Trinity Health, an 86-hospital Catholic system based in Livonia, Mich., has signed a definitive joint venture agreement with Heritage Provider Network to advance its strategy of coordinating care for specific groups of patients.
Under the deal, Trinity and Heritage, a health insurer and organization of independent physician groups based in Marina del Rey, Calif., are creating care networks in markets across the country. The networks, similar to accountable care organizations, are composed of primary-care physicians, hospitals, clinics and other providers to manage care for patient populations.
Trinity and Heritage will then contract with health insurers for full-risk capitated payments for those care networks. The organizations say the joint venture, Trinity Health Partners, will help move their systems more quickly away from the current fee-for-service reimbursements and toward their shared goal of a “people-centered health system.”
Trinity and Heritage have been in negotiations on the care networks for the past nine months. Dr. Richard Gilfillan, Trinity's CEO, said the networks will exist in a couple of markets to start and will expand as needed.
