MercyOne partners with Signify Health, prepares for risk-based payment

MercyOne will use healthcare platform Signify Health to create value-based payment programs.
MercyOne will use healthcare platform Signify Health to create value-based payment programs. CREDIT MERCYONE

MercyOne will participate in a 2023 accountable care organization (ACO) with Signify Health, as MercyOne transitions to risk-based payment arrangements, according to a release.

Signify Health is a health care platform that uses advanced analytics, technology and nationwide health care networks to create value-based payment programs.

The new ACO will support MercyOne’s Population Health Services Organization (PHSO), designed to help rural providers implement risk-based payment and better manage total cost of care for Iowa Medicare patients, the release said.

“Signify Health is a trusted collaborator that will help us continue to prepare our rural partners for risk-based payment,” said Derek Novak, MercyOne PHSO president, in a statement.

The PHSO, which currently operates as a clinically-integrated network, will use Signify Health’s unique population health methodologies, in-home services, data and technology infrastructure to advance in value-based care in rural Iowa. MercyOne will work with independent providers in a Signify-supported collaborative ACO to minimize the statistical variance of savings and losses smaller ACOs may experience and protect against risk.

In 2020 and 2021, 100% of Signify Health’s collaborative ACO participants earned shared savings.

MercyOne is a connected system of health care facilities, headquartered in Clive.

In July, Mercy Iowa City opted to remain affiliated with the MercyOne health network after an extensive search to find a new healthcare partner was unsuccessful, despite several proposals from other larger healthcare systems.