Meridian ACO Posts Impressive Quality Score

The Meridian Accountable Care Organization (ACO) achieved a 92.65% overall quality score for 2017, one of its highest ever. The Meridian ACO successfully improved its quality score by more than six percentage points compared to performance year 2016 – a difficult feat that led to improved care among its Medicare patients.

“The significant jump in Meridian ACO’s quality score this year is testament to our physicians’ and care team’s dedication to their patients,” said Patrick Young, president of Population Health for Hackensack Meridian Health. “The ACO improved its score in three out of four domains including care coordination and patient safety, preventative health and care for its at-risk population.”

In fact, the Meridian ACO achieved the highest score possible for the care it provided to its at-risk patients.

“While the Meridian ACO did not meet the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) benchmark for shared savings, the ACO made significant strides in its quality,” said Navneet Kathuria, M.D., MPH, MBA, senior vice president of Population Health Management for Hackensack Meridian Health. “The team continues to search for way to further improve our ACO in order to better serve our patients and our physician partners.”

The Meridian ACO has been part of CMS’ Medicare Shared Savings Program for five years and has consistently achieved strong quality results. Medicare ACOs are comprised of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers, who work together to provide coordinated, quality care to their Medicare patients. The goal of each ACO to ensure patients get the right care at the right time while avoiding unnecessary duplication of services and preventing medical errors.

ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH

Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the largest, most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care.

Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 16 hospitals from Bergen to Ocean counties, which includes three academic medical centers – Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, JFK Medical Center in Edison; two children’s hospitals – Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital in Neptune; nine community hospitals – Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin, Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, and Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood; and two rehabilitation hospitals – JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison and Shore Rehabilitation Institute in Brick.

Additionally, the network has more than 450 patient care locations throughout the state which include ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness centers, rehabilitation centers, urgent care centers and physician practice locations. Hackensack Meridian Health has 33,000 team members, and 6,500 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.

The network’s notable distinctions include having one of only five major academic medical centers in the nation to receive Healthgrades America’s 50 Best Hospitals Award for five or more consecutive years, four hospitals among the top 10 in New Jersey by U.S. News and World Report. Other honors include consistently achieving Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, recipient of the John M. Eisenberg Award for Patient Safety and Quality from The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum, a six-time recipient of Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For,” one of the “20 Best Workplaces in Health Care” in the nation, and the number one “Best Place to Work for Women.” The network was also named to Becker’s Healthcare’s “150 Top Places to Work in Healthcare/2018” list.

Hackensack Meridian Health partnered with Seton Hall University to launch the first private medical school in New Jersey – Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University – in more than 50 years to address a growing shortage of physicians and dramatic changes in health care delivery. Additionally, the network partnered with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer to find more cures for cancer faster while ensuring that patients have access to the highest quality, most individualized cancer care when and where they need it. Hackensack Meridian Health and Carrier Clinic, New Jersey’s oldest and most respected behavioral health provider, signed a definitive agreement to merge.

Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies.

For additional information, please visit www.HackensackMeridianHealth.org.