Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois launched an initiative Aug. 1 to share cost and quality data with Downers Grove, Ill.-based DuPage Medical Group physicians from patient care received outside the group, according to Crain's Chicago Business.
The partnership — the first of its kind for BCBS of Illinois — is meant to help DuPage Medical's 425 independent physicians better participate in value-based care initiatives, according to the report.
The payer plans to put 75 percent of its members in a shared savings-based health plan in the next five years, but as Donna Levigne, vice president of risk-based networks for Blue Cross, said in the report, it may be difficult for independent providers to participate without huge investments in EMRs and extra staff.
"Independent physician organizations have come to us and said, 'How do we participate in this space? How are we relevant going forward?' " Ms. Levigne told Crain's. "Part of the opportunity here is really giving them access to [information] they don't have access to today."
Giving independent physicians access to ER data, hospital-stay data and other information will enable them to send patients to the hospital with the best quality and costs for each procedure, according to report.
More articles on health IT:
The 3 keys to securing health information exchanges
EMR hacks have compromised 94 million health records this year
IBM to acquire Merge for $1B; Epic's Judy Faulkner among the richest people in tech; Cerner's revenue climbs while profit falls — 7 health IT key notes