Oct 6, 2015

October 6, 2015 | Reprints New Hampshire hospitals Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Elliot Health System and Frisbie Memorial Hospital have entered into a joint venture with Harvard Pilgrim Health Care to form Benevera Health with the aim of improving the quality of health care and reducing costs. The new analytics company will pool clinical, financial and operational data from across partner institutions to provide actionable analytics for clinicians to further improve the quality and efficiency of patient care, according to a statement on Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s website. The Benevera Health announcement is the latest in the increasing use of data as a tool for population health management and lowering costs. According to the company statement, premiums are expected to be 4 percent lower in 2016 than they would be without the partnership. The population health improvement company will be owned and governed by its partner health care systems/hospitals and Harvard Pilgrim. The new joint venture will support all of Harvard Pilgrim’s over 80,000 fully insured members in New Hampshire, regardless of which plan they have, the company said. And, there are plans to support all self insured members. Benevera Health will begin operations on January 1, 2016 and an estimated 40 healthcare professionals will be hired to work at the partner hospitals as patient care advocates. The new company will be led by Corbin Petro, the current president of ElevateHealth, the precursor to Benevera Health, which was launched in 2013 as a partnership among Harvard Pilgrim, Dartmouth-Hitchcock and Elliot Health System. The aim of Benevera Health’s approach to population health is to provide healthcare clinicians with access to robust information about best practices and care outcome patterns to guide their care recommendations, offer outreach by trained New Hampshire healthcare professionals to address emerging, complex or chronic health issues and identify appropriate solutions. And, another goal is to allow for comprehensive analysis of payer and provider data to optimize care delivery and cost, based on the New Hampshire patient experience. “As we work toward managing and improving population health – and not just health care – collaboration among patients, providers and payers is becoming increasingly important,” Dartmouth-Hitchcock CEO and President Dr. James N. Weinstein said. “Our goal of creating a sustainable health system – one that improves the lives of the people and communities we serve, for generations to come - is advanced greatly by initiatives like Benevera Health.” "Frisbie Hospital is excited to be joining Benevera Health,” said Frisbie Hospital president and CEO John Marzinzik. “This is an opportunity for us to partner with strong organizations to develop a model of population health that will help provide more comprehensive care for our patients. " Eric Schultz, president and CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care called the new company a “game changer.” “We began this discussion with the creation of ElevateHealth. Today, we take the next, very important step by forming a new population health improvement entity owned by providers and a health insurance company. We all are taking risk for patient costs and health care outcomes across all Harvard Pilgrim products in New Hampshire. The goal is to vastly improve patient care in New Hampshire by injecting personnel and new technology that will provide doctors and other clinicians with the information they need to help their patients make the best choices about their health care. This system will create value and enable us to pass on that value to patients, members and employers,” Schultz said.