Florida Accountable Care Services (FACS) and UnitedHealthcare are launching an accountable care program to improve people's health and their satisfaction with their health care experience.
The joint effort, which goes live April 1, will focus largely on dedicating more resources to care coordination and making it easier to share important health information so that every doctor involved in a patient's care is supporting the same treatment plan.
UnitedHealthcare and FACS' accountable care program changes how people's medical care is paid for in Central Florida, moving away from a system that reimburses for quantity of services provided to one that rewards the quality of patients' health outcomes and has the potential to reduce overall costs.
More than 20,000 people enrolled in UnitedHealthcare's individual and employer-sponsored health plans are eligible to benefit from this collaboration.
FACS was created four years ago by independent physicians and other local health care experts to help Florida physicians manage and operate Accountable Care Organizations (ACO). More than 350 physicians, including primary care doctors and specialists, now belong to FACS, giving Central Florida residents access to a broad community of health care professionals. FACS gives physicians the tools, services and technical expertise needed to succeed as health care transitions to a performance-based system.
"We are excited to partner with UnitedHealthcare to apply our expertise in health care innovation and patient-centered programs to improve the health of their plan participants and advance toward overall population health management," said Dr. Sandeep Bajaj, founder and CEO of FACS. "Together, we expect to achieve even better health outcomes and improve patient satisfaction, while reducing the overall cost of care."
To mark the establishment of the ACO, FACS and UnitedHealthcare officials participated in a ribbon cutting celebrating the opening of the new Florida Emergent Care Center at FACS' Winter Park campus. The Emergent Care Center gives patients a convenient, lower cost alternative to the emergency room for many of their health care needs.
Many people who have gone to the doctor or hospital – particularly those with complex or chronic illnesses – have found they often have to connect information from each of their doctor's visits themselves, and have sometimes received duplicative tests or care that isn't coordinated.
Through this collaboration, UnitedHealthcare and FACS will work closely to better coordinate patients' care, using shared technology, real-time data and information about emergency room visits and hospital admissions, and services designed to help patients manage their chronic health conditions and encourage healthy lifestyles.
UnitedHealthcare will supplement FACS own data to help support overall population health, giving the entire care team clear, actionable data about individual patients' health needs, potential gaps in care and proactive identification of high-risk patients. Patient navigators may also be used to support community-based care coordination, such as helping with planning after a patient is discharged from the hospital and scheduling follow-up appointments.
"Thousands of UnitedHealthcare plan participants turn to physicians participating in Florida Accountable Care Services to receive quality, compassionate care, and with this new accountable care program we can help ensure that people receive more personalized and better connected care," said David Lewis, CEO of UnitedHealthcare of Central and North Florida. "Putting more resources into how their care is coordinated, and paying their care providers based on the quality of care and health outcomes, will significantly enhance people's ability to live healthier lives."
UnitedHealthcare serves nearly 3.4 million people across Florida with network of 255 hospitals and more than 43,500 physicians and other care providers statewide.
More than 13 million people enrolled in UnitedHealthcare plans across the country have access to accountable care programs, delivered in part through more than 750 accountable care arrangements nationwide as the organization engages in deeper, more collaborative relationships with physicians and hospitals.
Care providers nationwide are showing strong interest in a shift to value-based care. UnitedHealthcare's total payments to physicians and hospitals that are tied to value-based arrangements have tripled in the last three years to $45 billion. By the end of 2018, UnitedHealthcare expects that figure to reach $65 billion.
For more information about UnitedHealthcare's full spectrum of value-based initiatives, visit www.UHC.com/valuebasedcare.
About Florida Accountable Care Services
Based out of Orlando, Florida the FACS team is comprised of a diverse panel of Healthcare Industry Veterans and Expert Independent Physicians in Central Florida. For the past 7 years they have been involved in many facets of Value-Based Healthcare Models and have promoted the Independent Practice of Medicine. They have been highly successful in the Accountable Care Organization Program treating over 15,000 patients and saving over 14 Million dollars generating true value to their patients, fellow providers, and to the payers all along the I-4 Corridor and beyond. For more information visit, Florida Accountable Care Services at www.floridaaco.com .
About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare 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 @myUHC on Twitter.
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