Skip to content
Business
Link copied to clipboard

New accountable-care organizations in region

The Philadelphia region has a new crop of accountable-care organizations aiming to reduce the cost of caring for Medicare beneficiaries while improving quality by emphasizing coordination by doctors and other providers.

The Philadelphia region has a new crop of accountable-care organizations aiming to reduce the cost of caring for Medicare beneficiaries while improving quality by emphasizing coordination by doctors and other providers.

If the accountable-care organizations reduce costs beyond targets while meeting quality criteria, the government shares savings with them.

Genesis Healthcare Inc., a major nursing-home owner based in Kennett Square, has formed Genesis Healthcare ACO, which covers nine states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.

Christiana Care Health System's Christiana Care Quality Partners ACO includes 152 primary-care physicians in Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. That group expects to coordinate care for 25,000 Medicare beneficiaries.

The Mercy Accountable Care Network, which is part of Mercy Health System in Conshohocken, includes 301 physicians and 6,200 Medicare patients. Mercy is part of Trinity Health, a national tax-exempt system with operations in 20 states.

Another part of Trinity, Lourdes Health Network in South Jersey, has partly shifted its ACO, LHS Health Network, which manages care for 60,000 people, to a new ACO model, which will involve higher financial risk for the 21 operators selected for the program by Medicare.

LHS Health Network has 140 physicians, with 54 of them participating in the new ACO model.

hbrubaker@phillynews.com

215-854-4651 @InqBrubaker