Hartford, Conn.-based Harvard Pilgrim Health Care has teamed up with three health systems to create a joint venture aimed at improving the quality of healthcare in New Hampshire while reducing costs.
Manchester, N.H.-based Elliot Health System, Lebanon, N.H.-based Dartmouth-Hitchcock and Rochester, N.H.-based Frisbie Memorial Hospital are joining Harvard Pilgrim in the endeavor.
The company, called Benevera Health, will improve care coordination by bringing together clinical, financial and operational data from across the healthcare organizations to provide actionable analytics for clinicians. The partners will make significant investments in technology systems. They will also share financial risk.
Benevera will start operating Jan. 1 and will hire 40 workers, most of whom will work at partner hospitals as patient care advocates.
The new joint venture will support all of Harvard Pilgrim's fully insured members in New Hampshire, regardless of which plan they have. In 2016, premiums will be about 4 percent lower than they would have been without the partnership.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock President and CEO James N. Weinstein, DO, expressed excitement about the new venture. "As we work toward managing and improving population health — and not just healthcare — collaboration among patients, providers and payers is becoming increasingly important," he said. "Our goal of creating a sustainable health system — one that improves the lives of the people and communities we serve, for generations to come — is advanced greatly by initiatives like Benevera Health."