Hill Physicians Medical Group CEO Darryl Cardoza credits the group’s successful ACO arrangements, improved efficiencies and the health information technology that supports it all for not only improving patient care, but also lowering costs. And, he’s bullish on alignment.
The medical group, the largest independent physician association in Northern California and a recognized leader in innovative healthcare, released its 2012 annual report and financial results June 18. It reported more than $11.8 million in net income on $491 million in revenue. In 2011, Hill Physicians reported $11.6 million in net income and $480 million in revenue.
"We kept pace with a rapidly changing healthcare environment," said Cardoza, in a June 18 statement. "Our three, commercial ACO arrangements have led to improvements in overall performance, while also reducing the cost of care for the population as a whole, saving money for employers and consumers. It's clear that alignment works."
[See also: IT drives growth, revenue for Hill Physicians group.]
Hill Physicians participates in three accountable care arrangements that serve CalPERS in Sacramento, the University of California in San Francisco, and the Health Service System for the city and county of San Francisco. In an accountable care arrangement, the health plan, hospitals and medical group align their efforts more closely to improve performance, benefiting all concerned, Cardoza notes. This often involves a rapid exchange of information and increased outreach to the patient by the physician's practice or medical group.
Nearly 60,000 of Hill Physicians members are served through such arrangements, a dramatic change over the last three years. A fourth ACO-type agreement is expected to debut in San Joaquin County in 2013.
Part of the success of alignment comes from the use of appropriate incentives and a robust technical platform, says Cardoza. In 2012, Hill Physicians paid more than $44 million in performance compensation to physicians for improving efficiency and achieving quality-of-care metrics. Those incentives were operationally supported with an $11 million infrastructure investment that adds depth, detail and sophistication to the exchange of data and how it can be used to identify members who need more intensive support, Cardoza says.
[See also: IHA names top P4P physician organizations.]
Other key factors to success listed in Hill Physicians 2012 annual report:
In 2010, nearly 110,000 patients were signed up to communicate with their physicians through the secure RelayHealth portal. By the end of 2012, that number had more than tripled. Across the network, some 2,200 practice sites representing more than 3,700 providers are registered users for patient-to-provider communications or provider-to-provider communications.
Hill EHR is built on the NextGen platform, which is offered on a subsidized basis to more than 1,300 users at 130 practice locations. In November, Hill Physicians took it a step further and implemented the Enterprise Chart capability to create a holistic, single-patient data chart accessible to all our enabled providers.
Hill EHR-enabled providers were awarded more than $1.3 million in EHR incentives from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
