Aiding Oregon’s first pediatric ACO

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Feb 06, 2018

For more than three years, we have partnered with Portland-based Children’s Health Alliance (CHA) on many facets of data management and analytics.

 

This large and specialized IPA, with 22 sites across the state of Washington delivering care to more than 140,000 patients, entered our relationship with a mission to establish evidence-based protocols with outcomes tracking, apply risk stratification and the closing of care gaps to visualize and understand patient data, and in a prescient move, begin establishing quality metrics.

 

Over time, through population segmentation and establishing registries, CHA first targeted asthma care and increased related well visits by more than 200 percent. Along the way ED visits fell by up to 40 percent below benchmarks.

Building a unique ACO

On January 19, it was announced that CHA will begin working with Providence Children’s Health and Providence Health & Services to form the first pediatric ACO in Oregon, initially to benefit 13,000 pediatric Medicaid beneficiaries.

 

Along with its own delivery capabilities, Providence provides Medicaid coverage in Oregon, and took over that task for these children from another of the state’s Coordinated Care Organizations.

 

As noted in the press release announcing this milestone, “The ACO is not only the first in Oregon that focuses exclusively on children – it’s one of only a few in the nation,” says Deborah Rumsey, executive director of CHA. “The goal of the ACO is to build upon high quality, comprehensive care to achieve more cohesive and streamlined health services.”

 

You can read the rest of the press release here.

A crucial vote on Medicaid coverage

Oregon has long been a pioneer in Medicaid expansion within the provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

 

But now, with federal matching funding being decreased, Oregon voters on January 23 voted overwhelmingly for a tax plan that would increase state Medicaid funding and enable the state to reach internal funding eligibility levels to obtain the federal matching dollars still available.

 

It was an important, timely and enlightened vote, from which Providence, CHA and the new ACO project will benefit from, not to mention the state’s vulnerable children. Even the hospitals being taxed supported the ballot initiative.

Putting our experience to the test

Going forward, we will help CHA and Providence with any data management, analysis and quality reporting needs to make the ACO a success.

 

Our experience with other customers such as CHRISTUS Health, which is in the process of merging multiple ACOs across state lines into a cohesive network, will come in handy.

 

We help CHRISTUS manage data for more than 70,000 beneficiaries housed in 25 disparate EHRs. By aggregating and normalizing that data, large systems can embark upon value-based care payment models by understanding the data and taking action where identified.

 

At Philips, we are excited about doing our part to make the CHA-Providence unique venture a success. It is so gratifying to work with a progressive and committed organization. Congratulations, Children’s Health Alliance!

About the author

Niki Buchanan

Niki Buchanan, 
General Manager & Business Leader, Philips

Niki Buchanan is General Manager & Business Leader for Philips PHM. A dynamic and versatile healthcare executive, Niki uses her distinctive customer satisfaction and product optimization methodology to lead improvements across the Health IT spectrum.

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