News
Recent news and press releases of the Delaware Valley ACOKatherine Schneider, M.D. at Becker’s 11th Annual Meeting in Chicago
The Becker Hospital Review Meeting for April 2020 has been cancelled.
On April 7, 2020 DVACO CEO Katherine Schneider joins Jack Lynch, President and Chief Executive Officer, Main Line Health, and Bruce Meyer, M.D., President Jefferson Health; Senior Executive Vice President, Thomas Jefferson University, as part of a panel discussion: “Building Strong Provider/Payer Relationships Through Collaboration”. As part of Becker’s ongoing interview series, Dr. Schneider shared thoughts on inspiration, care models, and transformation in healthcare. View more information on the interview series.
Welcoming DVACO’s New Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Mark Angelo.
Delaware Valley ACO is fortunate to have Mark Angelo, M.D. joining us as Chief Medical Officer and his timing could not be better.
With the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (“CMS”) announcing challenging new models for its Medicare Shared Savings Program (“MSSP”) and deeper engagement with commercial payers in our future, Mark is taking the clinical reins of the organization at a pivotal point.
Fortunately, he comes well prepared for the tasks ahead. He joins DVACO from Cooper University Health Care where he served in many roles, including Medical Director for Population Health and as Chief Executive Officer of the AllCare Health Alliance ACO. He will manage all activities of the DVACO clinical team including quality, care coordination, population health pharmacy, post-acute strategy, clinical integration and practice transformation.
For more from Dr. Angelo, including a blog post about practice transformation and the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit (“AWV”), click here.
Delaware Valley Accountable Care Organization recipient of the National Association of ACOs Innovation Award
A large percentage of patients’ care occurs in post-acute environments such as nursing facilities, home health and hospice and outpatient rehab therapy. The care provided in these environments demonstrates high variability in both quality and cost outcomes. The DVACO developed methods to measure both quality and cost outcomes (value) in post-acute care, and then defined high-value partners and effective strategies, which is a critical factor to success for any population health/value-based care endeavor.
“We were proud to receive this award which recognized our use of data to develop post-acute strategy and ultimately improve outcomes for our patients,” said Souder.
Katherine Schneider, MD, president, DVACO added, “We are honored to have been recognized by NAACOS for the broad and deep changes implemented by our physicians and hospitals, supported by data, that over the past four years have improved quality and safety while reducing the total cost of skilled nursing facility spending by 25% in our Medicare population. We are excited to continue to strengthen these collaborations as more and more emphasis is placed on excellent care coordination across the continuum and the community.”
The NAACO allows ACOs to work together to increase quality of care, lower costs and improve the health of their communities. Determined to create an environment for advocacy and shared learning, more than 360 ACOs with more than 5 million lives from all 50 states and the District of Columbia formed NAACOS.
Katherine Schneider, M.D. Discusses the ACO Final Rule with HFMA
When it comes to some of the highest-risk and most costly people in the country, “change doesn’t happen overnight.” In this January 2019 Q & A with HFMA, Dr. Schneider discusses CMS’ December 2018 ACO Final Rule and its likely impact on ACOs.
Katherine Schneider addresses 2018 HIT Summit
DVACO CEO Katherine A. Schneider, M.D. addressed the 2018 Health Information Technology Summit, held in Philadelphia in May 2018. Read more here to learn her thoughts on Patient Engagement and why “engagement” may now be the most overused word in health care.
The “truth” about alternative payment models
New faces may be headed to Congress, but they will encounter an old problem: the threat of rising health care spending. The debate about value based payment models and what is and isn’t working is likely to be front and center in the months ahead. Find out more about alternative payment models in this informative Health Affairs blog post.
Catching up with Katherine Schneider, M.D., M.Phil., FAAFP, CEO of DVACO in an interview with Population Health News
Population Health News: How does population health integrate with accountable care?
Katherine Schneider: My motto is that ACOs are all about the “C” part of the acronym. If we don’t change the care model at an individual level, then we will not achieve improvements in outcomes, which include the health of a population, the care experience and smarter spending. I also view population health as a set of tools that we are integrating into the delivery system for data-driven quality improvement and care coordination. It is a viewpoint that expands beyond the four walls and timespan of a provider visit to include what happens to/for/by people 24/7, 365 days of the year regardless of where they are.
Population Health News: How do you embed chronic disease management in a delivery system?
