NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Empire BlueCross BlueShield, New York’s largest health insurer, and NYUPN Clinically Integrated Network (NYUPN) today announced a new agreement under Empire’s Enhanced Personal Health Care arrangement. NYUPN consists of NYU Langone Medical Center, one of the nation’s premier centers for excellence in clinical care, biomedical research, and medical education, and the University Physicians’ Network, comprised of more than 1,800 clinical faculty and voluntary physicians affiliated with NYU Langone.
This agreement, effective July 1, 2015, will benefit approximately 28,000 Commercial and Medicare Empire members. The aim of this arrangement is to bring high-quality, patient-centered care and to control costs by promoting preventive medicine, enhanced care coordination, and effective chronic disease care management across NYU Langone’s extensive ambulatory care network and its four hospitals, including Tisch Hospital; Rusk Rehabilitation; the Hospital for Joint Diseases; and Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital. The agreement includes a specific focus on serving an increased number of Medicare beneficiaries and represents Empire’s commitment to New Yorkers on Medicare.
“Experts and patients alike know the doctor-patient relationship is the cornerstone of good health,” said Brian Griffin, President and CEO of Empire BlueCross BlueShield. “This program allows for incentives and payments to align with and reinforce this critical relationship.”
Members who see NYUPN providers may notice a range of added benefits, whether they are healthy, dealing with acute illnesses, or have a chronic disease. They will have more convenient access to personalized care that takes into account the whole person.
The arrangement provides value-based compensation to providers for delivering this type of care. To ensure success for providers and members, Empire has a team of experts from diverse backgrounds in the field of healthcare to assist everyone in the practice; those at the front desk, medical assistants, providers, and healthcare administrators. The goal is to connect primary care professionals with data, innovative concepts, tools, and resources.
The arrangement is supported by a fundamental change in Empire’s contracting strategy that allows primary care doctors to reinvest in their practice through:
- Monthly payments for care coordination – for example, preparing care plans for patients with multiple and complex conditions, and exchanging information with specialists, labs and with Empire.
- The opportunity to earn an annual shared savings payment when high-quality care helps control the growth of medical costs.
In addition, both organizations will collect and analyze data on quality, costs, and utilization that enables them to identify opportunities to improve care and maintain affordable healthcare costs for patients and employers in New York.
To participate in the shared savings aspect of the program, NYUPN will meet quality performance goals, which include quality standards established by organizations such as the National Committee on Quality Assurance, the American Diabetes Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and others. Physicians who maintain or improve quality may earn value-based incentive compensation through the shared savings model.
About Empire BlueCross BlueShield
Serving New Yorkers for 80 years, Empire BlueCross BlueShield (Empire) is the state’s largest health insurer, supporting more than five million members and more than 38,000 business, union and small employers. Empire is the trade name of Empire HealthChoice Assurance, Inc., and Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield HMO is the trade name of Empire HealthChoice HMO, Inc., independent licensees of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, serving residents and businesses in the 28 eastern and southeastern counties of New York State. Additional information about Empire is available at www.empireblue.com. Also, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/healthjoinin or @empirebcbs, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HealthJoinIn, or visit our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/healthjoinin.
About NYUPN Clinically Integrated Network
NYUPN is the clinically integrated network (CIN) of University Physicians Network (UPN) and NYU Langone Medical Center (NYU Langone). This unique alignment brings together over 1,800 physicians of the UPN and NYU Langone hospitals to collaborate in implementing nationally recognized standards for patient-centered, high quality, cost-efficient healthcare delivery. All physicians and hospitals use electronic medical records (EMR) that are connected to a network wide health information exchange (HIE), facilitating timely exchange of clinical information. NYUPN will also serve as a vehicle to negotiate and successfully execute health care contracts based on new and emerging payment models that reward high quality and cost-efficient care.