University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center announced Monday it has contracted with large, self-insured employer Walmart in a bundled payment program for joint replacements procedures.
The program, which University Hospitals officially began in May, is available to Walmart health plan members and their families. Only two surgeons will participate in the program "to ensure quality," a University Hospitals spokesman said.
University Hospitals is the latest provider to contract with Walmart to provide bundled-care services to its health plan members. In April, Walmart announced it created an accountable care organization with Atlanta-based Emory Healthcare to offer spine surgery and joint replacements to its employees. Walmart now contracts with 11 providers, which it calls centers of excellence. Other providers include Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins.
Under the contract with University Hospitals, Walmart health plan members will receive 100% coverage for their procedure along with any travel or lodging expenses.
University Hospitals will review the patient's medical records, create a care plan, provide patient and caregiver education on treatment, manage the patient's transition home and collaborate with the patient's local physicians.
University Hospitals already has experience in this arena. Two of its hospitals—UH Cleveland Medical Center and UH Conneaut Medical Center—are centers of excellence for General Electric Co. The system also participated in Medicare's bundled payment program.
Walmart is a leader in a growing trend among large self-insured employers to contract directly with providers in an effort to cut costs. About 28% of employers currently have benefit design packages that incentivize employees to use high-quality hospitals or physicians, according to research from professional services firm Aon, which surveys its employer clients. Another 58% of employers are interested in such a strategy in the next two to three years, according to Aon.
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