UM Health System Heads New ACO
The University of Michigan Health System is teaming with other medical groups in the state to create a large-scale accountable care organization that will contain more than 1,000 physicians and serve the state's Lower Peninsula.
The Physician Organization of Michigan, or POM, is among the 106 new ACOs approved earlier this month by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and among the largest. Along with the UMHS System, eight other medical groups in the Wolverine State will participate.
Following the Medicare Shared Savings payment model, the ACO will look to improve health outcomes while lower costs for its enrollees.
The UM Health System currently operates another ACO under the Pioneer Model in conjunction with the IHA Medical Group in Ann Arbor, Mich.
UM Health System decided to participate in a second ACO in order to help enlist regional medical groups that wanted to participate but did not have the financial wherewithal to do so on their own, officials said.
“POM ACO allows us to strengthen our relationship with physicians across the state, and bolster our position as one of the largest and most highly regarded population health organizations in the country," says Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, M.D., executive vice president for medical affairs at the University of Michigan and the UM Health System's chief executive officer. “This is part of our statewide mission, and our goal of using our knowledge to improve care through new practices, policies and partnerships. Additionally, it builds on several years of our experience and demonstrated success developing ACO models.”
Along with the UM Health System, the other participants in the ACO include the Advantage Health/Saint Mary's Care Network; Crawford Mercy Physician Hospital Organization; Lakeshore Health Network; Oakland Southfield Physicians; Olympia Medical Services; Physicians' Organization of Western Michigan; United Physicians; and the Wexford Physician Hospital Organization.
“POM ACO participation will facilitate the delivery of high quality, coordinated, cost-effective medicine to our patient population,” said Michael Williams, M.D., CEO of United Physicians, Inc., the state's largest physician organization. “Through proactive patient engagement and collaborative patient care, this physician-led ACO will support physician members and enable them to make better, more educated clinical decisions at the point of care, reduce healthcare costs by eliminating unnecessary and redundant procedures and tests, and enhance the overall health of Michigan's Medicare-enrolled population.”
