As partnership enters its second year, results show improved health measures
PHILADELPHIA & LOUISVILLE, Ky. – December 14, 2015 – Delaware Valley ACO (DVACO), one of the largest Medicare shared savings programs in the U.S., and Humana (NYSE:HUM), a leading health and well-being company, announced favorable results stemming from their year-old partnership. Since 2014, Humana members cared for through the value-based agreement with DVACO have experienced a ten percent increase in medication therapy adherence and a four percent increase in disease management program participation.
In addition, the relationship expanded to include 22 additional physician practices last month, including Abington Health (now part of Jefferson Health), making the value-based health care model now available to 8,200 Humana Medicare Advantage members in the Delaware Valley.
Value-based health care is a new and growing health care model that emphasizes primary care, quality and a more coordinated care experience for patients. The approach, also called accountable care, features tools and information to help primary care physicians and health systems better manage the overall health of the people they care for.
“Seeing gains in drug adherence and disease management participation is important,” explained Eric Bohannon, Vice President of Humana Medicare Products in Pennsylvania. “These early indicators show that value-based care is doing what it’s supposed to: shift our health care system toward a more proactive, coordinated approach.”
The partnership gives Humana members in-network access to DVACO’s integrated health systems, featuring Jefferson Health, Main Line Health, Holy Redeemer Health System, and Magee Rehabilitation Hospital. For 2016, DVACO features 667 primary care physicians in five counties.
“At DVACO, we are strongly committed to forming partnerships that will expand our ability to provide coordinated, high quality health care across the care continuum to the communities we serve,” said Katherine Schneider, M.D., M.Phil., FAAFP, president and CEO at Delaware Valley ACO. “We are delighted to build on our 2014 success with Humana. They have brought expertise and resources to the partnership that have allowed us to accelerate the shift to value-based care for the Medicare Advantage population for our participating hospitals and physicians.”
The value-based health care model reflects a shift away from the current episodic health care model to a value-based model that emphasizes quality and better patient care experiences. The accountable care approach aligns DVACO’s and Humana’s complementary population health capabilities, including chronic disease management, wellness programs and data analytics to help predict and avert serious health events.
“The growing trend toward value-based care here in Southeast Pennsylvania is an important shift in the way our health care system works,” said Bohannon. “We now have the tools to help doctors spend more time with their patients and create long-term health in addition to treating sickness.”
The expanded Humana-DVACO agreement includes value-based incentives tied to performance improvement and quality outcomes, emphasizing standard measures defined by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS), including breast cancer screening, colorectal screening, comprehensive diabetes care, and high-risk medications.
Humana has a 30-year accountable care relationship history. The company has 1.6 million individual Medicare Advantage members and 200,000 commercial members today that are cared for by approximately 44,000 primary care physicians, in more than 900 value-based relationships across 43 states and Puerto Rico..
About Delaware Valley ACO
The Delaware Valley Accountable Care Organization (DVACO) is a limited liability company that is owned by Main Line Health, Jefferson Health, Holy Redeemer Health System, Doylestown Health, and Magee Rehabilitation Hospital. DVACO’s purpose is to enhance the quality of health care and reduce the growth rate of health care costs by acting as a convener, accelerator, and provider of the foundation needed to assist its participating members to transition from fee for service model, a business model focused on volume to a model focused on population health. DVACO operates under the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) and is currently the region’s largest Medicare ACO. For more information please visit www.dvaco.org.
About Humana
Humana Inc., headquartered in Louisville, Ky., is a leading health and well-being company focused on making it easy for people to achieve their best health with clinical excellence through coordinated care. The company’s strategy integrates care delivery, the member experience, and clinical and consumer insights to encourage engagement, behavior change, proactive clinical outreach and wellness for the millions of people we serve across the country.
More information regarding Humana is available to investors via the Investor Relations page of the company’s web site at www.humana.com, including copies of:
- Annual reports to stockholders;
- Securities and Exchange Commission filings;
- Most recent investor conference presentations;
- Quarterly earnings news releases;
- Replays of most recent earnings release conference calls;
- Calendar of events; and
- Corporate Governance information.
For more information:
Jeff Blunt
Humana Corporate Communications
513-826-7094
jblunt@humana.com
Bridget Therriault
DVACO
484-580-1025
TherriaultB@MLHS.ORG