Buena Vida y Salud ACO Recognized for Outstanding Efforts in Value-based Care

BOSTON, Oct. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Buena Vida y Salud ACO was selected as a 2024 NAACOS Excellence Awards winner, receiving national recognition for outstanding efforts in value-based care. Dr. Sheila Magoon serves as the Executive Director of Buena Vida y Salud (BVyS) ACO and South Texas Physician Alliance in Harlingen, Texas. "Keeping patients healthy at home" is her mission and mantra; her BVyS clinical teams partnered with Health Data Analytics Institute (HDAI) to pioneer an AI-guided approach to patient targeting that yielded reductions in emergency department (ED) visits, unplanned hospital admissions, and costs over a 6-month period.

"We are pleased to share what we have learned with the broader ACO community." said Sheila Magoon, MD, Buena Vida y Salud ACO, "Predictive analytics helps us identify the subset of patients who will benefit from high-touch, high-frequency interventions that are timely, specific, and impactful, ultimately leading to better health outcomes for our patient populations."

Buena Vida y Salud's Healthy@Home program focuses on monitoring and predicting costly patient outcomes, such as unplanned hospitalizations, fall-related injuries, exacerbation of heart failure, or development of sepsis/pneumonia. The BVyS and HDAI collaborative program team identified patients needing checkups and screenings, high-risk patients requiring interventions, and recently discharged patients for follow-up appointments. BVyS was able to create and distribute actionable reports to their physician offices, boosting productivity, performance, and revenue.

This strategic partnership has enabled BVyS to significantly reduce the average number of ED visits by 33%, unplanned hospital admissions by 22%, and positively impact their ACO's financials by reducing overall claims dollars spent per ACO member per month (PMPM) for their high-risk patients. Patients in the advanced illness cohort experienced the greatest benefit from the high-touch care coordination program with a 41% reduction in unplanned hospitalizations and a 39.5% reduction in emergency ED visits.

"I cannot overstate the value of our partnership with HDAI. This award is truly for both of our organizations" Rafael Alvarez, COO of Buena Vida y Salud ACO states. "The HDAI team is insightful and quick to engage with us. We have learned and grown together by leveraging analytics, individual insight, and patient compassion."

"It has been a great partnership, and we very much appreciate all the work BVyS has done on the ground to leverage the technology and make a significant impact for patients." said Nassib Chamoun, Founder, President, and CEO of HDAI. "We are honored to support BVyS ACO in their mission to consistently deliver superior care to their patients, minimize unnecessary utilization, and support physicians in making the best clinical decisions."

About Buena Vida y Salud ACO
Buena Vida y Salud is an Accountable Care Organization formed through a partnership with community physicians and the South Texas Physician Alliance. Servicing rural and urban patients across Texas and Virginia, their goal is to unite independent physicians to provide patients quality, coordinated, and affordable healthcare. For more information, please visit: https://www.buenavidaysalud.com/.

About NAACOS
The National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) is a nonprofit, member-led and owned organization made up of over 400 ACOs founded to reduce healthcare costs and improve quality of patient care for Medicare ACO members. For more information, please visit: https://www.naacos.com.

About Health Data Analytics Institute (HDAI)
HDAI, a HealthTech company, has created the first Intelligent Health Management System, HealthVision™. Powered by predictive analytics and generative AI, HealthVision allows clinicians to work smarter, not harder, helping to fight clinician burnout, improve care coordination, and lower overall costs. For more information, please visit: www.hda-institute.com

Company contact: Carola Endicott, [email protected], 617-699-0725

SOURCE Health Data Analytics Institute