Bassett and Oneida Healthcare to pursue partnership pact

ONEIDA — Oneida Healthcare and Cooperstown–based Bassett Healthcare Network are pursuing a partnership agreement to coordinate health-care services and seek cost reductions.

The pact will emphasize “population health management and expanded access to primary care,” according to a joint news release from the health-care organizations issued June 1.

The partnership agreement would allow Oneida Healthcare to remain an independent organization governed by its current board.

Oneida Healthcare could revisit the deal in two to three years and decide if it wants to continue, revise the arrangement to reflect changes in the health-care environment, or terminate the partnership, according to the release.

The organizations contend that their partnership would “exchange best practices” that reduce costs and provide “better” outcomes for patients.

The collaboration would also allow Oneida Healthcare to participate in the Bassett accountable-care organization (ACO), also known as Bassett Accountable Care Partners, LLC, a Medicare shared-savings arrangement.

Accountable-care organizations are groups of doctors, hospitals, and other health-care providers, who come together voluntarily to give “coordinated high quality” care to their Medicare patients, according to the website of the Baltimore, Maryland–based Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

When an ACO succeeds both in delivering high-quality care and spending health care dollars “more wisely,” it will “share in the savings” it achieves for the Medicare program, the CMS website says.

Oneida Healthcare can also participate in Bassett’s accountable care and quality arrangement with Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, along with Bassett-branded insurance options offered through Excellus on NY State of Health, the state’s health-insurance marketplace.

Bassett earlier this year opened a new primary-care center in Oneida that provides preventive primary care, along with laboratory, X-ray, and orthopedic services.

Since opening the facility, Bassett said it has been working to partner with an area health-care provider in support of its population-health “strategies.”

Leader comments
Oneida Healthcare’s board of trustees has been considering the “benefits of formalizing a partnership with a larger health system” for the past three years, Gene Morreale, president and CEO of Oneida Healthcare, said in the joint release.

The organization chose Bassett, citing its “depth of experience” in primary-care delivery and its “early success” in population-health management and accountable care.

“The partnership Oneida Healthcare and Bassett are embarking on will help both systems address the needs of patients in the changing health-care environment, while also responding to new reimbursement models that focus on managing the population’s health more cost-effectively and reducing the fragmentation in patient care,” said Morreale.

More than ever, the delivery of health care requires a network of “coordinated” services, built upon a “strong” foundation of primary and preventive care, Dr. Vance Brown, president and CEO of Bassett Healthcare Network, said.

“Our collective goal is to improve the population’s quality of life through good preventive care, care coordination and a strong emphasis on care management and the management of chronic diseases,” he said.

About the organizations
Oneida Healthcare serves 24 communities in Madison County and western Oneida County with a population of about 80,000, according to the release.

Operated by Oneida Health Systems, Inc., the organization includes a 101-bed acute-care hospital, a 160-bed extended-care and short-term rehab facility, four primary-care offices, two women’s health offices, a maternal-health clinic, four outreach laboratory-draw stations, a physical-therapy center, two imaging centers, a sleep lab, and an after-hours care center.

Bassett Healthcare Network includes six hospitals, more than two dozen community-based health centers, 20 school-based health centers, and two skilled-nursing facilities. It covers a 5,600-square-mile region in upstate New York.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com