Aledade Partners with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana

November 25, 2020

Bethesda, MD; Baton Rouge, LA – Aledade and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana are partnering to help keep patients healthy in Louisiana. Aledade’s physician-led Accountable Care Organization (ACO) in Louisiana will join the Blue Cross Quality Blue Value Partnership (QBVP) program – expanding the ACO to provide care coordination for Louisianans covered by the cross and shield.

Aledade’s Louisiana ACO is made up of six leading primary care practices in Lafayette, New Iberia, Abbeville and Opelousas, providing care to 5,200 Medicare beneficiaries and is the only physician-led ACO in Louisiana to start in 2016 through the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). Aledade’s partnership with Blue Cross will double the number of patients benefiting from the coordinated, high-quality care delivered by Aledade’s Louisiana ACO. This is Aledade’s first commercial contract.

“This unique partnership further benefits Louisianans looking for quality, affordable care,” said Dr. Farzad Mostashari, CEO and co-founder of Aledade. “We are impressed with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana’s Quality Blue program and the alignment it creates to provide quality, value based health care across all patient populations.”

Aledade’s partnership with the Blue Cross QVBP program also represents an opportunity for doctors in Louisiana.

“This partnership allows independent primary care practices in Louisiana to take advantage of savings opportunities with Blue Cross that have previously only been available to the largest physician networks and hospital providers. By joining us, they can remain independent but share in the upside of reducing health care costs,” said Blaine Lindsey, Aledade Louisiana ACO Executive Director.

Aledade offers a new model of primary care by partnering with physicians to build and lead Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) – networks of physicians who band together to deliver coordinated care to patients. Aledade ACOs allow doctors to stay independent, practice medicine like they’ve always wanted to, and thrive by keeping people healthy. The Aledade model operates under a value-based payment structure that rewards positive health outcomes for patients, instead of the volume of health care services delivered.

The Aledade ACO and its member physicians will take on accountability for the total health care experience of Blue Cross patients cared for by the ACO’s practices. Blue Cross will provide the ACO with expertise and experience in care management and quality improvement as well as comprehensive data of the care provided. This gives the ACO’s physicians the ability to see beyond the walls of their practice for a comprehensive view of their patients’ health; empowering the physicians to provide more seamless care. Through this partnership, Aledade and Blue Cross will strive to create value in health care by improving the quality and reducing the cost of health care.

“We are excited to partner with Aledade on engagements with independent primary care physicians that promote the movement away from fee-for-service to fee-for-value. This brings another level of engagement to providers that are already participating in our Quality Blue Primary Care program. The capabilities that Aledade is bringing to these providers are impressive and we are encouraged that they will enable improvement in the cost and quality of care our members receive,” said Dr. Paul Murphree, Interim Chief Medical Officer at Blue Cross.

Aledade ACOs focus on delivering the highest-quality care to patients, with an emphasis on preventive care. In the Aledade model, primary care physicians are provided unparalleled regulatory expertise; best practices from a national network of hundreds of primary care doctors; user-friendly technology and data analytics that provide visibility into the spectrum of care their patients receive outside their office; and face-to-face practice transformation support.

Since its founding in June 2014, Aledade has grown significantly, partnering with more than 110 practices across 11 states, covering more than 100,00 patients and taking accountability for nearly a billion dollars of annual medical costs. Aledade is also expanding into new patient populations and entering new markets. Aledade recently announced additional partnerships with: (1) 10 Federal Qualified Health Centers in West Virginia to provide care to low-income patients, and (2) new ACOs forming in Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Utah/Nevada.

New data shows that Aledade ACOs, in 2015, had a 251% average practice increase in preventive care visits and a 175% average practice increase in transitional care services, resulting in a decrease in hospital readmission rates. Aledade ACOs had a $51,000 average increase in practice revenue in 2015.

Aledade also recently launched a redesigned website that better highlights Aledade’s new model of primary care and encourages the public, providers, and others to visit: aledade.com.

Aledade is celebrating its two-year anniversary with the hashtag: #GrowWithUs.

All Aledade practices offer same or next day appointments for patients with urgent needs, and 95 percent of Aledade physician partners provide 24 hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week patient access to an on-call doctor. All new and existing ACOs manage these cornerstones of care through Aledade’s proprietary, cloud-based technology and analytics platform.

About Aledade:
Founded in 2014, Aledade offers a new model of primary care that puts physicians back where they should be: quarterbacking their patients’ health care. Aledade partners with primary care physicians to build and lead Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) that allow these doctors to stay independent, practice medicine like they’ve always wanted to, and thrive financially by keeping people healthy. Aledade provides data analytics and user-friendly technology to help doctors provide more seamless care, unparalleled regulatory expertise, the best practices shared by a national network of hundreds of doctors, and face-to-face practice transformation support. Based in Bethesda, MD, Aledade is led by CEO and co-founder Dr. Farzad Mostashari, former National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Since its founding in 2014, Aledade has established successful organizations in New York, Delaware, Maryland, Arkansas, West Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, Virginia, and Kansas, which care for more than 100,000 patients.

At the heart of the Aledade model is the simple, but radical, idea that Aledade only succeeds when partner practices succeed in delivering better care at a lower cost. For more information, visit aledade.com.

About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana:
Founded in New Orleans in 1934, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana is a tax-paying nonprofit health insurer. We are a private company, mutually owned by our policyholders, with an independent Louisiana Board of Directors and no shareholders. We are an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana is committed to improving the health and lives of all Louisianans. With our subsidiaries, HMO Louisiana and Southern National Life, we provide group and individual health insurance plans, life and disability insurance, group voluntary products and administrative services to one out of four Louisiana residents. We’re the only Louisiana insurer that offers plans in every parish. We also provide every customer with comprehensive wellness education, programs and services to help them live healthier lives. Headquartered in Baton Rouge, we have eight regional offices to serve our customers around the state.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana is dedicated to transforming the healthcare industry in Louisiana into one that delivers high-quality health outcomes for our customers with top-notch service at more affordable costs. Our reputation for exceptional service and prompt payments, as well as the hard work of our 200+ in-house doctors, nurses, pharmacists, social workers and dietitians, keeps both customer and provider satisfaction high. Surveys by the Louisiana State Medical Society and the Louisiana Hospital Association consistently rank Blue Cross the best company providers do business with.

Blue Cross is deeply committed to the communities we serve. We invest both time and money in the health and wellbeing of Louisiana children by supporting more than 200 charitable organizations. We invite and encourage all Louisianans to visit our website at www.bcbsla.com or talk to us on social media through our online hub at www.bcbsla.com/social/.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
For more information regarding Aledade, contact:
[email protected]
(202) 792-7200

For more information regarding Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana, contact:
John Maginnis
[email protected]
(225) 295-2405