Castell, an Intermountain Health co., Among Top National Leaders in Medicare ACO Savings and Quality

Intermountain Health's population subsidiary, Castell Among Top National Leaders in Medicare ACO Savings and Quality Performance for 2022

(PRUnderground) November 24th, 2023

For the fifth straight year, Intermountain Health’s population heath subsidiary, Castell Health, announced its Accountable Care value-based Medicare program has generated $46.8 million in savings for Medicare in 2022 through its participation in Global and Professional Direct Contracting, which will help expand critically-needed primary care access throughout the nation.

Now known as ACO REACH (Accountable Care Organizations Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health), Castell’s savings are the second highest among all ACOs in the program.

As a result, Castell Accountable Care is sharing $20.6 million of its 2022 savings with participating primary care groups, which amid a national primary care shortage, will enable primary care groups to continue to expand access and improve quality of care for patients.

In addition to the strong financial performance, Castell was also a national leader in quality performance on the ACO REACH readmission and unplanned admissions measures, achieving the 100th and 99th percentiles, respectively.

The $46.8 million in savings marks five straight years of Castell increasing its savings contributions to the Medicare program.

Since the start of Castell Accountable Care’s participation in Medicare’s value-based care programs, the ACO has generated a total of $70.6 million dollars in savings through a continued commitment to providing high-quality, patient-focused care to over 50,000 participants in the Intermountain West.

Castell’s continued improved savings and goal to become a national leader in quality performance is the result of years of concerted efforts to improve care coordination, increase access to care, and expand proactive beneficiary outreach.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, we put an emphasis on maintaining patients’ connections to providers. These efforts resulted in Castell care coordinators making proactive outreach calls to over 37,000 patients in 2022,” said Josh Romney, MD, medical director for Castell Accountable Care. “These calls led ACO beneficiaries to schedule 7,600 additional annual wellness and primary care visits. Proactive outreach helps patients by reminding them about key aspects of their care and ensuring providers within the healthcare system can see them in a timely manner.”

In 2022 Castell’s ACO transitioned from the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) into the new Global and Professional Direct Contracting Program.

Under the new program, Castell also rolled out a health equity plan focused on improving care for underserved populations.

“We view ACO REACH as a catalyst to help healthcare systems and their providers realize the benefits of delivering value-based care,” said Jay Zerwekh, chief executive officer for Castell. “Our results demonstrate that there is a way to reduce costs while maintaining the highest levels of quality. The quality/cost puzzle is a challenge for all healthcare systems, and our results are proof that this puzzle, as difficult as it is, can be solved.”

Providers in the Castell ACO also maintained a high level of quality performance in 2022.

The providers at Intermountain Medical Group throughout Utah, Grandview Family Medicine in Provo, Utah, and Saltzer Health in Nampa and Meridian, Idaho collectively led the nation in the All-Condition Readmission quality measure and achieved the second-best performance nationally on Unplanned Admissions for Members with Multiple Chronic Conditions measure.

The ACO also works together to ensure patients receive care at the most appropriate facility, focusing on outpatient and inpatient procedures, emergency department visits, and transfers to skilled nursing facilities.

About Intermountain Health

Headquartered in Utah with locations in seven states and additional operations across the western U.S., Intermountain Health is a nonprofit system of 33 hospitals, 385 clinics, medical groups with some 3,900 employed physicians and advanced care providers, a health plans division called Select Health with more than one million members, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. For more information or updates, see https://intermountainhealthcare.org/news.

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Original Press Release.