The Bassett Healthcare Network is staking its future on a trendy health care buzz phrase: population health management.
In a nutshell, that means health care providers work together to keep area residents healthier; to give them better, more effective health care when they’re sick or injured; and to keep overall costs down.
“Historically most health systems have done good periodic, episodic care (of the sick),” said Dr. Vance Brown, Bassett president and CEO. “It’s all in the white space in between where we’ve failed.”
Health care providers across the region, state and country – including in Oneida County — are dabbling in population health management to varying degrees, encouraged by state and federal programs pushing the concept.
Bassett has leaped into the trend with a federal accountable care organization, a state performing provider system and a health plan in partnership with a local insurer.
“Our future, I think, overall is to be an exemplar in improving the population’s health,” Brown said. “That’s the underlying goal of what, I think, a health care system should be.”
The payoff for patients should be better care, faster access, greater participation in decision making and better coordination across kinds of care, Brown said. But more will also be expected of them.
“Our population needs to be more actively engaged in its own self care,” Brown said.
Here are some ways in which Bassett has taken on population health management:
– Starting this year, it is a Medicare accountable care organization. This means that Bassett is eligible for extra payments if it coordinates care well for its Medicare patients and saves money.
– As lead agency in a 90-agency performing provider system applying for local projects funds through the state’s $6.42 billion Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment program.
– With health plans for area residents – in partnership with Excellus BlueCross BlueShield – started in 2014 and expanded this year. Through these plans, Bassett takes on some of the financial risks of caring for a pool of patients.
– With programs aimed at improving the region’s health, including the New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health, a network of school-based health centers and a healthy lifestyle program for kids, called Let’s Go 5-2-1-0.
Date: February 21, 2015