University of Maryland Quality Care Network (UMQCN) and UnitedHealthcare are working together in a new accountable care program to improve the quality of health care in Maryland and enhance care coordination by promoting a team approach to patient care.

The new relationship comes at a time when clinical advances and new technologies are redefining how care providers and health plans work together to support patients who are becoming more engaged in managing their health and well-being. Through the accountable care program, UMQCN will provide patient care under an innovative, value-based model focused on keeping people healthy through the delivery of quality, coordinated health care.

Many patients – particularly those with complex or chronic illnesses – find they sometimes have to connect information from each of their doctor’s visits themselves, and may receive duplicative tests or health care that isn’t coordinated. UnitedHealthcare shares data to help map the many steps in a patient’s health care treatment, from the clinic or pharmacy, to a hospital admission or ER visit.

Through this accountable care relationship,UMQCN and UnitedHealthcare use this data together to better coordinate patients’ health care. Using technology that enables sophisticated population health management, the two organizations are able to identify clear, actionable data specific to individual patients’ health needs and potential missed care opportunities – such as an annual cervical or a colorectal cancer screening.

“Our multispecialty physician leadership and population health analytics have given participating UMQCN practices the ability to increase quality and efficiency while reducing redundancy and health care costs,” said Dr. Stacy Garrett-Ray, UMQCN president. “We are enhancing care coordination across care settings, and our partnership with UnitedHealthcare enables UMQCN to provide improved care to more patients in our community.”

This collaboration also improves the ability to identify patients at high risk and help them reduce emergency room visits and readmissions to the hospital, manage their chronic health conditions and take their needed medications.

Nearly 19,000 people enrolled in UnitedHealthcare’s employer-sponsored and individual health plans are eligible to benefit from this collaboration.

“UnitedHealthcare and UMQCN are mutually committed to improving the quality and cost of health care,” said Christopher Mullins, CEO, UnitedHealthcare of Maryland. “By working more collaboratively with local care providers and creating a more connected health care experience, we can help improve patient care and enhance people’s ability to live healthier lives.”

UnitedHealthcare serves more than 870,000 Maryland residentswith a network of 69 hospitals and nearly 19,000 physicians and other care providers statewide.

More than 15 million people enrolled in UnitedHealthcare plans across the country have access to accountable care programs, delivered in part through more than 800 accountable care arrangements nationwide as the organization engages in deeper, more collaborative relationships with physicians and hospitals.

Care providers nationwide are showing strong interest in a shift to value-based care. UnitedHealthcare’s total payments to physicians and hospitals that are tied to value-based arrangements have tripled in the last three years to more than $54 billion. By the end of 2018, UnitedHealthcare expects that figure to reach $65 billion.

For more information about UnitedHealthcare’s changing relationships with care providers and how value-based programs are helping to improve quality and people’s health, visit www.UHC.com/valuebasedcare and download the Value-based Care Report.

About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, military service members, retirees and their families, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 1 million physicians and care professionals, and 6,000 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or follow @myUHC on Twitter.

About University of Maryland Quality Care Network

The University of Maryland Quality Care Network (UMQCN) is an integrated network of more than 360 physicians and over 85 practices focused on improving health outcomes for patients. UMQCN (http://umms.org/services/um-quality-care-network) contracts with private insurance carriers as well as government (Medicare Advantage, Medicare ACO, and Medicaid) payers and self-insured employers. Our focus is on improving quality, reducing healthcare costs and increasing both patient and provider satisfaction, helping transition providers to a more value-based model of health care delivery.