Aledade, Inc. and Florida Blue today announced a new agreement to bring high quality, affordable health care to Florida patients. Aledade's physicianled Accountable Care Organization (ACO) in Florida will expand to provide care and care management for Floridians covered by Florida Blue plans. Aledade ACO practices focus on delivering preventive care, reducing unnecessary or repetitive care, and coordinating patients care throughout the health care system.
The Aledade Florida ACO includes leading primary care practices in the greater Orlando area who will be accountable for the total health care experience of Florida Blue members attributed to their practices. The ACO already provides value-based care to 11,790 Medicare beneficiaries. This is Aledade's third commercial contract.
"This unique partnership further benefits Floridians looking for quality, affordable care," said Dr. Farzad Mostashari, CEO and co-founder of Aledade. "We are impressed with Florida Blue's commitment to partnering with local physicians to advance innovative value-based health care delivery across all patient populations."
Aledade offers a new model of primary care by partnering with physicians to build and lead ACOs - networks of physicians who band together to deliver coordinated care to patients. The Aledade model operates under a value-based payment structure that rewards positive health outcomes for patients, instead of the volume of health care services delivered. Aledade ACOs allow doctors to stay independent, practice medicine like they have always wanted to, and thrive by keeping people healthy.
"Florida Blue is excited to develop an accountable care relationship with Aledade and its integrated network of independent primary care physicians," said Kirk Fischer, vice president of Delivery System for Florida Blue. "Our goal with these relationships is to ensure members receive high quality, cost effective care while reducing hospital readmissions, eliminating unnecessary emergency room visits and eliminating duplication of services."
A leader in the state's health care industry, Florida Blue has value-based arrangements with over 56 hospitals and more than 11,500 physicians, including 24 accountable care agreements.
Florida Blue will provide the ACO with expertise and experience in care management and quality improvement, as well as comprehensive patient care data. This gives the ACO's physicians the ability to see beyond the walls of their practice for a comprehensive view of their patients' health, empowering the physicians to provide more seamless care. Through this agreement, Aledade and Florida Blue will strive to create value in health care by improving the quality and reducing the cost of health care for Florida patients.
Aledade's partnership with Florida Blue also represents an opportunity for doctors in Florida.
"This partnership allows independent primary care practices in Florida to take advantage of value-based opportunities with Florida Blue that have previously only been available to the largest physician networks and hospital providers. By joining us, they can remain independent but share in the upside of reducing health care costs, while never losing sight of the foundational goal to provide the best in health care quality and value to their patients," said Emily Maxson, Medical Director at Aledade.
In its ACOs, Aledade provides primary care physicians with unparalleled regulatory expertise; best practices from a national network of hundreds of primary care doctors; user-friendly technology and data analytics that provide visibility into the spectrum of care their patients receive outside their office; and face-to-face practice transformation support.
Since its founding in June 2014, Aledade has grown significantly, partnering with more than 110 practices across 11 states, covering more than 100,000 patients and taking accountability for nearly a billion dollars of annual medical costs. New data shows that, in 2015, Aledade ACO practices on average increased preventive care visits by 251 percent and increased transitional care services by 175 percent, which lowered hospital readmission rates. Aledade ACOs also had a $51,000 average increase in practice revenue in 2015.
All Aledade practices offer same or next day appointments for patients with urgent needs, and 95 percent of Aledade physician partners provide 24 hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week patient access to an on-call doctor. All new and existing ACOs manage these cornerstones of care through Aledade's proprietary, cloud-based technology and analytics platform.
