Value-Based Care Platform to Bolster Population Health Partnership

January 26, 2023 - The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst) will leverage Curation Health’s risk adjustment platform to improve population health and reduce the cost of care through value-based care programs.

According to the press release, the three organizations will collaborate on a pilot program that builds on CareFirst and UMMS’ existing partnership to improve care access, quality, and delivery. The pilot will see primary care providers at the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Group using the Curation Health platform to improve their workflows.

"A large portion of our physicians' workday is spent managing administrative tasks," said Stephanie Selby, vice president of clinical operations at UMMS, in the press release. "We expect that implementing technology-focused solutions such as the Curation Health platform will help lessen the amount of time that physicians need to spend on these administrative tasks, allowing them to focus on what's most important—their patient's care."

The press release states that the platform works by integrating clinically relevant data from various sources into point-of-care workflow tools, which can help close clinical and quality gaps. By providing physicians access to synthesized, relevant insights, the tool could enable them to spend more time on care delivery and building patient relationships.

The partnership will also utilize CareFirst's expertise in provider and population performance measurement to support UMMS’ efforts, allowing the health system to better position its practices and hospitals for clinical integration and population health initiatives, the press release notes. In doing so, the two organizations aim to improve performance on clinical outcomes, quality, affordability, and patient experience metrics for their shared patients and members.

"This collaboration supports our shared goal to identify barriers to access for quality healthcare in our region," said Tich Changamire, MD, PhD, chief medical officer at CareFirst, in the press release. "The gained insights will guide creative and impactful ways to empower patients at greatest risk while improving the overall health and wellness of the region we serve."

Other collaborations are also leveraging analytics platforms to support their population health efforts.

This week, Nashville, Tennessee-based Evergreen Nephrology shared that it would leverage Innovaccer’s Health Cloud platform to optimize value-based care management and delivery for its patients with kidney disease.

Using the platform, Evergreen aims to enhance kidney care across its network of nephrology practices through analytics, care management, physician and patient engagement, and referral management. This will allow Evergreen to unify clinical, claims, utilization, and other data within EHRs and IT systems across its network to create longitudinal patient records.

These records will be used to identify and stratify patients who need interventions, drive digital outreach for engagement, streamline care management and coordination to improve the care experience, reduce costs, and close care gaps at the point of care.