UCSF Medical Center, John Muir Health focus on accountable care

San Francisco-based UCSF Medical Center and John Muir Health in Walnut Creek, Calif., have signed a letter of intent to develop a company that will serve as the funding vehicle of a joint initiative to invest with other healthcare providers to create an accountable care organization.

Under the agreement, both organizations would remain independent, and the new company would be equally owned and operated by both organizations, according to a news release.

John Muir Health — a three-hospital system that has both Medicare and commercial ACO contracts — and UCSF, which also has ACO experience, will invest in collaborative care efforts to help establish a Bay Area-wide ACO.

"By combining John Muir Health and UCSF's strengths, we aim to offer patients the highest value system of care available," said Mark R. Laret, CEO of UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals, in the release.

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