Cigna has announced it has successfully reached its 100 Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) goal established in 2012. Effective Jul 1, Cigna entered into 11 arrangements in seven states, thus taking its ACO arrangements to 100. Cigna will serve one million customers through these ACOs.
The new agreements have been entered with Northeast Medical Group (NEMG) in Connecticut, Harbin Clinic and Physician Performance Network of Georgia/Tenet in Georgia, Presence Health Partners in Illinois, Skylands Medical Group in New Jersey, Primary Care Partners LLC and Wellmont Medical Associates in Tennessee, TheAustin Diagnostic Clinic, St. Joseph Health Partners and Village Family Practice in Texas and EvergreenHealth Partners in Washington.
Cigna’s ACO Strategy
Coming back, Cigna has been moving aggressively with this healthcare delivery model because of the promising results it has seen so far. Per the company, among the ACOs that have been in operation for more than two years, 73% delivered targeted quality care, an equal percentage of ACOs met the cost target and 55% achieved both cost as well as quality objectives.
The success of these ACOs comes on the back of Cigna sharing with other providers critical information related to its patients; its analytical predictive modeling capabilities which forecast patients likely to be discharged or readmitted, thereby developing post-discharge care plan to prevent recurrence of illness, and embedded care coordinators or registered nurses within physician practice, who scan though the information and make outreach calls to their patients to ensure follow-up care and resources. Other factors such as communication and collaboration, clinical integration, and aligning incentives to performance have also contributed to the program’s success.
