Study: Continued Advances Seen in Health Behaviors and Coordination of People's Care from Value-based Care Arrangements
March 05 2018 - 7:00AM
Business Wire
- Closed 50 million gaps in care from
2013 through 2017
- Nearly one in three UnitedHealthcare
plan participants now receive care from care providers in
value-based arrangements
- Value-based care is lowering costs –
nearly 20 percent fewer commercial plan participants require
hospital admissions when receiving care in an Accountable Care
Organization
UnitedHealthcare has released its second annual report detailing
how the continued shift to a value-based health care system is
encouraging better health and better care, and putting greater
focus on the total cost of care. According to the study,
UnitedHealthcare is seeing significant advances in people’s health
behaviors, better coordination of care among physicians and
facilities, and cost savings with care providers who have
implemented value-based arrangements.
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These arrangements focus on quality and using incentives to
reward better health and lower costs, rather than reimbursing care
providers based solely on the volume of services delivered. Among
the report’s key findings:
- Better Health: Accountable Care
Organizations (ACOs) serving employer-sponsored plan participants
perform better than non-ACOs on 87 percent of the quality metrics
tracked.
- Better Care: UnitedHealthcare
and care providers in value-based relationships worked together to
identify and close 50 million gaps in care from 2013 through
2017.
- Lower Costs: Hospital admission
rates are 17 percent lower for ACOs serving employer-sponsored and
individual plan participants compared to non-ACOs.
“Value-based care is creating a platform for positive change
throughout the health care system,” said Dr. Sam Ho, chief medical
officer of UnitedHealthcare. “Patients get more consistent, quality
care that is better coordinated and easier to navigate; health
plans and care providers are working together on behalf of patients
in new ways; and physicians are being rewarded for placing value
and quality over volume.”
Approximately 15 million people enrolled in UnitedHealthcare
plans currently seek care from care providers in value-based
arrangements. By comparing this sizable population to patients who
seek care from care providers not participating in any form of
value-based reimbursement, clear patterns have begun to emerge
illustrating the benefit of enhanced care coordination, placing
greater emphasis on keeping people healthy and rewarding care
providers for lowering the total cost of care.
The analysis also found that care providers are expanding the
amount and type of compensation that is tied to value-based
measures. Among Medicare ACOs working with UnitedHealthcare, over
the last year 20 percent have moved further along the risk
continuum, which means they are sharing a greater portion of the
responsibility for patients’ total care, including quality and
health care costs.
The report examines a broad portfolio of value-based programs
with more than 110,000 physicians and 1,100 hospitals that treat
people enrolled in UnitedHealthcare employer-sponsored, individual,
Medicare and Medicaid products.
To support care providers, UnitedHealthcare shares clear,
actionable data and analytics to improve the coordination of a
patient’s care and take the burden off patients to connect and
aggregate information from their various doctor visits and tests.
This helps reduce duplicative tests and costs, alerts physicians to
specific health events and changes in a patient’s treatment, and
promotes a team-based approach to patient care.
“When an organization like UnitedHealthcare shares these kinds
of unique insights with a trusted collaborator like Arizona Care
Network, you get rapid results,” said David Hanekom, CEO, Arizona
Care Network. “This is the kind of relationship that helps
transform our health care system.”
Arizona Care Network, which serves patients in Maricopa and
Pinal counties, was able to reduce its health care costs by
millions of dollars within the first two years of its ACO with
UnitedHealthcare, and patients requiring a hospital admission spent
25 percent less time in the hospital. Arizona Care Network also saw
a 30 percent increase in the number of UnitedHealthcare patients it
serves, thanks in part to the enhanced health care experience and
care coordination from the ACO.
Today, approximately $64 billion of the total annual payments
UnitedHealthcare makes to care providers is tied to value-based
arrangements, and the company continues to expect that to rise to
$75 billion by the end of 2020.
To download the full report, as well as infographics and
commentary from UnitedHealthcare leaders, visit
https://www.uhc.com/valuebasedcare.
About UnitedHealthcareUnitedHealthcare is dedicated to
helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the
health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs,
and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. The
company offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for
individuals, employers, military service members, retirees and
their families, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and
contracts directly with more than 1 million physicians and care
professionals, and 6,000 hospitals and other care facilities
nationwide. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of
UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and
well-being company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at
www.uhc.com or follow @UHC on Twitter.
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UnitedHealthcareKeely Brenno,
952-979-7301Keely_Brenno1@uhc.com
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