Aetna announces signing of accountable care arrangement

Aetna announced this week that it will sign an accountable care organization agreement in accordance with the Delaware Valley Accountable Care Organization (DVACO).

As part of the agreement, Aetna will offer customers in the southeastern Pennsylvania region a model designed to advance the improvement of health-care quality, efficiency and overall patient experience.

Hospitals and physicians that are a members of the DVACO strive to provide a higher quality of care based on a health-care delivery model revolving around their patients. With Aetna signing the agreement, DVACO estimates that more than 70,000 people insured under the membership with Aetna will be inherited by primary care physicians affiliated with DVACO.

The agreement is in accordance with Aetna’s plan to move away from fee-for-service reimbursement and move toward value-based payments, which are steadily emerging as a solution to increasing health-care costs, the reduction of duplicated services, the improvement of health outcomes and to give people an easier way to seek out needed care.

A new model of payment will be instituted by the agreement guidelines to reward physicians for meeting certain criteria. The criteria includes quality improvement, lower costs and patient satisfaction.