Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance and UnitedHealthcare Collaborate to Improve Patient Care in North Texas

Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance (BSWQA) and UnitedHealthcare are collaborating to improve care coordination and enhance health services for more than 52,000 North Texas residents enrolled in UnitedHealthcare’s employer-sponsored health plans.

BSWQA is an Accountable Care Organization (ACO) established in 2011 as part of Baylor Scott & White Health’s strategy to improve health care delivery. BSWQA’s network of more than 3,800 primary and specialty care physicians, and 46 hospitals and post-acute care facilities will be available to people enrolled in UnitedHealthcare employer-sponsored health plans. BSWQA will leverage population health management, including care coordination, disease management, preventive health services, a health information exchange (HIE) and data analytics, to deliver a higher standard of quality care at lower costs.

The two organizations will help shift Texas’ health care system to one that rewards quality and value instead of the volume of procedures performed. BSWQA is one of 250 new accountable care programs UnitedHealthcare has committed to in 2015 as it engages in deeper, more collaborative relationships with physicians and hospitals across the country.

“We have collaborated with UnitedHealthcare to apply our expertise in health care innovation and patient-centered programs to improve North Texans’ health and well-being,” said Carl Couch, M.D., president of BSWQA. “Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance and UnitedHealthcare will combine proficiencies to meet our shared goals of improving quality, reducing cost and integrating clinical care for the people we serve.”

UnitedHealthcare will complement BSWQA’s established population health infrastructure with technology and actionable patient data, enabling physicians to take specific measures to improve quality and lower costs. Actionable data can include patient profiles, specific HEDIS gaps, and real-time information about Emergency Room (ER) and inpatient admissions. A team of care coordinators will support community-based care coordination, such as helping with transition plans after an individual is discharged from the hospital, scheduling follow-up appointments and closing care gaps.

Collaborating with health plan partners such as UnitedHealthcare enables BSWQA physicians to support a value-based health care model in which they receive payment incentives for achieving total cost savings by meeting certain evidence-based measures, such as disease management, primary care screenings and patient safety.

“Our relationship with Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance is helping improve our plan participants’ access to quality care while working to lower costs,” said Tom Quirk, CEO, UnitedHealthcare of Texas. “Our shared effort illustrates the deep relationships we are building with North Texas care providers to enhance health services and improve the coordination of care.”

UnitedHealthcare employer-sponsored plan participants who currently receive care from BSWQA’s affiliated care providers will not have to do anything differently to benefit from this new relationship.

Care providers nationwide are showing a strong interest in a shift to value-based care. UnitedHealthcare’s total payments to physicians and hospitals that are tied to value-based arrangements have nearly tripled in the last three years, to approximately $36 billion. By the end of 2018, UnitedHealthcare expects that figure to reach $65 billion.

UnitedHealthcare has more than 520 active Accountable Care Programs today. For more information about UnitedHealthcare’s full spectrum of value-based initiatives, visit www.AccountableCareAnswers.com.

UnitedHealthcare serves nearly million Texans with a care provider network of 516 hospitals and more than 53,000 care providers statewide.

About Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance
BSWQA is an organization committed to delivering high quality health care, in an efficient, integrated manner for the patients and communities it serves. Through its dedication to collaboration and accountability, BSWQA has quickly emerged as a leader in the industry for creating a care system that is more integrated, coordinated, and accountable; one that strives to deliver the right care, at the right place, and at the right time. Through its accountable, evidence-based, collective, proactive, value-driven efforts BSWQA is a model for a better health care system for the future. Covering the North and Central Texas regions, BSWQA is a comprehensive accountable care network comprised of more than 3,800 primary and specialty care physicians, 46 hospitals, post-acute care facilities, and other stakeholders throughout the care continuum, assuming joint responsibility for achieving the Triple Aim™ framework: Better Care, Better Health, Better Value. For more information visit www.baylorqualityalliance.com

About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, military service members, retirees and their families, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 850,000 physicians and care professionals, and 6,000 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. Globally, UnitedHealthcare serves 45 million people in health benefits and is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or follow @myUHC on Twitter.

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Contacts:

UnitedHealthcare
Kim Whitaker, 469-633-8536
kim_t_whitaker@uhc.com
or
Baylor Scott & White Health
Nikki Mitchell, 214-820-6961
NikkiMit@BaylorHealth.edu

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