Blue Shield of California, AllCare Independent Physician Association and Doctors Medical Center of Modesto have announced a three-year accountable care initiative that will serve nearly 8,000 Blue Shield members in Stanislaus County.
The program will provide integrated, cost-efficient healthcare to Blue Shields HMO members that the three partners expect will result in little to no increase in health care costs for these members in 2012, and low single digit increases in 2013 and 2014.
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"This collaboration with AllCare and Doctors Medical Center is aimed at delivering high-quality coordinated care to Blue Shield members in the Central Valley. It's another milestone in our ongoing effort to transform how we provide and pay for care to make health coverage more affordable to all Californians," said Juan Davila, senior vice president of network management for Blue Shield of California.
In order to achieve the aggressive goals of the collaboration, the three organizations will implement long-term strategies aimed at improving quality and efficiency to include sharing clinical and case management information and coordinating comprehensive healthcare services. The organizations' incentives will be aligned to improve healthcare quality and patient service while reducing costs.
"This new collaboration is a logical extension of the quality care and economic value for which Tenet hospitals are known, and we're pleased to work with Blue Shield and AllCare to find new ways to increase the value of the medical services we provide," said COO Stephen L. Newman, MD, of Tenet Healthcare, which owns and operates Doctors Medical Center.
The accountable care initiative will launch January 1, 2012, and will continue for at least 36 months, though all three healthcare entities intend for the program to continue beyond the initial three-year window. Preliminary work is already underway at all three organizations as they eye the program's launch at the beginning of the year.