Katherine Schneider: While I get annoyed when people say it’s all about the incentives, it certainly is a foundational prerequisite to have meaningful incentives aligned with better chronic disease care processes and outcomes. But you also have to teach providers new skills and give them tools. I like to use the analogy of surgeons learning to use laparoscopes decades ago. Last but not least, you need to address what should be embedded directly in a delivery system. Successful “embedding” really means transformative disruption of historical workflows of clinical practice, such as redistributing tasks to multidisciplinary teams working at the maximal scopes of their licenses. If this level of change is required of clinicians, then ensure that the rest of the system is also expected to change to support better outcomes (i.e., benefit designs which promote adherence to chronic disease self management rather than the other way around). Ultimately, we need to make doing the right thing the easiest default choice for care teams and patients. We still have a lot of work to do.
Becker’s Hospital Review Names 110 ACOs to Know
Becker’s Hospital Review has named the Delaware Valley Accountable Care Organization (DVACO) to their 2017 list of 110 ACOs to Know. The list features a variety of Medicare and commercial payer ACOs, led by hospitals, health systems, physician groups and other organizations, that have experienced success with their quality metrics.
“We are honored to be included as one of Becker’s 110 ACOs to Know,” says Katherine Schneider, MD, President of the DVACO. “Since its inception, the DVACO has enrolled more than 200,000 patients who are receiving coordinated care as part of our multi-health system joint venture. DVACO has also become one of the largest ACOs in the country and has experienced tremendous success as one of the top performing ACOs under the Medicare Shared Savings Program. As we continue to grow, DVACO will remain serving as a catalyst for change in the Philadelphia region on how to help providers come together as more than the sum of their parts in their journey from volume to value.”
The Becker’s Healthcare editorial team selected ACOs for inclusion based on quality and cost performance, advanced tracks of the Medicare Shared Savings Program and the innovative nature of commercial agreements. ACOs are presented in alphabetical order and are either listed by formal name of the ACO or, if the organization has several contracts, by the name of the health system or provider group associated with those ACOs. The full list can be viewed here.
About the Delaware Valley Accountable Care Organization (DVACO)
The Delaware Valley Accountable Care Organization (DVACO) is a limited liability company that is owned by Main Line Health and Jefferson Health, serving the Greater Philadelphia region. DVACO’s purpose is to enhance the quality of health care and reduce the growth rate of health care costs by acting as a convener, accelerator, and provider of the foundation needed to assist its participating members to transition from fee for service, a business model focused on volume, to a model focused on population health.
DVACO operates under the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) through an agreement with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Currently DVACO is the region’s largest Medicare ACO with more than 2,000 physicians and 90,000 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries. Additionally, DVACO currently holds three performance-based contracts with private payers as well as the employees and dependents of its owners —enhancing DVACO’s total number of beneficiaries to above 250,000—a number that will likely increase in the future as DVACO participates with additional insurance payers in population health contracts.
About Becker’s Hospital Review
Becker’s Hospital Review is a monthly publication offering up-to-date business and legal news and analysis relating to hospitals and health systems. Articles are geared toward high-level hospital leaders, and we work to provide valuable information, including hospital and health system news, best practices and legal guidance specifically for these decision-makers. Each issue of Becker’s Hospital Review reaches more than 18,000 people, primarily acute care hospital CEOs, CFOs and CIOs.
DVACO Selected as one of 79 Renewing Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs
The Delaware Valley Accountable Care Organization (DVACO) was selected as one of 79 renewing Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs, providing Medicare beneficiaries with access to high-quality, coordinated care across the United States, CMS announced today. Beginning January 1, 2017, a total of 480 Shared Savings Program ACOs are serving over 9 million assigned beneficiaries.
“DVACO has become one of the largest ACOs in the country and has experienced tremendous success in both high quality and smarter spending,” says Katherine Schneider, MD, President of the DVACO. “We are honored to have been selected once again to continue our mission of transforming the care delivery model in the Philadelphia region and beyond.”
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced over 359,000 clinicians are confirmed to participate in four of CMS’s Alternative Payment Models (APMs) in 2017. Clinicians who participate in APMs are paid for the quality of care they give to their patients. APMs are an important part of the Administration’s effort to build a system that delivers better care and one in which clinicians work together to have a full understanding of patients’ needs. APMs also strive to ensure that patients are in the center of their care, and that Medicare pays for what works and spends taxpayer money more wisely, resulting in a healthier country.
“By listening to physicians and engaging them as partners, CMS has been able to develop innovative payment reforms that bring physicians back to the core practice of medicine – caring for the patient,” said Acting Administrator, Andy Slavitt. “By reducing regulatory burden and paying for quality, CMS is offering solutions that improve the quality of services our beneficiaries receive and reduce costs, to help ensure the Medicare program is sustainable for generations to come.”
