Franciscan ACO Touts Savings
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowAn accountable care organization serving Medicare beneficiaries in south-central Indiana says it achieved more than $13 million in cost savings in 2012. Franciscan Alliance ACO officials say the organization will receive more than $6 million to be split among participating hospitals and doctors. ACOs are designed to increase the quality of care for Medicare recipients, while reducing costs. July 19, 2013
News Release
INDIANAPOLIS – Franciscan Alliance Accountable Care Organization today (July 16) announced it achieved $13.3 million in cost savings in 2012 as a Pioneer Accountable Care Organization.
As part of the first-year savings and its agreement with Medicare, Franciscan Alliance ACO will receive $6.6 million, nearly half of the achieved cost savings. The shared savings will be split among the hospitals and physicians participating in the program in 2012.
With hospitals in Indianapolis, Mooresville and Carmel and care providers throughout central Indiana, Franciscan Alliance ACO serves more than 20,000 Medicare beneficiaries in south-central Indiana. The Franciscan Alliance ACO works with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide Medicare beneficiaries with higher quality care while reducing growth in Medicare expenditures through enhanced care coordination.
The Franciscan Alliance ACO worked with hospitals, physicians and other community care providers to improve communication and information sharing about its patients. Among the programs instituted to achieve these cost savings are a critical care case management program, a continuing care network with long-term acute care facilities and dedicated chronic disease case managers.
“We are pleased with the results of these cost savings and the level of service we deliver to our patients,” said Jennifer Westfall, regional vice president for Franciscan ACO. “The ACO model encourages organizations such as hospitals, physician practices and other health care providers to collaborate closely, thus bringing down the overall costs of medical care.”
The Pioneer ACO Model is not the health system’s only ACO formation. In July 2012 the Franciscan Alliance and American Health Network ACO was created and serves about 28,000 Medicare patients in central Indiana, providing primary and a variety of specialty care services. That same year, the Pioneer ACO was expanded to Franciscan Alliance’s Northern Indiana Region.
Early in 2013, Franciscan Alliance and Union Hospital of Terre Haute established Franciscan Union ACO, serving 14,000 patients primarily residing in west-central Indiana. Plans also are under way to expand the ACO model to Franciscan Alliance’s Northern Indiana and Western Indiana regions later this year.
“Medicare ACOs are a key strategy for Franciscan Alliance to help reform our delivery system,” said Jay Brehm, senior vice president of Strategic Planning and Business Development. “This is particularly critical as we move away from fee-for-service medicine toward a system focused on creating greater value for patients and bettering population health.”
About Franciscan Alliance ACO
The Franciscan Alliance Accountable Care Organization (ACO) was formed in December 2011 and is the only Pioneer Accountable Care Organization in Indiana. Formed by a partnership with Franciscan St. Francis Health hospitals in Indianapolis, Carmel and Mooresville, Major Hospital, Rush Memorial Hospital, Fairbanks and other affiliated physician groups, the ACO serves more than 20,000 Medicare patients in Indianapolis and central Indiana.
As one in a diverse group of leading-edge health care organizations from around the country, Franciscan Alliance was chosen specifically by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to test the effectiveness of several models of payment in helping organizations make a rapid transition to higher quality care at a lower cost to Medicare. The ACO works with CMS to provide Medicare beneficiaries with higher quality care while reducing growth in Medicare expenditures through enhanced care coordination.
Source: Franciscan Alliance