Health insurer UnitedHealthcare and Commonwealth Primary Care, an accountable care organization in Phoenix, have partnered to launch an ACO to provide care coordination to UnitedHealthcare members in Maricopa and Pinal counties.
Through the ACO, Commonwealth's 93 affiliated physicians will monitor every aspect of patient care. The physicians will be eligible for payment incentives based on quality metrics, such as disease management and prevention.
The goal of the ACO is to improve health outcomes while reducing healthcare costs.
"Commonwealth's goal is to develop interactive processes and protocols that extend the reach of the primary care practice across the healthcare continuum," said Lance Donkerbrook, COO of Commonwealth.
This ACO is UnitedHealthcare's first primary care, physician-led ACO in Arizona. The health insurer has three hospital-led ACOs in the state.
More articles on ACOs:
5 recently announced ACOs
4 big ACO trends & issues
ACOs show progress in improving patient satisfaction, study finds