ACO partners with population health management company to expand value-based care for rural Colorado

Two organizations are working together on a joint venture called Collaborative Choice Healthcare to expand value-based care in rural Colorado. 

The initiative was announced earlier this month and was launched by Community Care Alliance (CCA), an accountable care organization, and Collaborative Health Systems (CHS), a population health management organization. The initiative will reach rural health practices, critical access hospitals and health systems throughout Colorado and eastern Utah. 

The venture aims to improve quality outcomes and lower healthcare costs for Medicare beneficiaries. CHS will provide CCA with data, strategic growth planning, care coordination and market leadership, it said in an announcement. The two will operate Medicare ACOs and direct contracting entities, and enter value-based contracts with Medicare Advantage organizations. The venture has the potential to reach 20,000 patients for ACOs and several times more for non-Medicare populations, the organization told Fierce Healthcare.

“This partnership with CHS is in line with our goal of helping our provider partners thrive in value-based care arrangements that reward them for improving quality of care and health outcomes for our rural residents,” said Dave Ressler, CCA’s Board Chair and CEO of Aspen Valley Hospital, in an announcement. “We undertook an in-depth evaluation process and believe CHS is the right organization to bring success by maintaining healthy populations throughout rural Colorado with better care at lower costs.”

Over a period of several months, CHS worked closely with CCA and hospital constituencies to understand the unique challenges of local Colorado populations, CHS vice president of strategy and business development Michael Barrett told Fierce Healthcare.

“Every rural community does have some unique challenges,” he said. “You’ve got to listen.” 

He and Shawn Bassett, CHS vice president for the North region, flew out to the state to strategize with stakeholders, receiving input from hospital executives and patients alike. Going in-person enabled the two to “experience a day in the life,” which is especially meaningful in the development stage, Barrett said. 

“Rural care is much more intimate than urban and suburban care,” Bassett said. “It’s a very thought-provoking process.”

While the most important party to get on board is the provider, it’s also critical for payers to understand the role they can play in the process. 

“Diabetes doesn’t care about the next 90 days' earnings call,” Barrett said. “Social determinants of health do not follow an annual report cycle.” So CHS helps payers align their goals more closely with health outcomes. The best payers to work with are ones that understand this and the importance of value-based care—though some are a lot more advanced in their model than others, Barrett acknowledged. 

“You’ve got to meet everybody where they’re at,” he noted, “and bring them along.”