UnitedHealthcare Community of Louisiana awards $3.4 million to statewide practices

UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Louisiana announced this week that it has awarded more than $3.4 million to 249 physician practices across the state as bonus payments for improving the quality of care for patients who are enrolled in UnitedHealthcare’s Medicaid plans.

The physicians who earned the bonus payouts were those that reached the highest levels of quality measures over a period of six months last year. The measures reached include holding preventive health screenings, educating patients and engaging them on decisions involving their care, and fulfilling performance metrics identified by the state for the Medicaid program, such as wellness visits by adolescents, diabetic screenings and eye exams.

The programs instituted by UnitedHealthcare are causing a nationwide health care system movement that has care providers considering a switch to value-based models of care that gives rewards for the quality of patient health outcomes with the ability to cut costs.

The total payments to physicians and hospitals by UnitedHealthcare based on the value provisions have tripled to $45 billion in the last three years. Estimates by UnitedHealthcare show that by the end of 2018, these figures could potentially reach $65 billion.