KANSAS CITY, Mo., March 11, 2020 – Today, Caravan Health announced a new collaboration with WakeMed Health & Hospitals, a leading health system based in Raleigh, N.C., to provide patients greater value and access to care. WakeMed joins Caravan Health Collaborative Accountable Care Organization (ACO) – a value-based care model that delivers high quality, better-coordinated, more cost-effective care.
In an ACO, doctors, hospitals and health care providers work together to provide high quality care and improve cost efficiency. WakeMed and its Physician Practices join providers nationwide and Caravan Health to participate in the Medicare Shared Savings Program. By focusing on key population health initiatives that include prevention and coordination of care throughout the health care continuum, medical costs are controlled, and care is provided at greater value.
WakeMed brings more than 5,000 attributed lives to the collaborative ACO and 68 primary care providers. With one million patient visits each year, WakeMed is the largest provider of care in Wake County and home to three full-service, acute care hospitals as well as a dedicated Heart Center, Rehabilitation Hospital and other specialty facilities and physician practices.
“With a focus on providing quality and value-based care, we are pleased to join the Caravan Collaborative as the next step in our journey,” says Teresa Amerson, MD, WakeMed’s medical director for Primary Care. “We know that the best way for us to succeed in reducing costs is to work together. With a large Caravan collaborative ACO, we can learn from other health systems’ best practices and have comparative data to help us make even better decisions for our patients.”
Caravan Health-affiliated ACOs are national leaders in delivering quality and reducing total costs for Medicare, saving the program an average of $173 per patient each year, and returning more than $46 million directly to its providers. One key to this success is to build larger ACOs with more attributed lives to protect against normal fluctuations in health care costs. All ACOs will have to take on financial risk within the next few years. The best way for providers to succeed in value-based payment models is to work together and increase their collective scale.
“Caravan Health is looking forward to working closely with WakeMed in the coming years,” said Tim Gronniger, Caravan Health, CEO and President. “North Carolina has taken a leadership position in nationwide payment reform, and we’re excited to support one of the leading health systems in the region in its efforts to improve care for all of its patients.”