Louisville-based post-acute-care giantKindred Healthcare Inc. (NYSE: KND) has agreed to become a strategic partner and owner in Silver State Accountable Care Organization LLC in Las Vegas, Nevada.
An ACO is a group of doctors, hospitals and other health care providers that come together with a goal of delivering coordinated care to their Medicare patients, according to the release. When it delivers quality care and spends health care dollars more wisely, it can share in the savings it achieves for the Medicare program.
Silver State, which serves Medicare patients in southern Nevada, was formed in 2013. It was approved as an accountable care organization earlier this year by theU.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
About 150 primary care physicians and other health care providers participate in Silver State ACO. The organization will partner with Kindred’s Care Management Division to effectively manage patients’ experience across entire episode of care, the release.
I did a story in November about how Kindred is increasingly focused on care management. Las Vegas — referred to by Kindred as an integrated care market — is a key market for the company, with three transitional care hospitals, one hospital-based transitional care center, home health, hospice, and personal home care assistance services. And Kindred is building a transitional care center in the Las Vegas market that is scheduled to open by the third quarter of 2015.
“Kindred’s partnership with the Silver State ACO represents an important step in our strategy to leverage our care management capabilities and partner with primary care physicians to offer a full continuum of services in our integrated care markets throughout the country,” CEO Paul J. Diaz said in a news release. “This ACO experience will create value for patients and partner providers as the nation’s health care system continues to evolve and move from fee-for-service to pay-for-value.”
Date: May 8, 2014
Source: LouisvilleBuisnessFirst