Palmetto Health Forms Accountable Care Organization Called Palmetto Health Quality Collaborative

ACO is one of the first in the state

COLUMBIA, S.C., July 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Palmetto Health Board of Directors has unanimously approved the establishment of Palmetto Health Quality Collaborative, LLC, often referred to as an accountable care organization (ACO). The Quality Collaborative will be a physician-led, patient-centered, interdependent medical entity that focuses on best practices in clinical outcomes and evidence-based care. Palmetto Health will soon begin offering the more than 1,000 physicians on its medical staff an opportunity to join.

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"This is the kind of forward thinking partnership that we want to engage in. We understand that being aligned with physicians who want to guarantee that every patient gets the best quality care is a positive for everyone. It ensures that the patient is at the center of everything, right where they belong," said Charles D. Beaman Jr., Palmetto Health President and CEO.

The Quality Collaborative is specifically designed to support the clinical integration activities of physicians so they may provide the highest quality care in central South Carolina. It also will champion the clinical initiatives selected by participating physicians, set targets on value and cost and utilize measurements to hold participating physicians accountable. These initiatives will leverage clinical data from the members' individual physician practices and evidence-based guidelines to improve the coordination and provision of care provided to the patients served.

Patients will reap the benefits of the organization through better coordinated care across a wide range of medical providers, thereby reducing unnecessary hospital admissions and preventable re-admissions resulting in more personal involvement in their care.

"The Quality Collaborative is the optimal way to align independent, employed and faculty physicians to provide the organizational framework and incentives necessary to improve the quality of care to the patients we serve. The establishment of the Quality Collaborative will change the way health care will be provided in our community. Palmetto Health has invested tremendous support during the establishment of this new entity," said Bill Gerard, M.D., one of the co-chairs of the initiative.

The Quality Collaborative will be governed by a 13-member board of managers that will include physician leaders from Palmetto Health Baptist and Richland and the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. The board of managers includes Beaman, co-chairs Gerard, Carolina Care, PA and Louis C. Hite III, MD, Three Rivers Medical Associates, PA. Other members of board are:

• Elizabeth Baxley, MD, USC Department of Family & Preventive Medicine
• Shawn Chillag, MD, USC Department of Internal Medicine
• James Herlong, MD, Columbia Urological Associates, PA
• Richard Hoppman, MD, Dean of USC School of Medicine
• Stephen Metropol, MD, Palmetto Surgical Associates, PA
• Albert Odom Jr., MD, Columbia Women's Healthcare
• Scott Petit, MD, Carolina Cardiac Surgery Associates, PA
• Joseph Rice, MD, Columbia Gastroenterology Associates, PA
• Roman Williams, MD, Critical Health Systems of SC, Inc
• James Wheeler, Palmetto Health Board of Directors.

SOURCE Palmetto Health