Joint Venture Seeks to Expand Value-Based Care in Rural Colorado

The Community Care Alliance (CCA), an accountable care organization (ACO) that serves rural Colorado, is partnering with population health management services organization Collaborative Health Systems (CHS) to expand value-based care in Colorado.

Through the agreement, a new joint venture will be created called Collaborative Choice Healthcare, which will include rural health practices, critical access hospitals, and rural health systems throughout typically underserved Western Colorado and Moab, Utah, communities.

The joint venture will work to improve quality outcomes and lower healthcare costs for Medicare beneficiaries living in rural Colorado communities by sharing health IT infrastructure, building population health management programs, and other care optimization strategies. Collaborative Choice Healthcare will operate in Colorado.

CCA, an ACO focused on primary care, specialty care, and critical access hospitals, was formed in 2015 by the Western Health Alliance (WHA), a network of 31 rural hospitals and healthcare organizations in Western Colorado and Moab, Utah, that aid their members with collaborative solutions and resources focused on rural healthcare.

Through the new joint venture, CHS will provide CCA with actionable data and analytics, strategic growth planning, and care coordination to expand and strengthen local healthcare services. Together, the organizations will operate Medicare ACOs and Direct Contracting Entities (DCEs), as well as enter value-based care contracts with Medicare Advantage organizations.

"This partnership with CHS is in line with our goal of helping our provider partners thrive in value-based care arrangements that reward them for improving quality of care and health outcomes for our rural residents," said Dave Ressler, CCA's board cChair and CEO of Aspen Valley Hospital, in a statement. "We undertook an in-depth evaluation process and believe CHS is the right organization to bring success by maintaining healthy populations throughout rural Colorado with better care at lower costs."

Tampa, Fla.-based Collaborative Health Systems has helped other healthcare providers navigate value-based models such as the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), the Next Generation ACO Model, Direct Contracting, and Medicare Advantage (MA). Since 2012, the company said it has established over $475 million in total net savings to the Medicare Program through CHS Partner ACO collaboration. In addition, for the most recent 2020 MSSP and NextGen Performance Year, Collaborative Health Systems-supported ACOs achieved a Medicare fee-for-service quality score of 97 percent, and its providers received $29 million in shared savings, the company said.