Independence Blue Cross and Cardiology Consultants of Philadelphia Sign New Five-Year Agreement

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, June 25 -- Independence Blue Cross issued the following news release:

Independence Blue Cross (Independence), the region's largest health insurer, and Cardiology Consultants of Philadelphia (CCP), one of the nation's largest independent cardiac care practices, have signed a new five-year agreement. The agreement makes CCP a participant in Independence's Facilitated Health Networks (FHN) model - a collaborative approach that is focused on bringing health insurers, hospitals, and doctors together to improve the quality and lower the costs of healthcare in the region. The new agreement, effective January 1, 2019, illustrates a continued commitment between Independence and CCP to work closely together to ensure that members are receiving care in the most appropriate, high-quality, and cost-effective settings.

Under the FHN model, CCP has agreed to expand their bundled payment arrangements surrounding episodes of care related to chronic cardiac conditions like heart failure, coronary artery disease, and hypertension. Bundled payment for chronic conditions like these are designed to put the CCP physicians in charge of an entire episode of care - ensuring that appropriate diagnostic tests are completed, that procedures are performed in the most appropriate setting, and ultimately that all follow up care results in an optimal outcome for Independence members. This type of arrangement helps keep healthcare costs down and provide members the highest quality care with their doctors highly engaged in the process.

"We are excited to have Cardiology Consultants of Philadelphia, one of the nation's largest independent cardiac care practices, participate in our Facilitated Health Networks model," said Anthony V. Coletta, MD, MBA, president of Facilitated Health Networks at Independence. "The new agreement demonstrates our heightened focus to partner with physician-driven and physician-owned organizations. The commitment we are seeing from these organizations to have enhanced value-based incentive programs built into their agreements is remarkable and will make a difference in helping to solve the problem of rising healthcare costs."

"The physicians and staff of Cardiology Consultants of Philadelphia (CCP) are excited to join the exclusive group of systems and providers that are part of the Independence Blue Cross Facilitated Health Network (FHN) model," said Dr. Mark Victor, CEO of Cardiology Consultants of Philadelphia. "CCP and Independence have enjoyed a long and successful relationship and worked toward innovative partnerships to enhance the quality of care. By the use of data exchange and guideline driven metrics, we have also achieved efficiencies in the patient's care. This new contract in the FHN model is yet another step in our long standing collaboration with Independence. Our mutual mission is to enhance the quality of care to our patients. CCP remains fully committed to distinguish itself through compassionate care for our patients. We will continue to use innovation to harness the value of technology to improve both outcomes and efficiency and to increase access for our patients."

"One of the unique strengths of CCP has been its ability to work collaboratively with our hospital partners across the region and to help reenvision advanced cardiovascular care," Dr. Victor added. "Together, with this new FHN contact, we believe we can continue to distinguish ourselves, in both quality and efficiency of care, to the patients in the Philadelphia region. We look forward to this next chapter in our ever evolving story."

About Cardiology Consultants of Philadelphia

Cardiology Consultants of Philadelphia is one of America's largest independent cardiac care practices with over 120 Physicians and advance medical practitioners, serving over 250,000 unique patients in the region. We are affiliated with virtually every major hospital in the region and serve patients from over 35 offices in all five Southeastern Pennsylvania counties. The mission of CCP is to improve the health of our patients through the provision of the most comprehensive cardiovascular care, research, and education possible. To learn more, visit us at www.ccpdocs.com, or call us at 215-CCP-DOCS. Connect with us on Facebook.

About Independence Blue Cross

Independence Blue Cross is the leading health insurance organization in southeastern Pennsylvania. With our affiliates, we serve nearly 8.5 million people in 28 states and the District of Columbia, including 2.5 million in the region. For 80 years, we have been enhancing the health and well-being of the people and communities we serve by delivering innovative and competitively priced health care products and services; pioneering new ways to reward doctors, hospitals, and other health care professionals for coordinated, quality care; and supporting programs and events that promote wellness. To learn more, visit www.ibx.com. Connect with us on Facebook and on Twitter. Independence Blue Cross is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.