HealthCare Partners Saves $1.8 million in Anthem Blue Cross Enhanced Personal Health Care Program

Second Time Company's Commercial Accountable Care Organization Receives Savings from Coordinated Care

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Jun 01, 2015, 01:05 ET

TORRANCE, Calif., June 1, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- HealthCare Partners, a division of DaVita HealthCare Partners, is pleased to announce it has produced $1.8 million in savings as a result of its participation in the Enhanced Personal Health Care program (EPHC), a commercial Accountable Care Organization (ACO) formed by Anthem Blue Cross (Anthem). These savings were achieved from July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014, EPHC's first performance year.

The EPHC program focuses on fully insured PPO members with two or more chronic conditions, which research shows can most effectively be helped by coordinated care. While these members can see physicians outside of the ACO, HealthCare Partners offers access to a personalized health team that includes a doctor and access to the HealthCare Partners ACO Unit.

"HealthCare Partners and Anthem have again proven that a commercial ACO can be effective if focused on meeting high quality and utilization outcomes, regardless of the reimbursement model," said Dinesh Kumar, M.D., chief medical officer, HealthCare Partners California. "This trusted model of care continues to promote an efficient and coordinated approach to our patients with complex care needs, further encouraging medical and financial transparency."

The HealthCare Partners ACO Unit's dedicated staff of care managers and care coordinators conduct health risk assessments, identify hospitalized ACO patients, coordinate transitions of care, and ensure patient care and healthcare resources are accessible. In addition, HealthCare Partners extends medical management programs to EPHC program patients, such as disease management, specialized high risk programs, home care and palliative care programs.

The $1.8 million savings were driven by meeting 100 percent of the quality measures, which included preventive screenings for breast cancer, and enhanced management of chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease as measured by the nationally recognized Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS). Additionally, HealthCare Partners improved utilization metrics by reducing hospital admissions and average length of inpatient stays, plus it increased generic prescription rates.

Some of the notable quality scores achieved by HealthCare Partners in the EPHC program, as measured against the HEDIS benchmarks are listed below:


Quality Measures	HealthCare Partners Baseline Rate*	Anthem Quality Benchmark
Diabetes nephropathy screening	94.83%	84.16%
Cholesterol mgmt. for heart disease patients	92.41%	82.22%
Breast cancer screening	100%	70.20%
Pharyngitis appropriate testing/pediatrics	80%	69.38%
*Based on Anthem average of 42,000 members for the performance period.

According to a report from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health, there are approximately 700 ACOs in the United States. California leads the nation with 67 ACOs, a number that has more than doubled since August 2012. HealthCare Partners is the largest commercial ACO in California.

About DaVita HealthCare Partners

DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc., a Fortune 500® company, is the parent company of DaVita Kidney Care and HealthCare Partners. DaVita Kidney Care is a leading provider of kidney care in the United States, delivering dialysis services to patients with chronic kidney failure and end stage renal disease. As of March 31, 2015, DaVita Kidney Care operated or provided administrative services at 2,197 outpatient dialysis centers located in the United States serving approximately 174,000 patients. The company also operated 93 outpatient dialysis centers located in 10 countries outside the United States. HealthCare Partners manages and operates medical groups and affiliated physician networks in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Florida and Colorado in its pursuit to deliver excellent-quality health care in a dignified and compassionate manner. As of March 31, 2015 HealthCare Partners provided integrated care management for approximately 830,000 patients. For more information, please visit DaVitaHealthCarePartners.com.