HACKENSACK, N.J., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Regional
Cancer Care Associates (RCCA) and Aetna (NYSE: AET) announced a
collaboration to create an oncology medical home that is designed
to improve the care experience for cancer patients.
In the oncology medical home model, teams of cancer specialists
collectively provide a patient's health care when he or she has a
cancer diagnosis. The model will give RCCA the responsibility to
arrange appropriate care that is continuous and proactive and
physicians will be incentivized for improved health, affordability
and a better patient experience.
The oncology medical home arrangement will be available to
patients at all RCCA locations in New
Jersey and Maryland.
"RCCA is excited to partner with Aetna on this program. It
aligns with our vision of providing patient centered care close to
home," said Terrill Jordan, RCCA
President & CEO. "This partnership will not only enable us to
continue the delivery of high quality care through reduced side
effects, but will also facilitate cost effective care based on the
data Aetna will be sharing," said Michael
Ruiz de Somocurcio, RCCA Vice President of Payer and
Provider Collaboration.
The model is part of a strategic direction to transition from
fee-for-service medicine to value-based payment. Value-based
arrangements are emerging as a solution to address rising health
care costs, clinical inefficiency, duplication of services, and
access to care. In value-based models, doctors and hospitals are
paid for helping to keep people healthy and for improving the
health of those who have chronic conditions in an evidence-based,
cost-effective way.
"We understand that cancer treatment can be the hardest
experience that our members will ever have to go through," said
Daniel Knecht, M.D., M.B.A., Aetna's
Head of Strategy & Planning and Interim Head of Oncology
Solutions. "This oncology medical home with RCCA will help provide
our members with high-quality care and an optimal patient
experience."
The operating principles of the RCCA and Aetna oncology medical
home include:
- An orientation to the whole person. A personal
physician from RCCA will be responsible for providing or arranging
all of a patient's health care needs with other qualified
professionals. This includes care for all stages of treatment:
preventive services, acute care, chronic care, palliative care and
end-of-life care.
- Evidence-based, personalized medical care. The RCCA
team will focus on making treatment decisions based on current
medical evidence for each unique disease presentation,
patient-specific factors and patient choice using appropriate
treatments to improve quality and outcomes.
- Coordinated and integrated care. Care will be
facilitated, across all elements of the health system, to enable
Aetna members to get the appropriate care when and where it is
needed and wanted, in a culturally and linguistically appropriate
manner.
- Quality and safety. Quality and safety will be a
focus of care, including the use of evidence-based medicine,
clinical decision support tools and accountability for continuous
quality improvement.
- Enhanced access to care. Care will be available
through systems such as open scheduling, expanded hours and new
options for communication between Aetna members, their personal
physicians and hospital staff.
The oncology medical home arrangement launched in September 2016.
About RCCA
Regional Cancer Care Associates (RCCA), one
of the largest oncology physician networks in the United States, is transforming oncology
care by ensuring that cancer patients have access to the
highest-quality, most-comprehensive, cutting edge treatments in a
compassionate and community-based setting. RCCA includes 100 cancer
care specialists and is supported by 700 employees at 27 care
delivery sites, providing care to more than 23,000 new patients
annually and over 230,000 existing patients in New Jersey, Maryland and Washington DC. For more information visit:
http://www.RCCA.com.
About Aetna
Aetna is one of the nation's leading
diversified health care benefits companies, serving an estimated
46.3 million people with information and resources to help them
make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna
offers a broad range of traditional, voluntary and
consumer-directed health insurance products and related services,
including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life
and disability plans, and medical management capabilities, Medicaid
health care management services, workers' compensation
administrative services and health information technology products
and services. Aetna's customers include employer groups,
individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health
plans, health care providers, governmental units,
government-sponsored plans, labor groups and expatriates. For more
information, see www.aetna.com and learn about how Aetna is helping
to build a healthier world. @AetnaNews
Media Contact: Bryan
Soltes
973-714-7904
bsoltes@regionalcancercare.org
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SOURCE Regional Cancer Care Associates