Valley Preferred 2019 Progress Update Now Available

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Media Contact:                                                                       Editorial Contact:
Jaclyn Solick, Director, Marketing and                                   Lori McFerran, Editorial
Business Communications, Populytics                                  Coordinator, Populytics
jaclyn_d.solick@lvhn.org                                                        lori.mcferran@lvhn.org
610-969-0295                                                                         610-969-0019
 
VALLEY PREFERRED REFLECTS ON ACHIEVEMENTS AND OUTLINES FUTURE VISION IN 2019 PROGRESS UPDATE, NOW AVAILABLE
Pioneering Collaborative Improvement in Health Care
 
Allentown, PA – February 25, 2019 – Valley Preferred, the physician-led preferred provider organization affiliated with Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN), has released its 2019 Progress Update in print and online. The publication outlines the headway that their member providers have made toward improvements in health care quality, population health management, and the transition to value based care. Valley Preferred has developed significant relationships with multiple constituents impacting health care at large, thus forging pathways to improve health care quality and value.
 
Regarding the move away from fee-for-service payment models, Valley Preferred’s Executive Director Mark Wendling, MD says, “Valley Preferred leaders have recognized the imminence of value based reimbursement in health care for some time, and have been building a foundation and equipping its physicians with the tools and education they need to succeed in this new world. We have seen great successes throughout our community of engaged providers who have stepped up to the challenge with a concentrated focus on health care quality and patient experience.”
 
The 16-page Progress Update covers six key areas of health care provider support: Incentives and Achieving Clinical Excellence® (ACE), Transition to Value Based Reimbursement, Quality Improvement and Data, Education and Outreach, Care Coordination and Population Health, and The Quadruple Aim: Physician Wellness. The publication focuses on the people and infrastructure established over the organization’s 25+ year history that support health care providers in these areas, with emphasis on the ACE physician incentive program and planning team.
 
“Originally developed to help motivate physician engagement, ACE has become a cornerstone of our work,” says Nicole Sully, DO, Medical Director of Quality at Valley Preferred. Insightful medical and claims information from data analytics partner Populytics, Inc., are electronically delivered to Valley Preferred physicians so they can view and track their performance metrics and ACE incentives. Providers can monitor their progress toward quality measures, set by Valley Preferred in collaboration with insurance payers, and make changes as needed. “This is the key to progress in areas such as reducing waste, closing gaps in care, and improving patient outcomes,” says Dr. Sully. “It forms the foundation from which our planning, strategy, and operations unfold.”  
 
Taking care gap closure as an example, results from the latest cycle of data collection have shown an 89.08% overall care gap closure rate among Valley Preferred’s 1,300+ provider membership. This illustrates a steady increase from 69.2% in 2017 and 76.8% in 2018, representing a 28.73% improvement in under two years. Closing gaps in care among patients is one of the most significant strategies for improving population health and beginning to bend the cost curve on health care expenses for employers, individuals, and patients.  
 
For more information, call 610-969-0485 or visit valleypreferred.com.
 
ABOUT VALLEY PREFERRED
Valley Preferred is a clinician-led Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) formed in 1993 by Lehigh Valley Health Network and the Greater Lehigh Valley Independent Practice Association, Inc. The organization is dedicated to supporting member physicians through education, collaboration, analytics, and with financial incentives tied to quality measures through the Achieving Clinical Excellence^® (ACE) physician incentive program. Valley Preferred continues to develop and implement innovative programs and form relationships to improve health care delivery and increase health care value across the region.