The Medicare Shared Savings Program (Shared Savings Program), Next Generation Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Model, Comprehensive End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Care Model (CEC) and Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+) Model all apply the concept of paying for quality and effectiveness of care given to patients in different health care settings. Today, CMS is announcing the participants in each of these models for the 2017 calendar year.
With today’s announcement, participants in the four APMs are improving care delivery in 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. In 2017, there are:
- Over 359,000 clinicians participating in APMs
- More than 12.3 million Medicare and/or Medicaid beneficiaries served
- 572 ACOs across the Shared Savings Program, Next Generation ACO Model and CEC Model
- 131 ACOs in a risk-bearing track, including in the Shared Savings Program, Next Generation ACO Model and CEC Model
- 2,893 primary care practices participating in CPC+
“These models demonstrate CMS’s commitment to partner with providers to improve care for patients,” said Dr. Patrick Conway, Acting Principal Deputy Administrator and Director of the CMS Innovation Center. “My mother and over 12 million other Medicare beneficiaries are now cared for by doctors and other clinicians in payment models that focus on better health outcomes and coordinated, high quality care.”
Specific to the Shared Savings Program
The Shared Savings Program was established by section 3022 of the Affordable Care Act and is a key component of the Medicare delivery system reform initiatives included in the Affordable Care Act. Shared Savings Program ACOs are groups of doctors and other health care providers who voluntarily work together with Medicare to provide high quality services to Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries. In 2017, the Shared Savings Program welcomed 99 new participants and 79 renewing participants, bringing the total number of participants to 480 across 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. CMS also recently announced a new Medicare ACO Track 1+ Model for 2018 that will test a payment design that incorporates more limited downside risk than is currently present in Tracks 2 or 3 of the Shared Savings Program in order to encourage more practices, especially small practices and small rural hospitals, to advance to performance-based risk.
Doctors, hospitals, and health care providers establish ACOs to work together to provide higher-quality coordinated care to their patients, while helping to slow the growth of health care costs. DVACO is one of 480 ACOs participating in the Shared Savings Program, as of January 1, 2017. Beneficiaries seeing health care providers in ACOs always have the freedom to choose doctors inside or outside of the ACO. ACOs have the opportunity to receive a portion of the Medicare savings generated from lowering the growth in health care costs as long as they also meet standards for high quality care.
Since ACOs first began participating in the Shared Savings Program in early 2012, thousands of health care providers have signed on to participate in the program, working together to provide better care to Medicare beneficiaries.
For the Shared Savings Program Fact Sheet and a list of the new and renewing ACOs announced, visit the Shared Savings Program News and Updates webpage.
About Delaware Valley Accountable Care Organization:
The Delaware Valley Accountable Care Organization (DVACO)–the largest and most successful ACO in the greater Philadelphia region – is a limited liability company owned by Main Line Health and Jefferson Health, with around 2000 participating physicians. DVACO’s purpose is to enhance the quality of health care and reduce the growth rate of health care costs by acting as a convener, accelerator, and provider of the foundation needed to assist its participating members to transition from fee for service model, a business model focused on volume, to a model focused on value-based care and population health. DVACO operates under the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) as well as multiple private payer contracts. For more information please visit www.dvaco.org.
DVACO President Katherine Schneider, MD, Named to List of Most Powerful Women in Healthcare IT
(Radnor, PA – June 8, 2016) — Katherine Schneider, MD, President of the Delaware Valley Accountable Care Organization (DVACO), has been recognized as one of the most powerful women in healthcare technology by Health Data Management. Dr. Schneider was chosen as one of the “Provider/Payer Executives” honorees and was one of 75 women to receive this honor. She received the award at the Most Powerful Women in Healthcare IT event held last month in Boston. The program honored award winners and offered professional development, mentoring and networking for women in the industry.
“I am honored to be recognized amongst a group of women who are truly leaders in the IT field,” said Dr. Schneider. “The health care industry is undergoing a dramatic transformation and IT innovations are providing the foundation for new care models and producing key information at the right time, all to benefit the patients and communities we serve.”
The DVACO is a limited liability company that is owned in part by Main Line Health. DVACO’s purpose is to enhance the quality of health care and reduce the growth rate of health care costs by acting as a convener, accelerator, and provider of the foundation needed to assist its participating members to transition from fee for service model, a business model focused on volume, to a model focused on population health. Dr. Schneider has been leading the DVACO since 2014. She provides leadership, strategic direction and management for all aspects of the organization.
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For more information:
Bridget Therriault
DVACO
System Director of Communications
484-580-1025
TherriaultB@MLHS.ORG