Insurers and providers partnered to form the following eight accountable care organizations or value-based care delivery arrangements within the past month, beginning with those most recently covered by Becker's Hospital Review.
Care Coordination
During the first month of open enrollment, 106,185 people completed applications and selected a marketplace health plan through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act exchanges, according to an HHS report.
The accountable care organization formed between WESTMED Medical Group, a multispecialty group practice in Purchas, N.Y., and UnitedHealthcare and Optum reduced costs and showed improvement on nine out of 10 quality metrics in its first year.
Cabell Huntington (W. Va.) Hospital is planning an $8 million operating area expansion, according to a report by The Herald-Dispatch.
Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton, N.J., has completed an emergency department expansion, according to a report by The Times of Trenton.
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Lexington (Neb.) Regional Health Center has broken ground on a $2 million family medicine specialists clinic, according to a Lexington Clipper-Herald report.
Boise, Idaho-based St. Luke's Health System will no longer be part of health insurer Humana's Medicare Advantage network as of Jan. 1, according to an Idaho Statesman report.
Health insurers Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and Pittsburgh-based Highmark have signed a letter of intent to pursue a stronger affiliation to achieve greater efficiencies and value.
Given the extent of its software problems, the federal health insurance exchange website, HealthCare.gov, probably won't be fully functional by the end of this month, an official with knowledge of the project told The Washington Post.
New York has announced nearly 50,000 people have enrolled in health plans through the state's exchange, the largest figures reported by any state so far, according to a report from The Hill.