CommonSpirit Health a Leader in Improving Quality and Outcomes for Patients while Reducing Medicare Spending by $39 Million

CHICAGO, Oct. 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CommonSpirit Health, a new nonprofit health system operating in 21 states, today announced it generated $39 million in savings to Medicare as well as $30 million in earned savings in 2018. As evidence of CommonSpirit’s commitment to providing the best in value-based care, the system’s 15 accountable care organizations (ACOs) participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) also scored above the national average on quality with an average score of 93%.¹

“As we look to transform the future delivery of health care in this country, it is clear that operating as a value-based system is essential to make real improvements in the health of the communities CommonSpirit serves,” said Bruce Swartz, executive vice president, physician enterprise for CommonSpirit Health. “The strong financial stewardship our ACOs have demonstrated across the continuum of care enables our physicians to focus more on building relationships with patients as they provide compassionate care to all.”

Overall, the fifteen ACOs improved care outcomes for approximately 290,000 Medicare beneficiaries. Through proactive engagement of vulnerable patients and a suite of innovative programs to address unmet medical, behavioral, and social needs, CommonSpirit’s ACOs reduced inpatient hospital admissions by 5%, emergency department visits by 4%, and advanced imaging events by more than 20%.

Two-thirds of CommonSpirit’s MSSP ACOs, or 10 out of 15, generated savings for Medicare. Fifty-three percent received shared savings payments, compared to 37% of ACOs nationally that received shared savings. The ACOs achieved the following:

• Rainier Health Network in Washington state, reduced inpatient hospitalizations by 4%, scored 95% on quality, and saved Medicare $14.4 million.
• Arkansas Health Network reduced inpatient hospitalizations by 9% and emergency department visits by 5% and saved Medicare $12.3 million.
• Nebraska-based Alegent Health Partners reduced emergency room visits by 7%, scored 97% on quality, and saved Medicare $8.7 million.
• California’s North State Quality Care Network reduced emergency room visits by 3%, scored 92% on quality, and saved Medicare $5.4 million.
• St. Rose Quality Care Network in Nevada reduced inpatient hospitalizations by 7%, scored 97% on quality, and saved Medicare $3.2 million.
• In Iowa, Mercy Health Network reduced inpatient hospitalizations by 8%, scored 94% on quality, and saved Medicare $4.9 million.
• MHN Partners, also in Iowa, reduced inpatient hospitalizations by 7%, scored 97% on quality, and saved Medicare $3.8 million.
• Arizona Care Network (ACN) reduced inpatient hospitalizations and ED visits by 9% and 12%, respectively; scored 84% on quality; and saved Medicare $3.4 million. ACN also participates as a Next Gen ACO and continues to perform strongly.

CommonSpirit Health’s ACOs and clinically-integrated networks care for these Medicare ACO patients as part of the system’s much broader population of 2.4 million attributed patients under public and private value-based agreements – making CommonSpirit a leader among the nation’s value-based health systems.

About CommonSpirit Health

CommonSpirit Health is a nonprofit, Catholic health system dedicated to advancing health for all people. It was created in February 2019 through the alignment of Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health. CommonSpirit Health is committed to creating healthier communities, delivering exceptional patient care, and ensuring every person has access to quality health care. With its national office in Chicago and a team of approximately 150,000 employees and 25,000 physicians and advanced practice clinicians, CommonSpirit Health operates 142 hospitals and more than 700 care sites across 21 states. In FY 2018, Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health had combined revenues of $29.2 billion and provided $4.2 billion in charity care, community benefit, and unreimbursed government programs.
Learn more at commonspirit.org.

¹ Excluding pay-for-reporting ACOs who are in their first performance year, the national quality score of MSSP ACOs in 2018 is 91%. More details on these ACOs as well as others are available here: https://data.cms.gov/Special-Programs-Initiatives-Medicare-Shared-Savin/2018-Shared-Savings-Program-SSP-Accountable-Care-O/v47u-yq84

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SOURCE CommonSpirit Health