MORGANTOWN – WVU Medicine has entered into a partnership with Interwell Health – a national health management company focused on kidney disease care – with the aim of improving care and lowering costs for patients, WVUM announced on Tuesday.
Dr. Rebecca Schmidt, professor in WVU’s Department of Medicine Division of Nephrology and assistant dean for Rural Outreach and Community Engagement, explained the arrangement to The Dominion Post.
Interwell has a network of more than 1,800 nephrologists across the nation and a vast database of best practices, among other things, to help physicians provide the best care to patients with chronic kidney disease and end-state kidney disease.
This evolution in nephrology, she said, is being driven by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and a transition from fee-for-service to value-based-care.
Fee-for-service is payment for services delivered, and focuses on quantity of services provided, various medical resources explain.
CMS explains value-based-care: “Value-based programs reward health care providers with incentive payments for the quality of care they give to people with Medicare. Value-based programs also support our three-part aim: better care for individuals; better health for populations; lower cost.”
Value-based-care, Schmidt said, is paid in a kind of overall package arrangement, covering all the care for a particular patient.
Under the value-based-care model, Schmidt said, kidney care contracting entities – such as Interwell, which is the largest – partner with providers and payers (insurance companies) to incentivize better care.
instead of typical fee-for-service (where you go to your appointment and pay for whatever service you receive that visit) under this all of the care is paid for as a single package.
The group adds value, Schmidt said, by having available such things metrics on what works best for patients, and services and transportation not available in the traditional Medicare world. “It’s kind of the wave of the future.”
Interwell offers some examples. Using machine learning and predictive technology, it can identify chronic kidney disease patients, determines disease stage, and assesses their risk of disease progression; and then deliver stage specific, individualized care plans that include a multidisciplinary care team, peer support, and educational resources.
The partnership will help WVUM – which offers nephrology care at 12 locations – and patients, Schmidt said. “Kidney care is very expensive.” Kidney patients suffer, have a lot of problems and needs, and have associated medical problems, so they warrant a lot of attention from different physicians.
Schmidt said WVUM is leading the way nationally by being one of the first, perhaps the very first, academic medical center to work with Interwell. “We hope that it will translate to helping us do more for our patients.” A lot of data is being complied across the country on best practices and WVUm nephrologists will have access to it.
In a press release announcing the partnership, Terry Ketchersid, senior vice president at Interwell Health, said, “We are thrilled to welcome this leading group of nephrologists at WVU Medicine to our network and to our mission to reimagine kidney care. We are committed to supporting our provider partners with resources that have demonstrated improved outcomes for people living with chronic kidney disease.”
Interwell’s holistic care team, the release said, includes nurses, dietitians, social workers, and care coordinators that support and educate patients between doctor visits to help slow disease progression. Its predictive models identify patients most at-risk of progression and hospitalizations, while the specialized care team conducts rapid outreach post-discharge to avoid readmissions.
Schmidt said, “Our group of nephrologists has spent the last three decades laser focused on how to get people in the rural areas care. Anything we can get ourselves involved in that will help us do that, is what we’re looking for and this is what we hope this will do.”
Email: dbeard@dominionpost.com
