A New Approach to Health Plan-Provider Collaboration

Cigna subsidiary CareAllies is taking a dramatically different approach than the rest of the industry when it comes to partnering with physicians to provide information to improve patient outcomes.

CareAllies is partnering with Arcadio.io, a population health management company, specializing in data aggregation, analytics, and workflow software for value-based care, to educate healthcare leaders on how health plans can provide actionably insights at the point of care. CareAllies is using the data platform Arcadia Analytics to help providers reduce their documentation burden.

“As the use of value-based care models continues to expand, health plans and providers must work together to find solutions that drive quality patient outcomes while relieving the burden on providers,” says Debbie Conboy, director of risk adjustment and quality strategy at Arcadia. “Providers today are inundated with new technology, alerts, and mandates, which is why we focus on finding ways to help them within the work flows they have already established.

“As health plans continue to work to improve the quality, cost, and efficiency of healthcare, the only way that we will all be successful is through true partnerships with providers and technology that meets them where they are,” Conboy adds.

Related: How Value-Based Care Changes The Provider Staffing Model

Beckie Croes, senior vice president, Provider Engagement and Management Services with CareAllies, says her company has a long-standing history of building partnerships with physicians by delivering services and technology.

“Whether the provider is in a Medicare Accountable Care Organization (ACO), in a shared savings program with a commercial payer or taking risk for a Medicare Advantage population, we leverage population health technology to bring valuable clinical insights to the physician office at the point of care,” she says. “We help bridge the gap between primary care physicians, specialists, and other healthcare organizations ensuring a bidirectional flow of information that is transparent and action-oriented.

“Over the years health plans have had the best of intentions but have often not effectively engaged their clinical networks in value-based care initiatives,” Conboy says. “The work that Cigna has done to bring providers along in the process and create a new paradigm for collaboration is something every part of the industry should know about. When health plans use technology to build trust with providers, providers will welcome them into their practices for collaborative patient care.”