Aetna forms ACO with Mercy Health System, St. Mary Medical Center in Pennsylvania
The ACO affiliation with Mercy Accountable Care and Quality Health Alliance will serve commercial customers in southeastern Pennsylvania.
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Aetna has signed accountable care organization agreements with systems affiliated with Trinity Health, the benefits company announced Tuesday.
The ACO affiliation with Mercy Accountable Care and Quality Health Alliance will serve commercial customers in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Mercy is part of the Mercy Health System and Quality Health Alliance is part of St. Mary Medical Center. Both are part of Trinity Health.
[Also: Aetna buys Humana]
Members who see providers that are part of the ACO will pay lower out-of-pocket costs, according to Aetna.
The two health systems will deliver care under a value-based, patient-centric model designed to offer more coordinated care, an enhanced patient experience and better healthcare outcomes.
Thirty percent of Aetna claims payments are going to doctors and providers who practice value-based care. Aetna has committed to increasing that number to 75 percent by 2020, it said.
Aetna, which plans to buy Humana for $34 billion, provides health benefits to more than 1.6 million people in Pennsylvania.
Earlier this year, Aetna, St. Mary Medical Center and Nazareth Hospital signed a separate agreement that established the hospitals as Tier 1 providers under Aetna's Savings Plus network. Mercy Fitzgerald, Mercy Philadelphia and Mercy Suburban hospitals also are included as Tier 1 providers under a previous agreement.
"For too long, the system has paid for care based on volume, rather than on the value the care brings," said Laurie Brubaker, president of Aetna's Pennsylvania operations.
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
