The New Jersey-based physician practice management company signs deals with groups in Oregon and Arizona to roll out management services and care models.
New Jersey-based Summit Health Management, which grew out of an 800-provider physician practice with 65 practice locations, will expand its care model in a nationwide push. It’s first members outside of New Jersey will include Bend (Oregon) Memorial Clinic and Phoenix-based Arizona Primary Care Physicians.
The Phoenix group will be renamed Summit Medical Group Arizona as of the new year, and while Bend Memorial Clinic will retain its name, Summit Health Management will provide the 120-provider practice with administrative, clinical and financial management services.
Both clinics will gain access to SHM’s proprietary patient care and practice management model which its CEO says has demonstrably improved outcomes and reduced costs at Summit Medical Group in New Jersey, an independent multispecialty physician group.
“We have risk contracts on the commercial side,” says Jeffrey Le Benger, chairman and CEO of Summit Health Management.
“Those contracts are very advanced, where we match cohorts and risk stratify…and we have proven that we have met every quality metric and lowered the total cost of care in the state by 6% to 8% over the past few years.”
Bend Memorial Clinic includes more than 120 providers in 30 specialties and services including urgent care, primary care, specialty care, imaging and clinical services in five locations.
“This is an important milestone in the long and distinguished history of BMC that will ensure the strength and vitality of our physician-owned and governed medical group,” said David Holloway, MD, Bend Memorial Clinic’s CEO, in a press release.
APC has seven locations in the Phoenix area with a total of 51 providers practicing internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, geriatrics, colorectal, neurology, podiatry and audiology.
To facilitate Arizona Primary Care’s transition into the Summit Medical Group Arizona partnership, APC has entered into a comprehensive managed services contract with SHM that will permit the integration to move forward while also honoring APC’s established contracts with payers and other parties for the remainder of their term.
“We’re a physician-owned and led management company,” Le Benger says.
“I feel we understand the psyche of what physicians are going through. We want to [provide healthcare] at a lower cost structure, we understand how to negotiate a risk-based contract with payers, and we know how to assimilate physicians into a culture with minimal turnover.”
Philip Betbeze is the senior leadership editor at HealthLeaders.