Philips and CHRISTUS Health expand relationship with enhanced population health management capabilities

AMSTERDAM and DALLAS, Dec. 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) and CHRISTUS Health, an international, Catholic, not-for profit health system, today announced they have  extended the scope and duration of their alliance to now include domestic population health management (PHM) initiatives. The ability to aggregate and analyze data across all CHRISTUS Health U.S. health systems for care management and quality reporting is a key driver in this expanded relationship.

"Philips Wellcentive has been a trusted partner for several years, and our expanded commitment to their solution and this relationship will enable us to thrive under the movement toward value-based care," said Randy Osteen, VP & Associate CIO, CHRISTUS Health. "With the MACRA* final rule issued in October, it's clear to us that we need to accelerate our population health initiatives and take advantage of population-based incentive models as well as alternative payment models. We've seen the writing on the wall and we know that Philips Wellcentive will help us achieve our ambitious goals to continue to provide the highest quality of care for our patients."

Additionally, CHRISTUS Health is among a growing number of systems offering health plans to its total staff of 40,000 associates, and manages plan offerings on state exchanges. This "payvider" (payer/provider) status will also expand the collaboration with Philips Wellcentive to explore aspects like value-based insurance design to help attain a sustainable healthcare system model nationwide.

"This expanded agreement will give CHRISTUS Health the flexibility to engage Philips' population health management technology at the most comprehensive level," said Tom Zajac, Business Leader, Population Health Management, Philips. "As we move from organizing and optimizing clinical data to deliver actionable insights for population health management and quality reporting, we'll continue to provide our expertise and advanced solutions to help CHRISTUS Health providers drive better outcomes among their patient populations nationwide."

The CHRISTUS Health system includes over 50 hospitals and 175 clinics in more than 60 U.S. cities. Its more than 15,000 physicians participate in accountable care organizations (ACO), clinically integrated networks (CINs) and long-term care settings, among others.

Population health management is a transformational approach to proactively provide healthcare and wellness engagement, by leveraging large sets of data to identify different groups within a population in order to increase patient engagement. The result is a combination of improved health outcomes in alignment with existing reimbursement models. 

Philips acquired Wellcentive, a leading US-based provider of population health management software solutions, in July 2016. The combined population health management solutions create a great foundation to accelerate growth in connected care – from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care – enabling positive outcomes for consumers, providers and health organizations.

In population health management, Philips offers enterprise telehealth, home monitoring, personal emergency response systems (PERS) and personal health services to address multiple groups within a population, from intensive ambulatory care for high-risk patients to prevention and personal health programs for the general population. Philips Wellcentive provides cloud-based IT solutions to import, aggregate and analyze clinical, claims and financial data across hospital and health systems to help care providers deliver coordinated care that meets new healthcare quality requirements and reimbursement models.

In 2013, CHRISTUS Health selected Philips Wellcentive to advance data capabilities beyond its Electronic Health Record (EHR) network to link ambulatory practices, acute care facilities and community support to prioritize care, identify at-risk patients, close gaps in care management and anticipate value-based care. In 2014, CHRISTUS expanded the Philips Wellcentive platform to four additional regions.

For further information, please contact:
Kathy O'Reilly
Philips Group Communications
Tel.: +1 978-221-8919
E-mail: [email protected]
Twitter: @kathyoreilly

Kimberley Davidson
Philips Population Health Management
Tel: 31 627 863 118
E-mail: [email protected] 
Twitter: @wanderingkim

About Royal Philips
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips' health technology portfolio generated 2015 sales of EUR 16.8 billion and employs approximately 70,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter.

About CHRISTUS Health
CHRISTUS Health, an international Catholic, faith-based, not-for-profit health system, is headquartered in Dallas and is comprised of almost 350 services and facilities, including more than 50 hospitals and long-term care facilities, 175 clinics and outpatient centers and dozens of other health ministries and ventures. CHRISTUS services can be found in over 60 cities in Texas, Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, New Mexico, Georgia, Mexico, Colombia, and Chile. The system employs approximately 40,000 Associates and has over 15,000 physicians on facility medical staffs who provide care and support for patients. CHRISTUS Health is listed among the 10 largest Catholic health systems in the U.S. www.christushealth.org

*Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) defines new rules for reimbursement, primarily for physicians for caring for Medicare beneficiaries.

SOURCE Royal Philips