Wellpoint and Southcoast Health Work to Advance Whole Health, Improve Health Outcomes, and Reduce Costs in Southeastern Mass.
March 05, 2024
New multi-year agreement expands collaboration on value-based care and efforts to increase preventive care
WOBURN, MASS. – Wellpoint (formerly UniCare) announced it has signed a new multi-year agreement with Southcoast Health focused on new care delivery models designed to advance whole health, lower costs, and increase value for the people they mutually serve in the South Coast.
The agreement secures long-term access to affordable healthcare at Southcoast Health’s three acute care hospitals (Charlton Memorial Hospital, St. Luke’s Hospital, and Tobey Hospital), urgent care centers, behavioral health services, cancer centers, physician practices, and all other locations and services for Wellpoint members.
While Wellpoint and Southcoast Health have long partnered on value-based care delivery and quality-based payment models, the new agreement expands that work to include Wellpoint’s advanced value-based care methodology that incentivizes primary care and whole health. This represents further progress in moving toward healthcare models that align reimbursement with enhanced primary care, improved health outcomes, and reduced cost trends over time.
“Aligning provider reimbursements to health quality outcomes increases preventive care, improves chronic condition management, reduces hospital admissions, incentivizes whole health, and ultimately lowers costs for our members and Massachusetts taxpayers,” said David Morales, general manager of Wellpoint. “Through this agreement, we are pleased to be able to further collaborate with Southcoast Health on how we can better promote preventive care and support the whole health of the people our two organizations mutually serve. We look forward to our continued partnership.”
Clinical leaders from both organizations will also collaborate on reducing unnecessary hospitalizations and closing any potential care gaps for Wellpoint members, such as ensuring they are receiving recommended immunizations and cancer screenings as outlined by the Commonwealth’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services’ Quality Measure Alignment Taskforce.
Wellpoint administers health benefits for more than 200,000 state and municipal employees, retirees, and their families insured by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Group Insurance Commission.
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