With the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services offering new voluntary payment models for primary care, providers are getting organized to take advantage. Catalyst Health Network, a North Texas-based clinically integrated network of independent primary care physicians focused on value-based healthcare, has added Strive Clinical Network, a group of more than 100 primary care physicians stretching across East Texas.
By joining the nonprofit Catalyst, the physicians in East Texas will have access to proprietary programs, resources, and value-based contracts. This marks Catalyst's first expansion outside of the North Texas area. It has 650 primary care providers, 220 office locations, 940,000 patients, and 75 care team members.
In 2018, Strive partnered with Catalyst on a pilot project seeking to improve health outcomes for members of the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS). Though this collaboration, Strive exceeded care quality metrics for more than 5,000 ERS members, saving more than $2.5 million in the process:
• 93 percent of patients received follow-up test results.
• 95 percent of patients reported getting timely appointments.
• 98 percent reported positive doctor communication.
• Costs were 8 percent lower than the market would have predicted, accounting for the $2.5 million in savings.
"Our physicians know the direction in which healthcare needs to move. We want to help lead that transformation, and this partnership will help us to do it," said Eddy Furniss, M.D. a Nacogdoches physician and Strive director, in a statement. "Catalyst exists on the cutting edge of value-based care — its innovations can make a difference across the state and the nation. We're thrilled that our physicians and patients in East Texas will now be a part of Catalyst Health Network."
