible to benefit from this collaboration.

“UnitedHealthcare and Baptist Health Quality Network are mutually committed to improving the quality and cost of health care,” said Nicholas Zaffiris, CEO, UnitedHealthcare of South Florida. “By working more collaboratively with local care providers and creating a simpler, more connected health care experience, we can help improve patient care, work to lower costs and enhance people’s ability to live healthier lives.”

More than 15 million people enrolled in UnitedHealthcare plans across the country have access to these accountable care programs, delivered in part through the more than 800-plus accountable care arrangements nationwide.

Care providers nationwide are showing strong interest in a shift to value-based care. UnitedHealthcare’s total payments to physicians and hospitals that are tied to value-based arrangements have tripled in the last three years to more than $54 billion. By the end of 2018, UnitedHealthcare expects that figure to reach $65 billion.

For more information about UnitedHealthcare’s proactive care initiatives and how value-based programs are helping to improve quality and people’s health, visit www.UHC.com/valuebasedcare and download the Value-based Care Report.