Watson: We take a hospital-by-hospital approach to decide whether we’ll move into certain risk models and bundles. Before making that decision, our risk strategy has been to ensure alignment of the capabilities necessary to succeed under the chosen payment model and our core competencies. Once we determine that we’re aligned, we then leverage our core capabilities to move forward.

One of the biggest factors driving our risk decisions, as with most large health systems, is the Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act, or MACRA, which is driving an increase in the number of ACOs and other advanced alternative payment models. The recent CMS changes, for instance, namely allowing optional participation in certain bundled payment programs, can have a major effect on how a hospital prioritizes its strategy.

Watson: A challenge with mandatory bundles is that you’re forced into downside risk, regardless of whether the service line is a core competency of the hospital. The voluntary programs allow us to take a look at our entire portfolio of hospitals while reviewing all of the new bundled payment program options, and then select the ones that align with the hospital’s investments and core competencies.

For example, if we have a particular hospital that is focusing on its cardiac program, and they have good results and believe they would perform well in that kind of model, that hospital is a candidate for the voluntary program for that particular bundle. That’s really the power of voluntary programs and why I think you’ll see organizations performing much better in those programs compared to the mandatory bundles.

We’ve also utilized Conifer Health Solutions’ Bundled Payment Analytics platform that provides detailed insight into cost and quality performance and enables us to identify and address areas for improvement.

Watson: Everything we have is set up centralized for the health system, then we roll out our processes to the markets. When we expand into a new market, it’s our robust and scalable model that supports our strong understanding of what is needed to hit the ground running. This enables us to focus our time and energy on identifying and addressing unmet needs in the new communities we serve.

With a standardized ACO model in place, we’ve been able to successfully roll out the same model and many of the same processes across our markets. We centralize the ACO operations using Conifer Health technology. We have seen fixed cost per member per month go down year over year and the centralization allows us to scale and roll out new programs more effectively.

Our value-based arrangements are structured to deliver an improved, more comprehensive and cost-effective care experience. We are able to do this by deploying best practices across the company and rewarding physicians and hospitals for quality care improvements. We provide the clinical and operational infrastructure, as well as payer contracting best practices, to help our ACOs be successful.

Watson: Baptist Health System ACO in San Antonio has been a great success. That market is in the MSSP tracks 1 and 3, as well as a commercial clinically integrated network. We generated 7.4 percent savings in the MSSP program in PY 2016, more than doubling the 3 percent savings we generated in PY 2015.

We have engaged physicians in that market also, and they’re willing to provide insight into the tools that we are exploring as we move forward. We also collaborate with payers in that market to ensure we’re leveraging our capabilities and getting the most out of our risk-based contracts. For instance, our payers expressed to us the importance of an emergency room program, so we created one for them. It’s all about establishing innovative relationships with our stakeholders, and increasing the collaboration and alignment throughout our system.

Watson: A focus for our ACO models is the primary care provider (PCP). We know that care delivery and reimbursement is impacted with each regulatory change, but within that framework the goal of our programs and initiatives stays the same: to provide the member a seamless experience across the various parts of the continuum of care that enhances quality and coordination while reducing cost.

We consistently ask ourselves, “How do we make the member feel like they’re within the same family of providers as they rotate within a variety of different ancillary care providers?” This is a concern, especially for members who traditionally feel like they’re going to multiple, completely different and unconnected providers.

We’re creating that connection among all constituents by focusing on care coordination and care management. And we’ve created models that reinforce the PCP relationship, even when a formal relationship doesn’t exist.

Watson: We use Conifer Health’s Population Health Intelligence tool to stratify risk, identify gaps in care and promote coordination among network providers. And now that we have integration within our EHR, population health data can be accessed at the point of care and within our providers’ workflow.

Our collaborative relationship with Conifer Heath enables us to create solutions to fit our specific needs. For instance, we have many patients in our system that require complex care management, so we work together to configure episodes of care to track the member all the way from scheduling to a post 90-day period, to in-home care. This solution allows us to more effectively manage our populations across the risk spectrum.

Watson: If an organization is considering entering into a risk model or increasing its risk, I would recommend these guidelines.

• Look closely at who you hire, and hire the right people. Our teams include folks from other ACOs, not just from the provider side, because we value their insight and trust their direction. It’s very important to choose the people who can help you because it’s all about the team: Collaboration is the key to working together to solve problems.
• Don’t jump into risk too quickly. Make sure you have your value-based care strategy defined first. Get some experience with pilot programs and then figure out your roadmap to risk. Know what’s working and what isn’t working. Then bring in the right tools to enhance your capabilities.
• Know and understand your audience. Physicians aren’t going to listen to you if you have too few members in your population. And payers aren’t going to listen to you if they don’t feel that you’re doing things efficiently. Make yourself relevant to physicians, payers and patients to bolster collaboration, buy-in, and ultimately, the success of your ACO.