Aetna and Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance Announce Accountable Care Collaboration in Dallas

Aetna (NYSE: AET) and Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance today announced an accountable care collaboration and the introduction of the Aetna Whole Health℠ product in North Texas.  Aetna Whole Health is a collection of benefit plans designed to give members in Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Parker, Rockwall and Tarrant counties access to highly coordinated care from physicians and facilities in the Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance. The plans will be effective for self-insured customers starting on October 1, 2014, and are anticipated to be available for fully insured customers in early 2015.

An accountable care collaboration is a group of health care providers who assume responsibility for the quality and cost of care for a group of patients. Aetna members will receive an enhanced level of coordinated care in addition to the member benefits of their current Aetna plan.

The combined Aetna Whole Health – Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance will provide Aetna members access to more than 900 primary care physicians, 27 hospitals, 2,800 specialists and six urgent care facilities in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

Aetna members already enrolled in a fully insured plan and who have seen a Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance physician in the last 12 months will automatically become part of the collaboration on October 1st. Those members will receive the additional benefit of an integrated care delivery model, which includes the tracking of metrics to achieve higher quality care and lower costs.

“Aetna is pleased to work with Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance to provide a simpler and more efficient health care experience for our members while helping employers to manage health care costs,” said Ralph Holmes, Aetna’s president for North Texas. “By working collaboratively with organizations such as Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance, we are changing the health care system to focus on quality and affordability while ensuring that our members receive care that helps them live healthier, more productive lives.”

The accountable care collaboration gives employers better health care options for their employees, and will feature a new model of health care delivery designed to offer:

  • Cost savings to employees who use providers in the Aetna Whole Health℠ - Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance network;
  • A more coordinated, personalized experience for patients; and
  • Better health care outcomes.

“Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance is very pleased about this participation with Aetna’s accountable care solutions, which will combine expertise and bring commitment to meeting the shared goals and vision of improving quality, reducing cost, and clinically integrating for the populations that we mutually serve,” said Carl E. Couch, MD, MMM, president, Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance.

New payment agreements reward improvements in quality and costs of care
The agreement features a new payment model to reward Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance for meeting quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction measures including:

  • The percentage of Aetna members who get recommended preventive care and screenings;
  • Better management of patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart failure;
  • Reductions in avoidable hospital readmission rates; and
  • Reductions in emergency room visits.

Aetna is working with health care organizations across the country to develop products and services that support value-driven, patient-centered care. Aetna’s solutions help all types of patients, regardless of payer. Information about Accountable Care Solutions from Aetna is available at www.aetnaacs.com.

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Aetna Media Contact:

Anjie Coplin
214-200-8056
coplina@aetna.com

Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance Media Contact:

Nikki Mitchell
214-820-6961
nikkimit@baylorhealth.edu

About Baylor Scott & White Health
As the largest not-for-profit health system in the state of Texas, Baylor Scott & White promotes the health and well-being of every individual, family and community it serves. It is committed to making quality care more accessible, convenient and affordable through its integrated delivery network, which includes the Baylor Scott & White Health Plan, Baylor Scott & White Research Institute, the Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance and its leading digital health platform – MyBSWHealth. Through 51 hospitals and more than 1,200 access points, including flagship academic medical centers in Dallas, Fort Worth and Temple, the system offers the full continuum of care, from primary to award-winning specialty care. Founded as a Christian ministry of healing more than a century ago, Baylor Scott & White today serves more than three million Texans. For more information, visit: BSWHealth.com