Budding ACO Selects Insurance Collaborator To Help Drive Quality Care

By Wendy Grafius, contributing writer

Noble Health Alliance (Noble), a partnership of four Pennsylvania health systems, has selected Independence Blue Cross (Independence) as administrator of the self-insured medical benefits plans for Noble’s 39,000 employees and dependents. Additionally, Independence will be the preferred health insurer for the Accountable Care Organization (ACO) planned to support clinically integrated care through Noble’s partners.

Formed in 2013 by Abington Health, Aria Health, Crozer-Keystone Health System and Einstein Healthcare Network, Noble is a collaborative designed to improve the health of families in the Philadelphia area through the delivery of coordinated care. Selecting Independence to manage the healthcare of the four health systems’ employees and dependents satisfies Noble’s first phase of its initiative.

“With Independence Blue Cross, we are collaborating with the region’s preferred health insurer, an organization that shares our goal of improving both the quality and efficiency of healthcare, and is highly regarded by the same communities served by the hospitals in the Noble Health Alliance,” said Patrick R. Young, chairman and CEO of Noble Health Alliance. “We are excited about the opportunities this collaboration presents for our physicians, employees, patients, and health systems.”

Noble and Independence will also collaborate on the formation of an ACO designed to provide better, more efficient, and quality-driven care. “We look forward to working with Noble leaders to create a dynamic and successful ACO strategy by sharing what we’ve learned and successes from our ACO payment model, which is beginning to show meaningful results in improving the quality and efficiency of care among many health systems and hospitals in our region,” said Daniel J. Hilferty, president and CEO of Independence.

Touted as a groundbreaking effort to coordinate care in a five-county area of southeastern Pennsylvania, the 2013 formation of Noble brought four independent health systems together with the goal of improving the health of their populations while remaining attuned to needs of their local communities. The four member health systems include 15 hospitals and more than 4,600 physicians and other providers.

SOURCE: Business Wire