Mount Sinai Health Partners, a clinically integrated network including providers and Mount Sinai Health System, partnered with health insurer Aetna to form an accountable care organization.
Here are five key notes:
1. The two groups signed a three-year contract where Aetna members who receive care from Mount Sinai physicians will benefit from the program's goals: high quality and cost efficiency.
2. The ACO is part of Aetna's strategy to transition care from fee-for-service to value-based payment. Mount Sinai's overarching strategy is also to transition fee-for-service healthcare into a system designed around population health management.
3. Mount Sinai is working with health plans to align payment models in a way that improves value for patients and providers. The agreement includes a payment model that rewards physicians for meeting certain measures to improve quality and patient satisfaction, and reduce cost.
4. The ACO aims to reduce avoidable hospital admissions and emergency room visits, encourage appropriate antibiotic use and other goals for eliminating waste.
5. There are 3,100 employed and affiliated Mount Sinai physicians who are joining the ACO model; Aetna provides health benefits to more than 1.1 million members in New York.
"Our new agreement with Mount Sinai puts consumers at the center of a healthcare system that promotes wellness, provides better care for chronic conditions and uses economic incentives to reward positive health outcomes," said Aetna Senior Vice President, New York Market David Kobus.