Walgreens Forms Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) to Deliver Seamless, Coordinated Care to Improve Patient Health, Lower Costs and Close Critical Gaps in Care for Medicare Patients

DEERFIELD, Ill., Jan. 22, 2013 – Further expanding and transforming its core pharmacy business to help address the nation’s most critical health care needs, Walgreens (NYSE: WAG) (Nasdaq: WAG) today announced it has formed accountable care organizations (ACO) with three leading physician groups in Texas, Florida and New Jersey. 
 

The ACOs apply a physician-led, team approach to patient care in an innovative model that features pharmacists as an integral part of patients’ care teams. Walgreens pharmacists and clinicians will work closely with primary care physicians in a collaborative program aimed at improving patient health and access to quality care, while reducing overall health care costs. 
 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently approved the following ACOs under its Medicare Shared Savings Program, a pay-for-performance reimbursement model intended to reward medical providers who deliver elevated care at reduced cost.
 

·         Advocare Walgreens Well Network – Marlton, N.J.

·         The Diagnostic Clinic Walgreens Well Network - Largo, Fla.

·         The Scott & White Healthcare Walgreens Well Network - Temple, Texas

“Today’s health care environment has created opportunities for Walgreens to work with hospitals, health systems and physician groups to develop integrated clinical programs to help meet the needs of patients, payers and the health care system,” said Dr. Jeffrey Kang, Walgreens senior vice president, health and wellness services and solutions. “Forming ACOs is another way in which our pharmacists and other clinicians can play an important role in coordinated care programs, helping to provide the right care at the right time and the right place, while helping more patients get, stay and live well.” 
 

Walgreens and the physician groups will work together to support and extend the care currently provided to patients by their primary care physicians. The organizations will deliver personalized pharmacy care, emphasizing the benefits of physician-pharmacist collaboration.

 

Each ACO is supported by evidence-based care and data analytics to meet its “triple aim” -- to improve outcomes, increase patient satisfaction and lower total medical cost. The ACOs will capture data across the continuum of care, giving providers some of the most effective tools to treat patients. 

Advocare- Marlton, N.J.Advocare has more than 350 multi-specialty physicians and 70 physician extenders for a total of 420 provider physicians. With over 110 locations throughout the state of New Jersey and Southeastern Pennsylvania, Advocare serves over 500,000 patients with over 1.3 million visits per year.

 

Diagnostic Clinic– Largo, Florida. Diagnostic Clinic is a 100 provider multi-specialty practice conveniently located on three consolidated locations throughout the Tampa Bay area and serves approximately 90,000 patients. 

 

Scott & White Healthcare – Temple, Texas. Scott & White Healthcare is a non-profit collaborative health care system which encompasses one of the nation's largest multi-specialty group practices. The system owns, partners or manages 12 hospital sites, two additional announced facilities and more than 65 clinic locations.
 

“As the accountable care concept develops, the importance of integrating all facets of patient care will become paramount,” said John Tedeschi, M.D., CEO and chairman, Advocare, LLC. “The innovative relationship between Advocare and Walgreens will emphasize the best-in-class coordinated care including physicians, nurses, pharmacist and the patient. The innovation of using pharmacists trained in disease states and medications is an important resource for patient collaboration and will ultimately create cost effective, superior healthcare results.”
 

Jim Rivenbark, M.D., chief medical and operations director of Diagnostic Clinic said, “We are proud to continue Diagnostic Clinic’s leadership as a premier provider of highly coordinated and integrated care, and are thrilled to form this collaborative relationship with Walgreens.”

 

“As a physician-led, integrated healthcare system, Scott & White is recognized nationally as exemplifying accountable care organizations. This relationship further demonstrates our leadership in providing the high value, low-cost care expected of ACOs.” said Robert W. Pryor, M.D., MBA, president and CEO, Scott & White Healthcare.

 

The ACO relationships follow a number of successful coordinated care programs recently developed by Walgreens which, combined, have demonstrated improvements in patient satisfaction and care, better medication adherence and reductions in preventable hospital readmissions. 

 

·         In October 2012, Walgreens introduced WellTransitions™, a coordinated transition of care program designed to reduce readmission rates and costs while improving medication adherence and patient health. The program has already been instrumental in helping to reduce patient readmissions. According to Washington Adventist Hospital in Maryland, of its first 48 high-risk patients enrolled in the program, only three were readmitted within 30 days of discharge.

 

·         A pilot program with Walgreens and Northwestern Memorial Physicians Group of Chicago has shown that patients with chronic health conditions are more likely to adhere to medication therapies when pharmacists and physicians collaborate on their care. Through the program, Walgreens shares with primary care physicians of selected patients the results of appropriately-timed pharmacist clinical interventions. In the first nine months of the pilot, medication adherence improved 5 percent for participating patients across five drug classes. 

 

·         Walgreens has implemented medication bedside delivery programs, designed to improve medication adherence for discharged patients while also lowering costs for patients, payers and hospitals, at more than 70 of its pharmacies located on-site at hospitals and health systems nationwide. 

 

·         DeKalb Medical in Decatur, Ga., where Walgreens introduced a bedside medication delivery program in 2011, saw improvements in its Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHP) numbers after just three months, with scores related to patient communications on medication increasing from 50 percent to 63 percent over the 90-day period after program launch. It has also recognized improvements in patient satisfaction and better medication adherence.

 

As the nation's largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2012 sales of $72 billion, Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) vision is to become America’s first choice for health and daily living. Each day, Walgreens provides more than 6 million customers the most convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and services and trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services and advice in communities across America. Walgreens scope of pharmacy services includes retail, specialty, infusion, medical facility and mail service, along with respiratory services. These services improve health outcomes and lower costs for payers including employers, managed care organizations, health systems, pharmacy benefit managers and the public sector. The company operates 8,061 drugstores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Take Care Health Systems is a Walgreens subsidiary that is the largest and most comprehensive manager of worksite health and wellness centers and in-store convenient care clinics, with more than 700 locations throughout the country.