UC Population Health Adds Value-Based Care Administrator Initiative

A year-end summary from University of California Health (UC Health) details the work of the systemwide UC Population Health team, which works across the academic health system to advance a vision of making care more impactful, more effective, and more equitable.

University of California Health is the largest academic health system in the United States, with six major medical centers (UC Davis, Irvine, LA, Riverside, San Diego, and San Francisco).

In addition to its ongoing work on population health and social drivers of health, in 2024 UC Population Health introduced a new initiative, Value-based Care Administrators, which seeks to advance UC’s health system in providing value-based care through a focus on understanding and sharing the elements of successful participation in governmental and commercial alternative payment models. The newest UC Population Health initiative began organically to fill a collaborative need, and last year was organized formally by the Population Health Steering Committee into a distinct group with its own charter.

 The organization said that the Value-based Care Administrators (VBCA) initiative’s primary goal is to prepare UC academic health centers for success in the evolving environment of value-based models of care by participation in various alternative payment model (APM) contracts. VBCA uses lessons learned from APM participation at each site to inform successful approaches that are adopted more broadly  This includes ensuring the needed capabilities and services are developed to improve patient care and outcomes at a lower cost to patients and payers. These value-based care experts also serve as thought leaders and partners with their health system’s financial and contracting teams.

The Center for Data-driven Insights and Innovation (CDI2) supports the collaborative work that UC Population Health conducts across its programs and initiatives. CDI2, in managing the UC Health Data Warehouse systemwide data asset, serves as a valuable resource in accessing and visualizing comparative data across UC Health sites; applying advanced statistical techniques that enable clinical experts to uncover patterns, trends, and insights; and informing decision-making that allows leadership and teams to take appropriate action.

The annual report included some key highlights across other initiatives in 2024-2025:
• In Hypertension Management, UC Health witnessed blood pressure control rates improve 16 percent over the past four years, with a 1 percent gain in the last year.

• Diabetes Management has seen an increase of 14 percent in blood sugar control over the past four years, with a 3 percent improvement in the last year.

• Social Drivers of Health initiative expanded the integration of referrals to health-related social needs platforms such as FindHelp and 211 to connect patients with community resources.

• Preventive Services: Ambulatory Vaccines focused on influenza and other common vaccines. UC academic health centers were in the Top 10 nationally in the American Medical Group Association’s Rise to Immunize national campaign.
• The Coordinated Care initiative has identified 22 strategies and best practices through its ongoing work, including innovations in patient support and navigation throughout their healthcare journey.
• Population Health Pharmacy reports approximately $2.3 million in overall total cost of care savings achieved through the utilization of prescription biosimilar drugs.
• Oncology Medical Home introduced two new access metrics: reducing the time for a new patient to be seen by a cancer specialist and reducing the time to receive cancer-specific therapy.
• The Cardiac Surgery Consortium reduced hospital stays by the equivalent of 380 days, which equates to an estimated $1.2 million improvement in financial performance.