SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aetna (NYSE: AET), Tenet’s Baptist Health System and HealthTexas Medical Group today announced an accountable care collaboration and the introduction of the Aetna Whole Health product in the San Antonio area. Aetna Whole Health is a collection of benefits plans that will give members access to highly coordinated care from physicians and facilities in the Baptist Health System and the HealthTexas Medical Group. The health plans are designed for fully insured customers with employees who live or work in Bexar, Guadalupe, Comal and Kendall counties. The products will be available on July 1, 2014.
Baptist Health System and HealthTexas Medical Group Network will be able to provide high quality care and personalized service to Aetna members through five hospitals 42 primary care offices and more than 900 physicians in the San Antonio area.
“We are excited at the opportunity to work with the Baptist Health System and HealthTexas Medical Group to improve the quality of care for our members and to lower health care costs,” said Mike Nelson, Aetna’s market president of South Texas. “This agreement will ensure that our members in and around San Antonio receive care that helps them live healthier, more productive lives.”
The accountable care collaboration gives employers better health care options for their employees, and will feature a new model of health care delivery designed to offer:
- Cost savings to employees who use providers in the Accountable Care Network;
- A more coordinated, personalized experience for patients; and
- Better health care outcomes.
Accountable care models drive focus on more coordinated care
An accountable care collaboration is a group of health care providers who assume responsibility for the quality and cost of care for a group of patients. Aetna members will receive an enhanced level of coordinated care in addition to the member benefits of their current Aetna plan.
New payment agreements reward improvements in quality and costs of care
The agreement features a new payment model to reward Tenet’s Baptist Health System and HealthTexas Medical Group for meeting quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction measures including:
- The percentage of Aetna members who get recommended preventive care and screenings;
- Better management of patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart failure;
- Reductions in avoidable hospital readmission rates; and
- Reductions in emergency room visits.
“The Baptist Health System, as one of the area's largest employers, has experienced six-figure savings after just one year of adopting a shared-savings model within our own organization. While most employers’ healthcare spending has risen, we in fact have been able to decrease our spend year over year," stated, Graham Reeve, President and CEO of Baptist Health System. "The creation of this new health plan design better aligns the incentives of not only our employees, but the providers caring for them to promote better health, coordinated care and ultimately better outcomes and cost-savings to employers."
“HealthTexas Medical Group has been successfully refining our model of highly coordinated healthcare over the past two decades,” said Richard Reyna, M.D., President of HealthTexas Medical Group of San Antonio. “Working with Aetna and Baptist Health System, together we have created a new type of commercial health plan, utilizing the high quality and convenient locations of Baptist Health System, coupled with the highly coordinated primary care model of HealthTexas. The network of physician specialists in this program has been carefully selected by our own physicians with the goal of delivering the highest quality healthcare available in the area. This collaboration will be welcome news to San Antonio citizens and businesses. It will bring a new and very much needed type of health plan. We are finally at the starting gate for a highly refined model of healthcare which will deliver high quality, cost efficiency, and high patient satisfaction, which we believe will help to define a new era of healthcare delivery.”
Aetna is working with health care organizations across the country to develop products and services that support value-driven, patient-centered care. Aetna’s solutions help all types of patients, regardless of payer. Information about Accountable Care Solutions from Aetna is available at www.aetnaacs.com.
About Baptist Health System
Baptist Health System is a trusted provider of health care in San Antonio and South Texas. The System includes five acute-care hospitals (Baptist Medical Center, Mission Trail Baptist Hospital, North Central Baptist Hospital, Northeast Baptist Hospital, and St. Luke’s Baptist Hospital) which offer 1,674 licensed beds. All five hospitals have earned Accredited Chest Pain Center designation, as well as Primary Stroke Center Certification. Medicare has designated each as Texas’ only Medicare Value Based Care Centers.
The system also includes Baptist Regional Children’s Center, Baptist Breast Center, Baptist Cancer Center, South Texas Lung Institute, The Brain & Stroke Network, HealthLink and Baptist M&S Imaging Centers. The system is part of Tenet Healthcare Corporation, Dallas, Texas.
About HealthTexas
HealthTexas Medical Group is a locally owned and operated primary care physician group who specializes in preventive health care for families. Since 1994, HealthTexas has been a consistent leader in the health care industry in providing outcomes driven primary care. HealthTexas recently opened its 15th clinic in the Greater San Antonio area as it continues to set the standard in the ever evolving primary health care industry. All physicians are Board Certified and most are recognized as a Top Doctor in San Antonio® or Best Doctor in America®. The majority of HealthTexas physicians have recently been recognized by U.S. News and World Report as Top Doctors in the Country®.
About Aetna
Aetna is one of the nation's leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving an estimated 44 million people with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional, voluntary and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life and disability plans, and medical management capabilities, Medicaid health care management services, workers' compensation administrative services and health information technology products and services. Aetna’s customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and expatriates. For more information, see www.aetna.com.
