Wilmington Health provides the best value among Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) across the country, said practice officials pointing to data collected and analyzed by Medicare.
 
Wilmington Health’s top ranking in overall value was determined using a combination of its second-place ranking in overall quality and fifth-place ranking in overall cost containment among 106 ACOs from across the country, according to a recent news release from the health group.
 
As a participant in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), ACOs are committed to improving the overall patient experience and quality while reducing the cost of care provided to patients, Wilmington Health CEO Jeff James said in the release.
 
“This is especially rewarding because it is in keeping with our vision to demonstrate quality, reduce the cost of care and improve the patient experience,” James said.
 
In January 2013, Wilmington Health became a participant in MSSP through its ACO Physicians Healthcare Collaborative, a subsidiary of Wilmington Health. In addition to MSSP, Wilmington Health has an ACO partnership with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina.
 
“The publication of this data is also another step towards transparency in the healthcare system,” James said. “As transparency takes hold, we expect the entire health care community in Wilmington to compare very well to the rest of the nation.”
 
James said the goal of Wilmington Health “is to work with our partners to transform Wilmington into a destination for healthcare. While there is still a great deal for us and our partners to do, this data indicates we are on the right track.”
 
In late 2014, Wilmington Health received data that showed a three-year trend of substantial savings to the Medicare system and improved health care outcomes for patients seen by Wilmington Health providers versus other health care providers across the country.
 
The data was collected and analyzed from the past three years worth of Medicare participants’ claims.
 
Examples of quality measures from the Medicare data included areas such as lower patient hospitalization rates, lower emergency department visit rates and lower 30-day hospital readmission rates.
 
“Using the powerful analytical capabilities of our Electronic Health Record, we have been measuring our quality outcomes,” said Jonathan Hines, Wilmington Health’s chief medical officer. “By analyzing gaps in care, implementing measures to more proactively change the delivery of care and actively engaging the patients in their health, we have already been able to make significant changes in the lives of the patients we serve.”
 
In addition to tracking patient outcomes data, Medicare also provides data on the cost of the care delivered to each Medicare recipient covered under Wilmington Health’s ACO.
 
In 2013, Wilmington Health showed an average total yearly expenditure by a Medicare patient at $7,654, down 4 percent from the organization’s 2010 numbers and $2,081 less than all other recent MSSP participants, a cumulative 21 percent savings, Hines said.
 
James said that Wilmington Health, along with its Physicians Healthcare Collaborative (PHC), is working to expand its reach by forming partnerships with local health care groups. As an MSSP participant, PHC is required to report to the public the impact of activities implemented to make health care system improvements.