Regence, Central Utah Clinic Announce New Collaborative Care Initiative

Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah and Central Utah Clinic have announced a new collaborative care initiative to advance the health of patients and their experience with Central Utah Clinic (CUC).

Regence and CUC have joined forces to implement an innovative payment model to deliver better health outcomes and lower healthcare costs. The accountable health program with Central Utah Clinic includes a shared incentive arrangement in which CUC and Regence will use data and quality measures to improve healthcare outcomes for Regence members cared for at Central Utah Clinic.

"Our agreement with Central Utah Clinic is an exciting step forward in advancing our vision of creating a person-focused and economically sustainable healthcare system," Richard Popiel, M.D., executive vice president of health care services and chief medical officer for Regence, said in a statement. "Central Utah Clinic is committed to the triple aim goal of better care for individuals, better health for populations and reducing per-capita costs. Working together, we're bringing this collaborative care innovation to Utahdelivering real value for our members and the patients Central Utah Clinic serves."

This new initiative is part of a suite of innovative reimbursement models offered by Regence to address the quality and affordability of health care services for its members. Since 2007, Regence has worked with providers and employers throughout its four-state region to implement collaborative care models, including the Intensive Outpatient Care Program (IOCP) in Washington.

"Central Utah Clinic is excited to have additional data elements to help us better understand, plan and provide improved care to the over 300,000 patients we have the privilege to treat.  We've never had tools to help us actually study the outcomes and cost of different care pathways.  With the tools developed by Regence, we can match up care data to outcomes-based results and focus on models of care to give consumers the best care experience possible," Scott Barlow, CEO, Central Utah Clinic, said in a statement.  "This is a giant step forward in health care delivery that will benefit all the patients we treat throughout the state."