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As the industry moves further into value-based care, nurse practitioners are playing an increasingly important role in driving outcomes by improving both quality and efficiency. From primary care offices to hospitals and urgent care clinics to long-term care facilities to the home, NPs are improving health and well-being across settings. 

More than 50 years ago, the first nurse practitioner training program was developed at the University of Colorado. Upon completing advanced clinical training, registered nurses – who also have completed a master’s or doctoral degree program – assess patients, order and interpret diagnostic tests, make diagnoses, prescribe medications, and manage treatment plans. A half-century later, NPs have become an integral part of healthcare, expanding access to high-quality medical treatment in communities across the country.

Over the last ten years, financial and staffing issues have caused too many hospitals to close, especially those in rural areas and serving vulnerable communities. These closures threaten access to care for millions of Americans. The 340B drug discount program has helped safety net providers to stretch scarce federal resources by offering significantly reduced prices on prescription drugs. By participating in 340B, safety net providers can reach more eligible patients and provide more comprehensive population health services. This important program must be preserved and protected.

Our new paper explains the importance of 340B and accountable care, as well as our ideas for improving the program to make it more sustainable. The paper “Caravan Health and 340B – A pillar of support for safety net hospitals” is available here.

In March 2021, Signify Health introduced its Provider Enablement Platform. The new resource effectively helped healthcare professionals streamline the patient data tools they were using while introducing new functionalities that increased efficiencies while continuing to support patient and provider engagement.

Signify Health, a leader in accountable care and the 340B drug discount program, has announced its new success-based pricing model for 2022. ACOs have faced tremendous uncertainties throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and Signify Health is supporting providers by eliminating all service fees and start-up costs to join its ACO program. By freeing providers from these costs and allowing them to collect a percentage of shared savings earned, Signify is positioning providers to better deliver high-value care. Signify Health works with providers to minimize their downside financial risk in the Medicare Shared Savings Program.

Signify Health’s success-based pricing model also extends to its 340B service line, where Signify Health helps ACO participants maximize their use of the 340B drug discount program with new value-based contract data and workflows. The service line can potentially enable ACO participants to earn more 340B discounts while helping hospitals and physicians expand primary care services for underserved patients with minimal risk.

"As Medicare and other payors are asking healthcare providers to take financial risk related to patient outcomes, it is critical that accountable care enablers not only provide the guidance, technology, and methodologies necessary for success, but also walk the walk, in terms of sharing financial risk,” said Rachelle Schultz, President & CEO of Winona Health. “Signify Health is that enabling partner. Their success-based pricing and shared risk model ensure they're invested in our organization's success. That is the type of confidence and assurance we need.”

Signify Health’s ACO participants consistently rank among the national leaders in performance measures. In 2019 and 2020, all Signify Health collaborative ACO participants earned near-perfect Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) scores, and in 2020, 100% of provider participants in the collaborative ACO model received shared savings. These strong results, combined with Signify Health ACOs actively managing the care of more than 500,000 Medicare beneficiaries, have led to the company’s management of one of the largest and most successful accountable care organizations in the nation.

Signify Health pioneered its collaborative ACO model based on statistical analyses that demonstrated the importance of having a viable number of beneficiaries being managed. Having more beneficiaries in an ACO results in less random variation, creating more stable and predictable financial results – results linked to actual improvements in care rather than the “luck of the draw”. In Signify Health-supported ACOs, independent providers band together to build a model that positions them to mitigate risk, achieve collective success, and improve patient outcomes. Providers, who would otherwise be too small to make total costs of care risk viable on their own, maintain their independence in a collaborative ACO, while benefiting from safety in numbers.

"A successful ACO requires joining forces with other healthcare systems, making investments in systems and staff, and adopting strong population health management. It can be difficult for providers to effectively line the pieces up, especially as the COVID public health emergency continues,” said Tim Gronniger, Chief Value-Based Solutions Officer for Signify Health. “Our model lowers the barrier to ACO participation while providing a sustainable path forward to earn savings and lower total costs.”