WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Universal American Corp. (NYSE:UAM) announced today that the Accountable Care Coalition of the Tri-Counties, a Medicare Shared Savings Program ACO formed with primary care physicians in Charleston, South Carolina, will conduct a pilot with a network of independently-owned pharmacies. The pharmacies are part of Community PerformanceRx MSO, the first nationally-integrated pharmacy management services organization (MSO) and a wholly owned subsidiary of PrescribeWellness.
Primary care physicians of the ACO will collaborate with independent community pharmacies to demonstrate that a comprehensive care model that includes pharmacies drives better patient health outcomes and improves preventive care. The physicians and pharmacists will share patient data and engage in frequent communication to offer evaluation of polypharmacy risk and predictive outcomes among beneficiaries in the ACO.
Michael Barrett, senior vice president, Southeast Region for Collaborative Health Systems, a subsidiary of Universal American, and member of the governing body of ACC of the Tri-Counties, spoke about the pilot. “We are eager to launch a pilot that encourages primary care physicians and pharmacies to work together. The medical community struggles with managing medication from a cost and patient safety perspective. We believe these challenges can be addressed through closer collaboration between physicians and pharmacists given the invaluable role pharmacists play in supporting patients’ health.”
Mindy Smith, vice president of Pharmacy Practice Innovation for PrescribeWellness, further spoke about pharmacists in the value-based care environment. “Pharmacists offer expertise in medication optimization and polypharmacy risk assessment. They also have strong loyalties within their community that can help address patient engagement problems common among the Medicare population. As healthcare shifts from fee-for-service to value-based models the focus is on driving higher quality and reducing unnecessary costs. The pilot is an exciting opportunity to leverage the skills and relationships of independent community pharmacies to achieve these goals in partnership with ACO primary care physicians.”
Community PerformanceRx is seeking to build partnerships in a variety of reimbursement models, including risk sharing. The pilot is expected to open the doors to discussions with additional ACOs, Medicare Advantage plans, Medicare Part D plans, Independent Physician Associations (IPAs), collaborative care model commercial plans, self-insured employers, and physician MSOs who are or will be taking pharmacy cost risk.
About Universal American Corp.
Universal American (NYSE:UAM), through our family of healthcare companies, provides health benefits to people covered by Medicare. We are dedicated to working collaboratively with healthcare professionals, especially primary care physicians, in order to improve the health and well-being of those we serve and reduce healthcare costs. For more information on Universal American, please visit our website at www.UniversalAmerican.com.
About Collaborative Health Systems
Collaborative Health Systems (CHS), a Universal American company (NYSE: UAM), is a management services organization that partners with primary care physicians as they move to value-based payment systems. Our core belief is that primary care physicians are in the best position to influence the quality and cost of healthcare. CHS provides comprehensive support for its physician partners by providing actionable data to help coordinate care and helping practices change behavior to meet the new quality requirements of the value-based payment system.
CHS currently manages one Next Generation ACO Model, and 22 MSSP ACOs, with approximately 5,000 providers, mostly primary care physicians, covering 239,000 Medicare beneficiaries. For more information, visit www.CollaborativeHealthSystems.com.
About Community PerformanceRx MSO, LLC
Community PerformanceRx MSO (CPRx) is a wholly owned subsidiary of PrescribeWellness. CPRx is the first national technologically integrated pharmacy network MSO willing and able to share in the pharmacy risk costs associated with risk sharing reimbursement models. The technology platform, developed for PrescribeWellness, allows for the preservation of the independent practice of pharmacy to further strengthen the relationships of the community pharmacists and members.
About PrescribeWellness
PrescribeWellness inspires collaboration for better health across America. Its proprietary cloud-based platform empowers pharmacies and other healthcare professionals to provide more effective, preventive healthcare services, which improve medication adherence, chronic disease management, transitions in care, and population health. With data integration and behavioral science at the foundation, PrescribeWellness software solutions position the pharmacist at the center of community healthcare prevention. Inc. 5000 named PrescribeWellness one of America’s Fastest Growing Privately-Held Companies for the past two years. For more information, please visit our website at www.prescribewellness.com.
