MedStar Health, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield Form Value-Based Care Partnership

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield a mid-Atlantic healthcare insurance company, and the Maryland-headquartered MedStar Health have announced a value-based care partnership that officials believe will help transform healthcare.

The new collaboration will focus on positive patient outcomes and value for the services delivered rather than a volume-based approach, and with its emphasis on preventive care, CareFirst and MedStar estimate this value-based approach will deliver improved health outcomes and quality of care for patients and positively impact the projected costs of care during the next seven years by $400 million, officials said in the announcement.

CareFirst is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, and through its affiliates and subsidiaries, offers a portfolio of health insurance products and administrative services to 3.3 million individuals and groups in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia. MedStar, spread across the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, has more than 300 locations including 10 hospitals, ambulatory, and urgent care centers.

The partnership will be led by a management team jointly staffed by CareFirst and MedStar, and some of its broad goals include:

• Improved experience for patients

• An increased focus on care coordination such as collaboration between primary care and specialists

• More personalized care for patients

• Focused support for patients with the greatest healthcare needs

• Identification of services where more capacity is needed to support populations in particular geographies

• Enhanced technology integration, including clinical data sharing

Officials stated that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to address critical challenges within the healthcare system, especially disparate health outcomes experienced by minority communities. Through this partnership, CareFirst and MedStar will be addressing disparities by developing a meaningful understanding of what the barriers are to health, care, follow-up, and experience, while systematically working with others to remove barriers so that the people they serve can live their healthiest lives, they added.

“This partnership between MedStar Health and CareFirst allows for creativity, innovation and unprecedented collaboration between our two organizations to help transform health care,” said Kenneth A. Samet, president and CEO of MedStar Health. “Working together to remove barriers and solve challenges will provide our patients with more convenient access to manage their health and experience better outcomes, while helping to make care more affordable.  This important new partnership will benefit the communities we already serve together.”