Business Roundup: NY Health Plans Form Strategic Alliance

In other news, CHE partners with Walgreens, a Massachusetts hospital deal comes with strings attached, and a federal judge rules on the fate of a struggling Long Island, NY hospital.

Two physician-led, not-for-profit health plans serving different regions in upstate New York have formed a "strategic alliance" to develop strategies around managing population health.

Independent Health, a Buffalo-based plan serving 375,000 people, and Albany's CDPHP, serving 24 counties around the state capital, announced the deal this month.

"This strategic alliance will allow each of our plans to remain independent and highly responsive to the needs of our respective communities," Michael W. Cropp, MD, president/CEO of Independent Health, said in prepared remarks.

"This is not a merger, but a unique alliance to exchange and implement ideas and strategies that are essential to continue driving sustainable healthcare. The learning and discipline that will come from working together will greatly accelerate our respective abilities to meet the needs of our provider partners and our customers."

The two plans said the alliance would allow them to:

• Develop tools to help providers efficiently manage populations;
• Partner with physicians using technology and clinical innovation within the mantra of right care, right place, right time and right cost;
• Invest in new technology to improve consumers' access to information and services they need and to navigate the fragmented healthcare system.

"By combining the talents, resources and expertise in both of these companies, the alliance will allow us to build innovative products, tools and services for providers, employers and individuals from Albany to Buffalo," John D. Bennett, MD, president/CEO of CDPHP said in a joint media release.

"Yet, we will be able to continue to provide the same personalized and high-quality customer service that our customers in the Capital District and Western New York have come to recognize and value from these two companies."

Partners HealthCare Deal Comes with Stipulations
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has approved Partners HealthCare's acquisition of South Shore Hospital and Hallmark Healthcare, but with a decade's worth of strings attached to the deal. The AG's office has disclosed the following conditions:

• Allowing payers to split Partners into separate contracting entities for up to 10 years;
• Preventing it from contracting with affiliate physician groups that are not part of its owned hospital for 10 years;
• Capping health costs at the rate of inflation across the entire Partners network through 2020;
• Capping its physician growth for five years; and
• Blocking further hospital expansion in eastern Massachusetts, including Worcester County, for the next seven years.

An agreement made public by Coakley must be finalized between the providers by June 16 and then approved by a court.

"Suing Partners would potentially block further expansion of its network, but would also maintain the status quo in the market," Coakley said in prepared remarks.

"We believe this agreement will do much more. It fundamentally reduces the negotiating power of Partners for the next 10 years to better control health costs for families and businesses, and help level the playing field in the market."

The Attorney General's Office and the Department of Justice have been conducting an antitrust investigation into Partners Healthcare for months. In February, the Health Policy Commission released a report concluding that Partners' acquisition of South Shore would result in increased costs and referred the report to the AG's Office for further investigation.

A more detailed account of the proposed settlement may be viewed here.

CHE Trinity Health, Walgreens form Care Collaborative
Livonia, MI-based CHE Trinity Health and drugstore chain Walgreens will have announced they will collaborate on innovative models of care in select markets served by CHE Trinity.

The collaboration links retail clinics, outpatient pharmacy services, and expanded prescription and disease management programs to improve population health and access to care while lowering costs. Walgreens pharmacists and Healthcare Clinic nurse practitioners will work with CHE Trinity providers to coordinate patient care, while offering care services at Walgreens and CHE Trinity Health sites.

"Coordinated care programs are vitally important to help ensure patients have access to the quality, convenient, affordable care they need before, during and after a hospital admission," Alan E. London, Walgreens vice president of strategic clinical partners, said in prepared remarks.

"Working with an integrated health system such as CHE Trinity Health offers an ideal opportunity to further leverage Walgreens healthcare assets to coordinate patient care across multiple regions of the country."

CHE Trinity Health is one of the largest multi-institutional Catholic healthcare delivery systems in the nation, in 20 states from coast to coast with 86 hospitals, 109 continuing care facilities and home health and hospice programs that provide nearly 2.8 million visits annually. The organization was formed in May 2013, when Trinity Health and Catholic Health East merged.

Walgreens has 8,209 drugstores in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

NY Bankruptcy OKs Long Island Medical Center Deal
A federal bankruptcy judge has approved South Nassau Community Hospital's amended asset purchase agreement to acquire storm-damaged Long Beach Medical Center.

Under the amended APA, South Nassau acquires LBMC's assets, including land, buildings, and equipment, with the exception of the Komanoff Center for Geriatric and Rehabilitative Medicine, which will be acquired by another bidder at a separate closing.

The closing is scheduled for June 30. South Nassau Community Hospital said it will hold community forums after the closing to get public input about a plan to improve the accessibility of healthcare for South Shore residents.

LBMC was closed because of damage sustained when Superstorm Sandy smacked Long Island and the Tri-State Region in late October, 2012. At the request of state officials, South Nassau and LBMC opened talks in June 2013 to develop a new healthcare delivery model to restore medical services in Long Beach. The discussions continued into 2014, and resulted in the APA between South Nassau and LBMC.

South Nassau's redevelopment of the LBMC campus will start with a new family medicine-urgent care center providing treatment and triage for urgent medical conditions and ambulatory care with subspecialty backup supported through an integrated information technology system connecting the center to South Nassau's main campus in Oceanside.

Laboratory and radiology imaging services will be provided on-site, as well. Care will be provided on a walk-in basis, with no appointments required. Patients who are assessed as in need of further emergency care or hospitalization will be transported to South Nassau or the hospital of their choice via on-site ambulance services. Following the sale closing South Nassau will convert and expand the urgent care center to a freestanding 911-emergency receiving facility.