For independent physicians, “regulatory, administrative, and financial burdens are causing a loss of practice vibrancy and unprecedented levels of physician and clinician dissatisfaction, and in many cases driving them to sell their practices or retire early,” notes Jeff Bailet, M.D., in a blog post on the website of health services firm Altais. Bailet is president and CEO of newly formed Altais, which was created earlier this year by Blue Shield of California to help support physician practices.
Altais has announced that it is partnering with practice transformation company Aledade and the California Medical Association (CMA) to help independent physician groups optimize their practice workflows and support value-based care efforts.
Besides focusing on bringing workflow technology and services to physician practices, the organizations will also work with payers in the state to offer value-based arrangements that reward physicians for improved patient care and outcomes. Blue Shield of California is the first payer that has agreed to support this collaboration by making a value-based agreement available to physicians working with Altais and Aledade sometime in 2020.
In May, Aledade and CMA announced a collaboration to create physician-led accountable care organizations (ACOs) in California to participate in the government-sponsored Pathways to Success Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), and they’re recruiting physicians to sign on. The first of these Medicare ACOs will be launched in January 2020.
In a Twitter thread, Farzad Mostashari, M.D., Aledade’s co-founder and CEO, spoke about what he sees as the significance of the announcement. “In May, we and CMA announced a collaboration to create physician-led accountable care organizations (ACOs) in California to participate in Medicare ACOs (it’s going well). This broader partnership expands value-based care arrangements for the commercially-insured lives,” he wrote. “Blue Shield is the first payer that has agreed to support this collaboration by making a value-based agreement available to physicians working with Altais and Aledade in 2020. This is meant to be practice-centric, and payor-agnostic. Altais is going to have 2 arms: Altais Health is where Aledade sits, providing the tech, tools, and services. Altais Clinical Services will provide an alternative to the hospital for practices that need capital to survive (‘a range of affiliation employment models’).”
“We’re thrilled that our first announced initiative is a collaboration to bring technology and services that will help physicians flourish under value-based arrangements, which are becoming a mainstay of modern healthcare. Aledade and CMA are the right organizations to help us deliver on this opportunity for physicians,” said Bailet in a prepared statement.
