Four hospital systems in Delaware have formed a statewide strategic partnership named “eBrightHealth” which is the first alliance consisting of four health systems in Delaware to serve more than 935,000 residents in the state.
The four health systems include Bayhealth www.bayhealth.org, Beebe Healthcare www.beebehealthcare.org, Christiana Care Health System www.christianacare.org, and Nanticoke Health Services www.nanticoke.org.
The alliance builds on the statewide Quality Partners ACO Medicare Shared Saving Program that began in January 2016. The ACO includes the eBrightHealth hospitals and more than 200 primary care providers throughout the state who are employed by the hospitals or are in community-based practices.
While the ACO focuses on Medicare beneficiaries, eBrightHealth will enable the same care to be applied across other populations. Sharing population health strategies such as clinical pathways will help to reduce unnecessary variations in care and optimize the health and experience of patients with certain conditions and diseases.
For example, Christiana Care introduced a clinical pathway for patients with COPD using evidence-based best practices. In six months, readmissions to the hospital within 30 days of discharge have dropped significantly from 28 percent to 18 percent.
eBrightHealth Partnership will initially focus on:
- Employee health plan care coordination for the partner systems
- Clinical initiatives to create transformation in care such reducing unnecessary use of emergency departments
- Improving primary care workflow
- Implement end-of-life concerns by implementing program support.
- Working to avoid wasteful or unnecessary medical tests, treatments, and procedures
- Providing IT enhancements to focus on HIEs
- Developing group purchasing arrangements to share risks and lower costs