Iowa Health changing name to UnityPoint Health

Iowa Health System, Des Moines, said it would abandon its geographically apt name for UnityPoint Health. The switch comes after the health system, which owns or manages 20 Iowa hospitals and another two in Illinois, began to consolidate its nine physician groups in 2012 and sought to brand doctors and hospitals under a single name, said Bill Leaver, UnityPoint's CEO.

The newly created UnityPoint Clinic will include roughly 900 providers, Leaver said. Consolidation of the physician groups continues and is expected to be complete this year, he said.

Leaver described the shift as “purely a change in identity” and UnityPoint's management and operations would remain the same. However, he said, the new brand better reflects the system's goals to better coordinate medical care and bolster the relationship between primary-care doctor and patient, according to focus group research. Leaver said that during the past four years the system has sought to overhaul its healthcare financing and delivery to promote closer care coordination and by primary-care providers and stronger connections between patient and doctors.

The health system includes one of Medicare's first accountable care organizations, which launched in January 2012 under the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation's Pioneer program. Accountable care offers providers financial incentives to curb healthcare costs and meet quality targets for a group of patients. Leaver said early results show the system has reduced repeated emergency room visits and the number of patients who return to the hospital shortly after leaving. Hospital readmissions within 30 days fell by 43% during the accountable care organization's first 11 months, the health system said.

The Pioneers, which entered their second year in January with higher stakes and new quality requirements, are in negotiations with CMMI officials about the revised quality measures, Leaver said.

UnityPoint Health is Iowa's largest health system and reported income of $37.5 million on revenue of $2 billion for the first nine months of last year, the most recent financial statements available.

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