Anthem creates new single-provider health plan

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Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Wisconsin has teamed up with one of the state's largest provider networks to create a new health plan that aims to provide high-quality care, improve outcomes and reduce costs.

Blue Priority is the pilot project from Anthem and Aurora Health Care that guarantees savings by limiting the provider network to Aurora-owned hospitals and affiliated doctors, clinics and other centers across Wisconsin, reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Essentially, Aurora is promising that it can provide less expensive care for patients who remain solely within its network, allowing its doctors to better coordinate overall care, enhance chronic disease management and apply preventive care to help patients stay healthful.

"Blue Priority is an important part of our ongoing work to invest in the doctor-patient relationship and help people live their healthiest lives possible," Anthem President Larry Schreiber said Wednesday in a statement. "By combining the strengths of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Aurora Health Care we believe we can not only improve the quality, safety and value of health care, but also do so at a lower price point than many other products in the market."

To help facilitate better outcomes and reduce inefficiencies, Anthem and Aurora will exchange health data, manage patient cases and establish quality benchmarks. And Anthem will provide additional incentives to Aurora for meeting those quality measures, the Milwaukee Business Journal.

"We think this is the new model," Anthem Spokesman Scott Larrivee told the Journal Sentinel. "The big piece here is finally the incentives are aligned around appropriate care."

To learn more:
- read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article
- see the Milwaukee Business Journal article
- check out the Anthem press statement

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