CENTURA HEALTH LEADING HEALTH CARE’S SECOND CURVE WITH THE LAUNCH OF COLORADO HEALTH NEIGHBORHOODS
As part of its integrated delivery network, Centura Health’s innovative approach will improve care coordination, reduce costs and provide better outcomes to optimize value
ENGLEWOOD (July 10, 2012) – Against the national backdrop of political stalemates, grand standing and intense emotional debate regarding health care reform, Centura Health has taken its next step to transform health care. These are steps not written in legal briefings or political ads, but are meaningful actions designed to provide a “total solution” to health care that produces better outcomes, greater cost effectiveness and ultimately true and tangible health care reform for Colorado communities.
At the foundation of Centura Health’s approach are its Colorado Health Neighborhoods — a key component of their integrated delivery network. Founded on a customized vision of the patient-centered medical home, Colorado Health Neighborhoods are comprised of a close-knit team of health care professionals whose purpose is to maximize health outcomes of a defined population through coordinated, evidence-based medicine and best practices, increased convenience through multiple localized access points, and a customer-focused service model – all delivered at an affordable cost.
Centura Health’s first defined population consists exclusively of Centura Health associates and their dependents. Beginning July 1, this select group of individuals began experiencing certain elements of Colorado Health Neighborhoods in which health care teams –doctors, nurses, physician assistants, health coaches and navigators - converge to provide primary care, specialty services, urgent care, diagnostic services and occupational health. While currently evolving to serve its 22,000 members, the long-term goal is to provide individualized, well-coordinated care across the continuum resulting in significantly greater health outcomes and optimized health care value for this select population.
By transforming how they deliver care to its own associates, sharing lessons learned, and demonstrating outcomes that lower the overall cost of care, Centura Health believes that Colorado Health Neighborhoods will prove to be a value-driven product they can take to market. Currently, Centura Health plans to have ten health neighborhoods in place by the end of the year, and ultimately dozens across Colorado in the near future to begin serving consumers in spring 2013.
CENTURA HEALTH’S INTEGRATED DELIVERY NETWORK:
· An integrated delivery network is a health care delivery model consisting of facilities and providers working together to offer coordinated care to a specific market or geographic area.
· The overarching goal of Centura Health’s integrated delivery network is to increase the value of health care by promoting quality care, utilizing evidenced-based medicine and best practices, while increasing convenience to the patient through multiple access points within a service-friendly environment at an affordable cost.
· Colorado Health Neighborhoods creates a physician-led, clinically integrated delivery network comprised of primary care and specialty physicians practicing a whole-person, team-approach to medicine. Together, with Centura Health entities including acute, ambulatory, home care, senior services and hospice, and affiliated physicians and hospitals, the integrated delivery network seeks to provide excellent communication between the health care system, health care providers and the patient, all in the pursuit of providing well-coordinated care across the continuum.
COLORADO HEALTH NEIGHBORHOODS:
· Designed to advance health care delivery by focusing beyond hospital walls to meet the population health needs of communities across the state, Colorado Health Neighborhoods, a critical piece of Centura Health’s integrated delivery network, have been in operational development since March 2011.
· Through Colorado Health Neighborhoods, patients are assigned a health care coordinator that will guide them and help them navigate the network when their health care calls for more than a single doctor visit. In addition, coordinators will work to ensure patients understand and follow physician recommendations – and physicians will be monitoring patients for some basic health care metrics that will help detect and diagnose conditions before they become chronic concerns. In the end, consumers will find more value in their health care and will learn how to play a greater role in their overall health.
· Physicians participating in Colorado Health Neighborhoods agree to report meaningful use clinical quality measures such as hypertension, tobacco use and BMI screening in order to help ensure better outcomes. As the Colorado Health Neighborhoods program grows, quality metrics will be expanded to include diabetes hemoglobin A1C, diabetes blood pressure management, breast cancer screening, cervical cancer screening, and colorectal screening.
QUOTE:
· “The health care industry is in the midst of a transformation unlike anything we have seen before,” said Gary Campbell, president and CEO, Centura Health. “While we believe the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in 2010 helped hasten this evolution, Centura Health also recognized early on that it was inevitable and for the greater good. In fact, we committed to the fundamental transformation in 2009 when we rolled out our strategic plan for the future, Centura Health 2020, nearly one year prior to the enactment of PPACA. But of course, a plan is only that if it is not acted upon, and today’s announcement that we have begun the roll-out of Colorado Health Neighborhoods to our associate population is demonstrable and tangible action against our plan. Colorado Health Neighborhoods is our commitment to achieving optimal health care value for all Coloradans based on outcome effectiveness, service, convenience, and cost. We recognize that the only viable pathway to optimal health care value is for providers to work in partnership toward this common goal, creating integration among a broad spectrum of health care providers dedicated to working together as a team, with the patient at the center.”
Centura Health, Colorado’s health care leader, is focused on connecting Coloradans to affordable, world-class care in every corner of the state. Centura Health’s integrated statewide network includes 13 hospitals, seven senior living communities, medical clinics, affiliated partner hospitals, Flight For Life® Colorado, and home care and hospice services. Approximately 15,100 of the best hearts and minds in medicine, along with 6,000 physician partners, have access to the most technologically advanced tools available. For Coloradans, this means the top expertise and technology is right where you need it – close to where you are. We reach beyond hospital walls to connect with people at every stage of life to bring them life-enriching compassion and life-affirming hope. Connections that only Centura Health can make. For information on Centura Health or any of the facilities in our network, please visit www.centura.org.
