Advanced Illness Providers Unite for Direct Contracting Model
Seven of the nation’s largest nonprofit advanced illness providers have come together to form Advanced Illness Partners (AIP) to participate in the Direct Contracting model of care from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI).
CMMI has said that Direct Contracting leverages lessons learned from other Medicare Accountable Care Organization (ACO) initiatives, such as the Medicare Shared Savings Program and the Next Generation ACO (NGACO) Model, as well as innovative approaches from Medicare Advantage (MA) and private sector risk-sharing arrangements. This model, which supports a focus on complex, chronically and seriously ill patients, is part of a CMMI strategy to use the redesign of primary care as a platform to drive broader healthcare delivery system reform.
Advanced Illness Partners is among 51 entities nationwide designated by CMMI to participate in this new program. Organizations participating in the model are committed to providing high-value, comprehensive care to high-need Medicare beneficiaries— and are willing to accept risk for the most complex patients in the U.S. healthcare system.
AIP is comprised of seven organizations from six states—Arizona, Florida, Virginia, Ohio, Nevada and Oregon— and Washington D.C. They have a combined nearly 250 years of experience in caring for those with advanced chronic illness through largely home-based, community-oriented care. The partners serve more than 60,000 Medicare beneficiaries annually and have prior success in value-based models such as Independence at Home (IAH), Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), and the Medicare Care Choices Model (MCCM).
AIP organizations have provided home-based care for many years. Now, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consistently stated preferences of many seniors to “age in place,” AIP said it is excited to show just how effective this model of care can be in meeting patients’ needs.
The Advanced Illness Partners include Pure Healthcare, a program from Ohio’s Hospice; Geriatric Solutions, a program of the Hospice of the Valley in Arizona; Hope Healthcare in Fort Myers, Fla.; Housecall Providers, a part of the CareOregon family; Cornerstone Hospice in Central Florida; Nathan Adelson Hospice in Las Vegas; and Capital Caring Health in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. All seven organizations will share best practices in treating patients.
“We’re excited to participate in CMMI’s innovative program to bring advanced illness care upstream and serve patients with complex, chronic disease in the home setting for the long-term,” said Eric De Jonge, director of geriatrics at Capital Caring Health in Washington, D.C., and chief medical officer for Advanced Illness Partners, in a statement. “As nonprofit providers, our network allows us to remain community-based while also sharing best practices and economies to scale to invest in tools that help us improve care and lower costs of care for high-needs patients.”
