Kansas City, MO, May 11, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As growing health disparities continue to threaten rural America, an increasing number of rural hospitals are transforming their health delivery system through Alternative Payment Models. Caravan Health, the market leader in Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), announced today that by 2018, 17.5% of all U.S. rural hospitals will be participants in an ACO supported by Caravan Health.
The high ACO participation rate is no surprise to Caravan Health’s CEO & Founder, Lynn Barr, as she has been a long-standing advocate that value-based payments are the most effective opportunity for rural communities to improve patient care while lowering costs.
“Rural providers face a different set of challenges than their urban counterparts,” said Ms. Barr. “These organizations thrive in ACOs because of the focus on coordinated care. We teach them how to implement new wellness and quality services that minimize high-cost patient care.”
Caravan Health’s proven ACO model has already helped hundreds of rural providers transition to value-based care. Most recently, Caravan Health found that their highest performing ACO reduced inpatient utilization by 17.7%. Using the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ savings projection method, this ACO is expected to save Medicare almost $11 million.
Ms. Barr will examine this ACO’s strategies during a presentation with The Commonwealth Fund, “Banding Together for Population Health – A New Business Model for Rural Hospitals.” Moderated by The Commonwealth Fund’s Melinda Abrams, Vice President for Delivery System Reform, a panel of hospital CEOs will join Ms. Barr, as they uncover how value-based payment approaches are strengthening rural hospital systems.
“The Commonwealth Fund seeks to find and spread care delivery models that can better serve all patients – but particularly those who have complex conditions or who are vulnerable due to their social circumstances,” said Ms. Abrams. “We are excited to hear from panelists how they’re working to strengthen services and improve population health in rural communities.”
The webinar will take place on Monday, May 22, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. PST/12:00 p.m. CST/1:00 p.m. EDT. To join, interested participants must register at the link provided here.
For more information about Caravan Health, visit www.caravanhealth.com or email info@caravanhealth.com.
About Caravan Health
Caravan Health supports more than 17,000 independent primary care providers making the transformation to value-based payments with affordable, simple solutions that achieve outstanding results through Practice Transformation Networks (PTNs), Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and now Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+). For more information, go to www.caravanhealth.com.
About The Commonwealth Fund
The mission of The Commonwealth Fund is to promote a high-performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, particularly for society’s most vulnerable, including low-income people, the uninsured, minority Americans, young children, and elderly adults.
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