Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and Cornerstone Health Care Join in Unique Affiliation

PR Newswire Association LLC

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Nov. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center today announced that it has entered into a first-of-its-kind strategic affiliation agreement in the Triad with Cornerstone Health Care, P.A. through its wholly-owned management services organization Cornerstone Health Enablement Strategic Solutions, LLC (CHESS).

The goal of the affiliation is to better position both partners for new models of health care delivery driven by health care reform. Both organizations describe the future as one that will emphasize value health care delivery and population management across diseases, such as managing large populations of patients with diabetes or heart failure using a variety of innovative technologies. These future models could allow patients to access support services such as case management, home-based care, weight management and a variety of customized services to support groups of patients with specific diseases or shared characteristics.

The affiliation supports Wake Forest Baptist's mission to improve health throughout the region. John D. McConnell, M.D., chief executive officer of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, called the agreement a strategic partnership whose time had come and was driven by a shared vision of patient-centered care that goes beyond the normal boundaries of a hospital or doctor's office. "It is crucial in this challenging health care environment for multiple health care providers to join together and assume accountability for managing and improving health care," McConnell said. "Through better care coordination, we plan to provide more integrated care with fewer duplicated services, increased patient access to support services, and lower total health care costs."

Grace Terrell, M.D., chief executive officer for Cornerstone Health Care, said, "This is the first-of-its-kind Triad partnership between an academic medical center and an independent, multi-specialty provider group. Our joint goal is to enhance the quality of patient care while decreasing overall health care costs by leveraging each organization's strengths to accomplish these objectives."

By partnering through CHESS, Wake Forest Baptist and Cornerstone Health Care immediately expand their capabilities to engage in population management and advanced analytics, with the additional expertise of a world-class research enterprise at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. The synergies of these important elements will benefit a much larger group of patients, as well as create a highly-sophisticated accountable care organization (ACO) that will include high-performance networks (HPNs), clinical integration, research, innovative IT applications, support services and case management.

More information regarding the specifics of the affiliation will be provided as available.

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center (wakehealth.edu) is a fully integrated academic medical center located in Winston-Salem, N.C. The institution comprises Wake Forest School of Medicine, a leading center for medical education and research; Wake Forest Baptist Health, the integrated clinical structure that includes nationally ranked Brenner Children's Hospital; Wake Forest Innovations, which promotes the commercialization of research discoveries and operates Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, an urban research and technology park; plus a network of affiliated community hospitals, physician practices, outpatient services and other medical facilities. Wake Forest Baptist clinical programs and the School of Medicine are regularly ranked among the best in the country by U.S. News & World Report.

About Cornerstone Health Care Cornerstone Health Care is a group of more than 370 physicians and mid-level health professionals representing a wide range of specialties. One of the fastest growing physician groups in the Southeast, Cornerstone is a physician-owned and led multi-disciplinary practice with over 90 locations in communities throughout central North Carolina. Recognized as a 2012 Success Story Award^® winner for patient satisfaction by Press Ganey Associates, Inc., Cornerstone is transitioning from the traditional "fee-for-service" model to a patient-centered medical home system providing expanded access, increased coordination of care, enhanced patient education for prevention and treatment of chronic disease, and sophisticated technological support. For more information, visit www.cornerstonehealth.com. Follow Cornerstone on Twitter @CornerstoneHCNC.