St. Mary’s, Anthem BCBS announce new multi-year agreement
St. Mary’s Health Care System and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia have a new, multi-year provider network agreement.
The agreement, announced Thursday, secures long-term access to affordable health care for St. Mary’s Health Care System patients who are covered by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia health plans.
As part of the agreement, the two organizations will accelerate their collaboration on
several innovative initiatives, including advance data connectivity and value-based
care (VBC) models designed to improve health outcomes and better control costs for
care for St. Mary’s Health Care System patients covered by Anthem Blue Cross and
Blue Shield of Georgia health plans.
The new agreement covers all three St. Mary’s acute care facilities – St. Mary’s
Hospital in Athens, St. Mary’s Sacred Heart Hospital in Lavonia, and St. Mary’s Good
Samaritan Hospital in Greensboro – as well as providers within St. Mary’s Medical
Group, St. Mary’s Home Health Care/Hospice Services, and all St. Mary’s outpatient
facilities and services.
Additionally, St. Mary’s and Anthem will incorporate the Epic Payer Platform into regular operations. It’s a technology that will streamline and secure patient data flow between the two organizations, bolster operational efficiency, accelerate approval processes, and improve patient outcomes.
Also, the platform’s Clinical Data Exchange simplifies processes for doctors and healthcare workers and reduces the administrative burden for medical teams, allowing doctors to spend less time doing paperwork and more time treating patients.
“We are pleased that an agreement with Anthem could be reached without disruption
to patient care,” said Stonish Pierce, President/CEO of Trinity Health Georgia which
includes St. Mary’s Health Care System. “St. Mary’s looks forward to our continued
partnership with Anthem in serving our communities with high-quality care people
need and trust.”
While St. Mary’s and Anthem have long partnered on VBC delivery and quality-based
payment models, the new agreement expands that work to include Anthem’s
advanced VBC methodology. This represents further progress in moving toward
healthcare models that align payment with improved health outcomes and reduced
cost trends.
“We look forward to continuing to collaborate with St. Mary’s Health Care System on
simplifying care for the members we mutually serve,” said Robert Bunch, President of
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia. “Our goal has always been to improve
health outcomes for our members focusing on one’s whole health while keeping costs
manageable for consumers and employers.”
About St. Mary’s Health Care System
St. Mary’s Health Care System, a member of Trinity Health, is a faith-based, not-for-profit healthcare ministry whose mission is to be a compassionate and transforming healing presence in the communities it serves. St. Mary’s puts special focus on neurosciences, cardiac care, orthopedics, general medicine, general surgery, women’s and children’s health, and care for older adults. St. Mary’s includes hospitals in
Athens, Lavonia, and Greensboro, as well as a multi-practice medical group, a retirement community, outpatient care facilities. For more information, visit St. Mary’s website at www.stmarys-health.org.
About Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is the trade name of Blue Cross Blue Shield Healthcare Plan of Georgia, Inc., an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Anthem is a registered trademark of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. Additional information about Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is available at www.anthem.com. Also, follow us on Twitter at
www.twitter.com/@AnthemBCBS_News or https://www.linkedin.com/company/anthembcbs/ on LinkedIn.