GenHealth Joint Venture Banks on Well-Being

One of the biggest independent physician groups in Texas has teamed up with one of the oldest advocates for a well-being approach to healthcare.

Independent physicians in North Texas have taken a step toward value-based healthcare delivery that holds the promise of maintaining their independence.

On Wednesday, Dallas-based Genesis Physicians Group and Franklin, TN-based Healthways announced the creation of GenHealth. The joint venture is designed to meld individual practices with an innovative approach to healthcare focused on maintaining the highest possible level of well-being, according to Genesis CEO Jim Walton, DO.

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"As a large physician organization in Dallas," Walton says, "what we needed to do was find a partner who was complementary."

Genesis, which includes 1,400 physicians, found Healthways' commitment to evidence-based medicine attractive. "Physicians are at their root scientists," Walton said. "Healthways has a track record of leaning heavily on population science… as well as focusing on population well-being."

Most physicians in North Texas have two choices, he said: a financial high-wire act in independent practice or assimilation into a large health system.

While vowing that "physicians are determined to stay independent," Walton says many practices face daunting challenges timing the creation of the elements required to shift from fee-for-service to value-based care delivery. "You can't time it to be all in one year or one month."

Walton describes as Healthways an ideal partner for an independent physicians group because the organization has a "high amount of collaborative IQ" and will help doctors avoid the fate of a "subordinate" relationship with a large health system. "We are an equal partner in the enterprise," he said.

Measuring Well-being
Well-being is at the core of the joint-venture deal, says Bob Porter, president of health systems and physician groups for Healthways, which was formed more than 30 years ago to help diabetes patients manage their chronic disease.

"We have a unique understanding of well-being. Our company is rooted in this concept," he said, adding that Genesis doctors are natural partners for Healthways. "They want to be pioneers in a new model for how they provide care to their patients… It's transformational."

Walton says a major selling point that drew Genesis to Healthways was the well-being index that the Tennessee organization developed with the Gallup polling service. The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being 5 survey is "validated to identify a well-being score," he said. "We think that's the next generation of data patients are going to want to know."

Porter gave a brief description of each well-being survey metric:

• Purpose: "Having a sense of a larger meaning to life. … That underlying sense of purposefulness."
• Social: "A sense of connection to people. … Healthy relationships."
• Financial: "It's amazing the amount of financial stress in the country today… and that has a physical impact on people's lives."
• Community: "You need to create a healthier environment… Community has an impact on what you can do to attain well-being."
• Physical: "Nutrition and preventative care can help us live a physically healthier life."

"These aren't like slices in a person," Porter explains. "These are like threads in a fabric."

He says physicians are crucial players in helping people attain well-being and that Healthways wants to help Genesis doctors engage with their patients proactively and at the individual level. "That obviously is going to require a team effort – engaging the patients, some of whom might not come into the office… Physicians are a critical lever in helping us achieve this goal."

Porter says a goal of the joint venture is to help Genesis physicians establish more than clinical treatment plans for each patient. "Just creating a clinical treatment plan is less effective," he says. "You have to surround the physical elements with the other elements that improve wellness overall."

Maintaining Well-being
Porter and Walton say their joint venture is as much about keeping people healthy as it is about helping them when they are sick. "Our smartphone apps and other technological solutions are designed to equip people with what they need to maintain their well-being," Porter says.

Combining Genesis' experience with pay-for-performance contracting and Healthways' focus on well-being has tremendous potential, Porter says. "We expect this to grow to a very large program, in North Texas and ultimately other places in the country."