--The Patient-Focused Model Supports High-Value Care --
CHICAGO -- (Business Wire)
The
University of Chicago Medicine and Aetna
(NYSE: AET)
announced a collaboration today to create an oncology
medical home that is designed to improve the care experience for
cancer patients. This approach allows teams of cancer specialists to
work together to care for a patient with a cancer diagnosis. The model
will give UChicago Medicine the responsibility to arrange appropriate
care that is continuous and proactive.
“The University of Chicago Medicine is excited to be working with a
forward-thinking payer like Aetna to explore a more innovative payment
model for cancer care,” explained gastrointestinal cancer specialist Blase
Polite, M.D., associate professor of medicine at the medical center.
“We all agree we must move from a volume-based system to one based on
quality and value of care for our patients, their families and their
employers. This payment model is a step in that direction and we look
forward to working with Aetna to help refine what we see as a model for
the future of cancer care payment.”
The model is part of a strategic decision to transition from
fee-for-service reimbursement to value-based payment. Value-based
arrangements are emerging as a solution to address rising health care
costs, clinical inefficiency and duplication of services. These
arrangements also make it easier for people to get the care they need.
In value-based models, doctors and hospitals are paid for helping keep
people healthy and for improving the health of those who have chronic
conditions in an evidence-based, cost-effective way.
Aetna is working with health care organizations nationwide to develop
products and services that support value-driven, patient-centered care.
Nationally today, about 5.8 million Aetna members receive care from
doctors committed to the value-based approach, with approximately 30
percent of Aetna claims payments going to doctors and providers who
practice value-based care. Aetna has committed to increasing that number
to 50 percent by 2018 and 75 percent by 2020.
“We understand that cancer treatment can be the hardest experience that
our members will ever have to go through,” said Michael Kolodziej, M.D.,
Aetna’s national medical director for Oncology Solutions. “This oncology
medical home with the University of Chicago Medicine will help give our
members optimal care and an optimal patient experience.”
The operating principles of the UChicago Medicine and Aetna oncology
medical home include:
- An orientation to the whole person. A personal physician from
UChicago Medicine will be responsible for providing or arranging for
all of a patient’s health care needs with other qualified
professionals. This includes care for all stages of treatment:
preventive services, acute care, chronic care and end-of-life care.
- Evidence-based, personalized medical care. The UChicago
Medicine team will focus on designing treatment regimens based on
current medical evidence for each unique disease presentation,
patient-specific factors and patient choice by utilizing University of
Chicago’s Clinical Pathways, which were designed by teams of surgeons,
medical oncologists, hematologists and radiation oncologists to
improve quality and outcomes.
- Coordinated and integrated care. Across all elements of the
complex health system, care will be facilitated to enable Aetna
members to get the appropriate care when and where it is needed and
wanted, in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner.
- Quality and safety. Quality and safety will be a focus of care,
including use of evidence-based medicine, clinical decision support
tools and accountability for continuous quality improvement.
- Enhanced access to care. Care will be available through systems
such as open scheduling, expanded hours and new options for
communication between Aetna members, their personal physicians and
hospital staff.
The oncology medical home arrangement begins on July 1, 2015.
About the University of Chicago Medicine
The University of Chicago Medicine & Biological Sciences is one of the
nation's leading academic medical institutions. It comprises the
Pritzker School of Medicine, a top 10 medical school in the nation; the
University of Chicago Biological Sciences Division; and the University
of Chicago Medical Center, which recently opened the Center for Care and
Discovery, a $700 million specialty medical facility. Twelve Nobel Prize
winners in physiology or medicine have been affiliated with the
University of Chicago Medicine. Visit our research blog at sciencelife.uchospitals.edu
and our newsroom at uchospitals.edu/news
or find us at @UChicagoMed
or Facebook.com/UChicagoMed.
About Aetna
Aetna is one of the nation's leading diversified health care benefits
companies, serving an estimated 46 million people with information and
resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health
care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional, voluntary and
consumer-directed health insurance products and related services,
including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life and
disability plans, and medical management capabilities, Medicaid health
care management services, workers' compensation administrative services
and health information technology products and services. Aetna's
customers include employer groups, individuals, college students,
part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers,
governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and
expatriates. For more information, see www.aetna.com
and learn about how
Aetna is helping to build a healthier world. @AetnaNews
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150701006317/en/
Contacts:
Aetna Media Contact:
Rohan Hutchings
Media Line:
860-273-0888
Direct Dial: 773-687-5419 T
hutchingsr@aetna.com
or
The
University of Chicago Medicine Media Contact:
Ashley M. Heher
Media
Line: 773-702-0025
Direct Dial: 773-834-8089
Ashley.Heher@uchospitals.edu
Source: Aetna
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