Connecticut’s ‘Center of Excellence’ Care Network to be Supported by Remedy

The state of Connecticut’s “Center of Excellence,” a system of hospitals and other care providers aiming to provide cost-effective care while taking on more accountability, will be supported by episodes of care company Remedy.

An announcement this week noted that Remedy was selected by State Comptroller Kevin Lembo, “following a rigorous vetting process to ensure hundreds of thousands of Connecticut residents on the state health plan are equipped to make informed treatment decisions.”

Through this public-private partnership, Remedy will help Connecticut identify the top performing care providers in the state, the region, and nationally, across a multitude of procedures and conditions, and secure the best available rates for services covered under this program.

This will then allow the state to achieve deeper savings for better patient outcomes, officials stated. “The engagement will also support a culture of continuous improvement across the broader healthcare market, as all institutions can enhance the quality of care they deliver with the technical assistance and performance reporting provided by Remedy,” they added.

This program, which officials attest “is the most ambitious yet attempted by a state for its employees, retirees and their dependents,” is designed to cover routine and complex procedures, as well as chronic and other conditions for which there is demonstrated unwarranted variation. Physician groups, hospitals, health systems and other providers will have to compete based on the value of care they deliver, and not just within the state of Connecticut, but regionally and nationally.

Remedy, based in Norwalk, Conn., provides software and other services that will aim to help Connecticut negotiate prices and amass data about healthcare providers. Another company, HealthAdvocate, based in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., will provide information to patients about choices within the excellence network, according to an article in CT Mirror.

“Patients have been forced to make important decisions about where to receive treatment or have major surgical procedures with little to no information about which facilities have the best outcomes, Lembo said in a statement. “This is unacceptable. Instead of leaving patients in the dark, the state will work with its partners to identify those facilities that are true Centers of Excellence. Patients will, for the first time, be able to see who performs best for each procedure or service and make informed decisions about where to receive care.”

The project, which is expected to launch in 2020, will serve an estimated 210,000 state employees, retirees and their dependents. But Lembo said the goal is to provide an information resource for the general public as well, according to CT Mirror. “The Northeast is home to some of the best healthcare providers in the country, which means no patient should settle for anything less than the best,” the comptroller said, per the report.