A top-performing MSSP in 2014, the Memorial Hermann ACO has successfully engaged its Complex Care population via a collaborative care coordination approach.
The Memorial Hermann ACO may have been one of 2014’s top-performing Medicare Shared Savings Programs (MSSPs), but the health system’s commitment to achieving quality outcomes was solidified more than eight years ago, when its own physicians asked for a clinically integrated physician network.
Memorial Hermann complied, developing a set of tools, training and care models to not only support the physicians but also reflect payors’ needs: chief among them, initiatives that could boost patient engagement.
Today, the Memorial Hermann ACO has a patient-centered care delivery strategy built on teamwork and collaboration. The Texas ACO is proud to point to a patient engagement rate of 74 percent for individuals enrolled in Complex Care, an initiative for individuals with long-term, multiple chronic conditions that has significantly reduced cost and hospital lengths of stay for participants.
This patient engagement measure represents members who consent to participate in the program and remain engaged for 30 days, explained Mary Folladori, RN, MSN, FACM, CMAC, system director of care management at Memorial Hermann Physician Network and ACO, during Care Coordination in an ACO: Managing the Population Health Continuum from Wellness to End-of-Life, a September 2015 webinar from the Healthcare Intelligence Network now available for replay.
Ms. Folladori provided an overview of the ACO’s care coordination strategy that in 2014 generated savings of nearly $53 million in the MSSP program, resulting in a health system payout of almost $23 million. The ACO’s performance earned Memorial Hermann a MSSP quality score of 88 percent.
Some high points from Memorial Hermann’s ACO strategy include the following:
- Embedding of care coordinators into the ‘micro culture’ of a physician practice, its community and the members served by the practice;
- Strategic use of a data warehouse to identify vulnerable members early and link them with needed health services;
- Development of comprehensive risk scores derived from multiple sources for Complex Care patients; and
- Creation of longitudinal care plans that follow Complex Care patients for up to 18 months and help to transition them back to a baseline level of functioning.
In wrapping up observations on Memorial Hermann’s quality-driven approach, Ms. Folladori quoted its CEO, Chris Lloyd: “The success that has been found within our ACO is deeply based on a collaborative approach to care. It has been cultivated over eight years with our commitment to clinical integration. We all strongly believe that without that strong clinically integrated physician network, without our physicians driving those quality outcomes, we would not have been as successful as we have.”
With so much emphasis on quality and outcomes, it’s no wonder participation today in the Memorial Hermann ACO is by invitation only—and only after a practice has passed an assessment.
Though supporting technologies may vary, most healthcare organizations develop detailed, evidence-based, sharable care plans that follow high-risk patients through clinical episodes and transitions of care, with the goal of enhancing care quality and engagement and reducing spend, according to the 2015 Care Plans survey by the Healthcare Intelligence Network.
Detailed evidence-based care plans that follow high-risk patients through clinical episodes and transitions of care help these patients and their providers assess the level of care needed, evaluate services available and empower patients with goals of care, a strategy that impacts quality, outcomes and patient experience and engagement.
