A new academic research consortium has been established to study healthcare and consumer engagement pilot programs in New Jersey. The consortium is between Horizon Healthcare Innovations (HHI), a subsidiary of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (HBCBSNJ) and the University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University, Harvard School of Public Health and Carnegie Mellon University.
HHI's purpose is to develop pilots that reform the healthcare delivery system in New Jersey. The consortium's role is to provide independent analysis of those pilots and to help with pilot design.
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"The consortium is really a third party, (an) independent body that will really help validate all that we would put into a model that will work that we can expand to our 3.6 million covered members through our Blue system in New Jersey," said Thomas Vincz, HBCBSNJ public relations manager. "We're quite confident that they will, through their recommendations, really do a good job of helping doctors do their job better and to help their patients recover from their conditions and to overall improve the healthcare system in New Jersey."
"We really want that independent voice that (is) so critical and could really lend the appropriate credibility and really give these pilots the attention that they deserve," said Carl Rathjen, HHI strategic relationships and external affairs manager.
"These folks know what's been done in the past. They know what works, what doesn't work and so we're sort of using them as a sounding board and a way to bring more ideas to the table to help us, basically, have better chances or higher likelihood of producing those improved results around quality, cost and patient experience," he explained.
HHI was created at the end of 2010 and just began putting pilots into operation at the start of this year. Pilots that are running currently include patient-centered medical home and episode of care models. Others are in development.
HHI expects that consortium studies of its pilots may be available within a year said Rathjen, and the results will be shared with the healthcare community.
"What if we create those positive results in which we're improving quality and by improving quality we're reducing costs? We absolutely want to share that with as many folks as possible," he said. "Even if they're not positive results, we're clearly going to learn something from those results. That'll still enable us to create a more effective and efficient healthcare system. . . . It's a learning experience not only for us but for other plans and other providers out there who are going to start doing similar things."