Accountable Care Organization Pilot Will Help Improve Quality and Lower Costs. Two of Southern California's leading physician-governed medical groups, along with Anthem Blue Cross, have been selected for participation in a new and innovative, nationally-recognized healthcare model that rewards providers for improving patient outcomes, while slowing cost growth.
(PRWEB) May 25, 2010 -- Two of Southern California's leading physician-governed medical groups, along with Anthem Blue Cross, have been selected for participation in a new and innovative, nationally-recognized healthcare model that rewards providers for improving patient outcomes, while slowing cost growth.
HealthCare Partners, a Torrance, California-based Medical Group and Independent Physician Association (IPA), and Monarch HealthCare, an Irvine, California-based Medical Group and IPA, will collaborate with Anthem Blue Cross in an Accountable Care Organization (ACO) pilot project led by the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at Brookings and The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. The selection of the two California organizations furthers the nationwide demonstration project already underway in three other communities. The demonstration project expects to produce a successful model that will be replicable throughout the country.
Elliott Fisher, M.D., M.P.H., who along with Mark McClellan, M.D., PhD. is leading the Brookings-Dartmouth project, describes the ACO as "a provider-led organization willing to be accountable for the full continuum of care for its patients." The model encourages physicians, hospitals, and insurance companies to work together to coordinate care, improve quality, and reduce costs.
Anthem Blue Cross expects that its PPO members in Los Angeles and Orange Counties whose physicians participate in the HealthCare Partners and Monarch ACO's will be
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