Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • ESG: THE IMPLEMENTATION IMPERATIVE
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Digital Health
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Transformation
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Unwell in America
  • Opinion
    • Bold Moves
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Vital Signs Blog
    • From the Editor
  • Events & Awards
    • Awards
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top 25 Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
      • - Leaders to Watch
    • Women in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Women Leaders
      • - Women to Watch
    • Digital Health Transformation Summit
    • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - Digital Health
    • - Future of Staffing
    • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
  • Multimedia
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Video Series - The Check Up
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
  • Data Center
    • Data Center Home
    • Hospital Financials
    • Staffing & Compensation
    • Quality & Safety
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Data Archive
    • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
    • Surveys
    • Data Points
  • MORE+
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Newsletters
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Providers
June 18, 2016 01:00 AM

Best Practices: From the bottom up, Iora Health helps providers build ACO framework

Jaclyn Schiff
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Getty Images

    Accountable care organizations are viewed as the leading government-backed approach in the transition from volume to value. Boston-based company Iora Health is helping providers invert ACO models and deliver strong results.

    Rushika Fernandopulle, the company's co-founder and CEO, describes the typical ACO framework as “top-down,” starting with health system changes that will hopefully trickle down to benefit patients.

    “What we're doing is building bottom-up ACOs. Start with primary care and then build on top of that—some specialty care, relationships with hospitals, etc.,” Fernandopulle said on the sidelines of the World Health Care Congress in May.

    The venture-backed company offers a redesigned care and payment model that more closely resembles a subscription plan (think Netflix) than the conventional fee-for-service approach. Its model has expanded quickly over the past four years and data suggest patients are satisfied with the care. Their health is improving, too.

    Since 2012, the company has partnered with employers, unions and insurance companies. Iora Health provides the care—pairing patients with a care team consisting of a doctor, a nurse and a health coach. The company also emphasizes behavioral health—each market has at least one specialist—and the primary-care teams receive training on behavioral health basics.

    Dartmouth Health Connect, an Iora Health primary-care practice in Hanover, N.H., for example, sees patients sponsored by Dartmouth College, King Arthur Flour and the New England Carpenters Health Benefit Fund.

    The results at Dartmouth are promising. The proportion of patients with high-blood pressure who achieved guideline-defined control increased to 86% in 2016 from 64% in 2013.

    The proactive approach to primary care is also paying off by preventing costly emergency room visits. Dartmouth Health Connect patients had a 35% reduction in hospitalizations and 23% reduction in ER visits when compared with matched control patients outside the practice.

    MH Strategies

  • A membership model allows primary-care clinicians and staff to focus on patient relationships.

  • Health coaches help carry out treatment plans and preventive strategies.

  • Behavioral health is considered a key part of primary care.
  • Patient satisfaction is another key piece. Iora Health conducts regular patient surveys using Net Promoter Scores, a customer experience metric with scores that range from -100% to +100%. High-performing providers typically score around +30%. The Dartmouth practice scores +89%.

    Iora Health's results are getting noticed by stakeholders who praise the company's process and outcomes, and by investors who believe the model is sustainable and scalable.

    The company raised $62 million in external funding to support aggressive expansion. It currently serves 45,000 patients in its network of 29 clinics across 11 markets and plans to double in size this year. But the focus is now on going deep—building multiple clinics and practices in the same areas.

    Last month at the National Patient Safety Foundation's annual congress, the company was recognized as one of two winners of the 2016 John Q. Sherman Award for Excellence in Patient Engagement.

    “They built their work from the ground up to focus on relationships and partnerships with patients and included a variety of tactics to reach their patients with the right information at the right time to influence behavior and achieve improved outcomes,” said Mark O'Leary, president of Taylor Healthcare, a marketing and communications company that served as a co-sponsor of the award. O'Leary was on the panel of eight judges, which included medical leaders from the Cleveland Clinic and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

    A significant problem with the fee-for-service model is that it encourages reactive care delivery and doesn't allow primary-care practices the time and flexibility to pursue preventive care and follow up with patients, said Dr. David Judge, Iora Health's chief medical officer.

    Iora Health's patient-coach encounters don't happen only in medical offices. Coaches sometimes do “walking visits” in parks or meet patients at the local grocery store to help with healthful and affordable food shopping. Staff members also interact with patients via email, texting and video. The practices also use Iora Health's own electronic health record system because the company concluded that other EHRs were primarily transactional—built to accommodate coding and billing.

    “The relationship between our care teams and the patient is what drives overall satisfaction and fosters healthier outcomes,” Judge said.

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    373837936 (1).jpg
    New guidelines aim to limit trans healthcare at Catholic hospitals
    InDepth: Private Equity
    Legal questions surround private equity-backed Noble Health
    Most Popular
    1
    More healthcare organizations at risk of credit default, Moody's says
    2
    Centene fills out senior executive team with new president, COO
    3
    SCAN, CareOregon plan to merge into the HealthRight Group
    4
    Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan unveils big push that lets physicians take on risk, reap rewards
    5
    Bright Health weighs reverse stock split as delisting looms
    Sponsored Content
    Modern Healthcare A.M. Newsletter: Sign up to receive a comprehensive weekday morning newsletter designed for busy healthcare executives who need the latest and most important healthcare news and analysis.
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Digital Health
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Unwell in America
    • Opinion
      • Bold Moves
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • Vital Signs Blog
      • From the Editor
    • Events & Awards
      • Awards
        • Nominate/Eligibility
        • 100 Most Influential People
        • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
        • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
        • Excellence in Governance
        • Health Care Hall of Fame
        • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
        • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
        • Top 25 Innovators
        • Diversity in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
          • - Leaders to Watch
        • Women in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Women Leaders
          • - Women to Watch
      • Conferences
        • Digital Health Transformation Summit
        • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
        • Leadership Symposium
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
      • Galas
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - Digital Health
        • - Future of Staffing
        • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
      • Webinars
    • Multimedia
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Video Series - The Check Up
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • Data Center
      • Data Center Home
      • Hospital Financials
      • Staffing & Compensation
      • Quality & Safety
      • Mergers & Acquisitions
      • Data Archive
      • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
      • Surveys
      • Data Points
    • MORE+
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Newsletters
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing