U.S. Medical Management, and its Affiliate Visiting Physicians Association, Improve Health and Reduce Costs for the Frail Elderly under the CMS Independence at Home Demonstration - for Second Year

TROY, Mich., Aug. 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that in the second year of the five-year Independence at Home (IAH) Demonstration, U.S. Medical Management (USMM) and its affiliate Visiting Physicians Association (VPA) achieved significant improvements in quality of patient care, while significantly reducing overall healthcare costs for homebound elderly patients with complex, chronic conditions. 

Five of the 15 practices participating in the IAH Demonstration are VPA practices, managed by USMM. Together the VPA practices were responsible for caring for patients making up approximately 40 percent of the entire Demonstration in Year 2.

The IAH Demonstration was designed to test whether home-centered care can reduce the need for hospital and emergency room care, improve patient and caregiver satisfaction, and lead to better health outcomes for beneficiaries along with lower costs to Medicare. Home-based primary care allows physicians and nurse-practitioners to spend more time with their patients, perform assessments in the patient's home environment, and assume greater responsibility for all aspects of their patient's care. 

Initial results from VPA practices participating in the IAH Demonstration show high performance in a number of quality and cost measures. Those improvements include:

• 11.25 percent reduction in expected costs over the  two  Performance Years (PY)
          (Yearly Reductions: PY1: 16.4 percent, PY2 5.7 percent)
• Continued reductions in ALL Cause 30 Day Readmissions, In-Hospital Admissions and ED Visits for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions
• VPA/USMM has saved over $29 million in the first two years of the program and continues to improve on IAH quality measures

"The IAH results are a validation of our 20-year commitment to helping the elderly maintain their health and improve their well-being through home-based primary care services," noted Michael Smith, CEO of USMM. "Our care delivery model has always been supported by strong continuity-based relationships with our patients, clinical discipline and a deep respect for the dignity and value of seniors in their respective communities. We are very proud to have the opportunity to be part of this important CMS initiative."

CMS also highlighted that seven of the seventeen 15 participating practices were eligible for shared savings incentive payments in year two; three of those seven were VPA practices. 

Financial results for the VPA/USMM participating practices during Year 1 and Year 2 are available here:
https://innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/independence-at-home/

About USMM
U.S. Medical Management (USMM), along with its affiliated entities (Visiting Physicians Association, Pinnacle Home Care, and Grace Hospice, among others) is a leading management services organization and provider of home based primary care services for complex/fragile patients. Based in Troy, Michigan, USMM operates Visiting Physician Association practices in 14 states, constituting a 200 + primary care provider group, providing continuity-based primary care under an integrated, physician-driven model which includes ancillary services such as home health, hospice, radiology, diagnostics, DME, laboratory, and pharmacy. In 2014, Centene Corporation CNC acquired a majority interest in USMM, integrating USMM's care delivery model across its Medicaid and dual-eligible membership. USMM also operates a multi-state Medicare Shared Savings Program ACO serving approximately 20,000 complex/fragile Medicare patients

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SOURCE U.S. Medical Management