Patient Engagement for Medicare Shared Savings Program's Complex Population

Longitudinal Care Plans, Risk Scores Raise
Patient Engagement for MSSP ACO's Complex Population

The Memorial Hermann ACO may have been one of 2014's top-performing Medicare Shared Savings Programs (MSSPs), but the health system's commitment to achieving quality outcomes was solidified more than eight years ago, when its own physicians asked for a clinically integrated physician network.

Memorial Hermann complied, developing a set of tools, training and care models to not only support the physicians but also reflect payors' needs: chief among them, initiatives that could boost patient engagement.

Today, the Memorial Hermann ACO has a patient-centered care delivery strategy built on teamwork and collaboration. The Texas ACO is proud to point to a patient engagement rate of 74 percent for individuals enrolled in Complex Care, an initiative for individuals with long-term, multiple chronic conditions that has significantly reduced cost and hospital lengths of stay for participants.

This patient engagement measure represents members who consent to participate in the program and remain engaged for 30 days, explained Mary Folladori, RN, MSN, FACM, CMAC, system director of care management at Memorial Hermann Physician Network and ACO, during Care Coordination in an ACO: Managing the Population Health Continuum from Wellness to End-of-Life, a September 2015 webinar from the Healthcare Intelligence Network now available for replay.

Mary Folladori

Ms. Folladori provided an overview of the ACO's care coordination strategy that in 2014 generated savings of nearly $53 million in the MSSP program, resulting in a health system payout of almost $23 million. The ACO's performance earned Memorial Hermann a MSSP quality score of 88 percent.

Some high points from Memorial Hermann's ACO strategy include the following:

  • Embedding care coordinators into the 'micro culture' of a physician practice, its community and the members served by the practice;
  • Strategic use of a data warehouse to identify vulnerable members early and link them with needed health services;
  • Development of comprehensive risk scores derived from multiple sources for Complex Care patients; and
  • Creation of longitudinal care plans that follow Complex Care patients for up to 18 months and help to transition them back to a baseline level of functioning.

In case you missed this webinar, you still have a chance to watch this highly-rated program.

Register to view the conference today or order your training DVD or CD:
http://store.hin.com/product.asp?itemid=5076

You can "attend" this program right in your office. It's so convenient! Invite your staff members to watch the conference. We will send you a DVD or CD-ROM of the conference proceedings or a link to our web site with a username and password. You can log in and view the program right from your computer — any time of the day or night, whenever convenient for you and your colleagues — and benefit from the archived recording of the conference, including the Q&A period.

You'll get to listen to the question and answer session to hear how Memorial Hermann: differentiates between care coordination and case management; measures patient engagement; administers the member intake; electronically captures the care plan and shares it across the care team; culturally embeds care coordinators and matches care coordinators to physicians; overcomes patient engagement barriers; targets chronic disease states; and uses telehealth and e-visits in the care coordination function.

To register for the on-demand re-broadcast, download an .MP3 file or order the training DVD or CD-ROM of Care Coordination in an ACO: Managing the Population Health Continuum from Wellness to End-of-Life, please visit:
http://store.hin.com/product.asp?itemid=5076

You may also be interested in these care coordination resources: