Health insurer Highmark Inc. in January will roll out a benefit plan option that rewards members for seeing doctors who participate in the insurer’s quality care initiatives.
Employers will have the option of offering employees reduced office visit co-pays in exchange for seeing doctors who offer care through the patient-centered medical home model or who participate in Highmark’sAccountable Care Alliance. Highmark has long rewarded doctors for meeting quality care metrics, but the patient incentive is a first for the downtown insurer.
Doctors use a team approach to treat patients in the medical home model, providing a range of chronic disease management aids that an individual doctor would struggle to provide alone. Studies have shown the model to be more effective in managing the patient’s overall health than the conventional doctor-patient relationship.
The plan option is a new tool in directing members to doctors and hospitals that participate in the insurer’s quality care programs. Doctors can already receive up to $27 per patient in incentives for participating in the insurer’s quality care programs.
Date: October 01, 2014