Physicians Band Together To Form Clinically Integrated Network
By Wendy Grafius, contributing writer
Michigan-based clinically integrated network formed to transform care in population health management.
Michigan physicians – along with the state’s leading health systems, Ascension Health, and CHE Trinity Health – have collaborated to form Together Health Network, a clinically integrated network of providers. This LLC is designed to improve access, cost, and the quality of healthcare for residents across the state.
In response to demands from payers and employers, physicians and leaders from the two health systems sought to create a continuum of value-based care to keep Michigan’s residents healthy, as opposed to focusing solely on episodic care. “Population health management is first and foremost what our physicians and hospitals work together to do every day, starting with the individual patients they care for and working collaboratively to improve the health of the communities of people they serve,” said Scott Eathorne, M.D., an architect of Together Health Network and president of Partners in Care, one of Michigan’s largest physician-hospital organizations. “Who better to operate a network devoted to improving population health than the provider community itself?”
Indeed, the Together Health Network’s leadership will be physician-led: CEO, board, and committees. “In some ways, Together Health turns the tables on the ‘usual’ structure of healthcare delivery models,” said Paul Harkaway, M.D., steering committee member of Together Health Network and senior VP of clinical integration at CHE Trinity Health. “Physicians make the care delivery decisions that provide the best care and value to patients and their insurance providers. Our respective health systems are more or less the silent partners ensuring a robust continuum of services to support the care.”
The clinically integrated network will work with payers in the development of various health plan products, including those offered on the Health Insurance Marketplace and from private exchanges, to give better choices to Michigan’s citizens. And greater access to value-based healthcare will result from the immediate geographic presence throughout most of Michigan that the collaboration with CHE Trinity Health and Ascension Health Michigan provides.
Livonia-based CHE Trinity serves 31 counties with 13 hospitals, and numerous ambulatory facilities, nursing homes and senior living communities, home healthcare agencies, and hospices. And, the Michigan Health Ministries of Ascension Health includes 14 hospitals and a multitude of outpatient facilities operated by Borgess Health in Kalamazoo, Genesys Health System in Grand Blanc, St. John Providence Health System in Metro Detroit, St. Joseph Health System in Tawas, and St. Mary’s of Michigan in Saginaw. The Together Health Network estimates that 75 percent of the state’s residents will be within 20 minutes of the network’s providers.
“We believe this one-of-a-kind collaboration between two of the state’s largest healthcare organizations will set a new standard for providing value-based healthcare in Michigan,” said Patricia Maryland, Dr. PH, CEO and president of health care operations at Ascension Health. “Both Ascension and CHE Trinity Health have been performing at benchmark levels in terms of quality, while at the same time delivering care at cost levels well below the state average. This collaboration will allow us to combine our outstanding performances in terms of cost and quality into one state-wide product unlike any other.”
SOURCE: PRWeb