Former ONC chief breathes new life into ACOs

The Bethesda, Md.-based Aledade, a healthcare technology company started by Farzad Mostashari, MD, the former National Coordinator for Health IT, is looking to establish new accountable care organizations (ACOs) in seven states beginning in 2016. If the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approves the applications, Aledade will have ACO operations in 11 states by the start of next year, covering more than 80,000 Medicare beneficiaries while working with over 100 practices.

Mostashari launched Aledade last year with $4.5 million in seed funding and has raised $30 million in venture capital funding with the aim to fuel ACO growth. One year after the company’s launch, Aledade has expanded initially from New York, Maryland, Delaware, and Arkansas to include West Virginia, Louisiana, Kansas, Mississippi, and Florida. The company is on course to triple the number of covered Medicare beneficiaries in Aledade ACOs from approximately 25,000 last year, to more than 75,000 in over 100 physician practices by the end of 2015, according to a company web page. 

The seven states in which Aledade has applied to establish new ACOs are:

• West Virginia and Virginia, in partnership with the West Virginia Medical Institute and the West Virginia Academy of Family Physicians
• Central Florida, in partnership with Primary Partners, LLC
• Kansas, in partnership with the Kansas Foundation for Medical Care
• Louisiana, in partnership with the Louisiana Healthcare Quality Forum
• Tennessee and Mississippi, in partnership with Memphis-based Q Source, the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care, and the Mississippi Chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians

Each ACO will be led by a dedicated executive director from Aledade, working in tandem with a local physician partner as medical director. “Two months ago, we vowed to put our new funding to work by expanding our ACO partnership model to independent primary care physicians across the country,” Dr. Mostashari said in a statement. “Today, we are taking another step to fulfill that promise –and to deliver high-quality, value-based care to doctors and patients across the country. We’ve been working with practices in these states for months, and we’re already seeing the power of placing independent primary care doctors at the center of their patients’ care.”

This article originally appeared in sister-brand Healthcare Informatics.