6 Strategies for Pivoting to Value-Based Care

As published in America’s Physician Groups, written by Dr. Will Daines and Dave Henriksen.

Transitioning from volume to value requires vast operational changes. In 2019, Intermountain Healthcare launched Castell, a comprehensive health services company that helps providers, payers, health systems, and accountable care organizations achieve success in value-based care.

Since then, Castell has helped Intermountain Medical Group succeed in value-based care by focusing on chronic disease management and prevention in the highest risk patients. Using Intermountain Healthcare’s Reimagined Primary Care model, Castell has supported these patients by bringing together care capabilities developed across Intermountain over the course of the past 10 years and extending them across a landscape of owned and affiliated provider groups.

Getting value-based care right requires significant investment, commitment, and flexibility across organizations. Under Reimagined Primary Care, Castell identified and implemented the following strategies and changes:

1. Align provider panels with at-risk patients. Restructuring panels can be difficult at first, but it is a necessary first step to move into value-based care. There must be enough value-based lives in a provider’s panel to make the changes worth the effort.
2. Restructure teams and workflows. After panels have been aligned, teams need to be restructured and properly resourced to succeed in this different model of care. Core workflows and processes need to be adjusted and adopted to operationalize this. Castell’s Care Traffic Control model brings teams together in daily huddles to coordinate patient outreach, the closing of care gaps, and the transitioning of care needs.
3. Educate providers and teams. It takes a village to succeed in value. Ensure that everyone is equipped to participate in this team effort by educating them about the core tenets of value-based care, no matter how big or small of a role they will play.
4. Deploy novel technologies. Castell’s “secret sauce” is the ability to integrate multiple data sets and overlay advanced algorithms to harness and unlock the power of this data.
5. Embed real-time insights. Real-time, actionable insights need to be incorporated into teams’ daily workflows. Castell’s predictive analytics enable providers to focus on who should be on their schedule—and pivot toward preventive, holistic care rather than episodic treatment.
6. Align incentives. Financial incentives need to be aligned across the continuum between multiple payers and provider groups. Through Reimagined Primary Care, Castell has been able to align these incentives and fine-tune payer contracting and provider compensation.

“Implementing these changes has resulted in financial and clinical success across Intermountain Medical Group.”

Committing to and implementing these changes has resulted in financial and clinical success across Intermountain Medical Group. Clinics in the Reimagined Primary Care model have experienced $9.40 per-member-per-month savings when compared with providers in fee-for-service models. Clinics that have been participating in the valuebased model for more than a year have earned 40% higher quality scores, and their caregivers are more engaged, with engagement scores in the 98th percentile.

Attend Castell’s presentation at the 2021 APG Annual Conference for a closer look at these core practices and how Castell brings them together to improve network engagement and drive successful performance in value-based care.

Will Daines, MD, is Interim Chief Operating Officer and Director of Clinical Operations at Castell, and Dave Henriksen is Vice President of Clinical Operations.

ABOUT CASTELL

Castell is a comprehensive health services company that helps healthcare providers, payers, health systems, and accountable care organizations achieve success in value-based care. Castell’s impactful analytic products and innovative care solutions are designed to accelerate organizations’ transition from volume to value and improve outcomes for patients while keeping costs more affordable. Castell is an Intermountain Healthcare company.