Premier Medical Associates (PMA), a multispecialty physician practice based in Monroeville, PA, received the 2017 Optum-AMGA Award for Innovation in Population Health. PMA received the award for their use of analytics to achieve outstanding improvements in population health and for sharing their approaches with other AMGA member organizations. This is the third year for the Population Health Innovation Award from AMGA and Optum. Previous winners were Aurora Health Care (based in Milwaukee, WI) and Mercy (based in St. Louis, MO).

Premier uses clinically based predictive models in the Optum One population health analytics platform with learnings from the AMGA’s Analytics for Improvement (A4i) collaborative to implement improvements in care. They employ predictive models to design pro-active care processes for high-risk patients. PMA nurse navigators and care coordinators use the predictive data to prioritize outreach and tailor care for patients with heart failure, diabetes, and pediatric asthma, to avert hospitalization and ED visits. PMA strives to create a culture emphasizing “doing right by the patient.” They are aggressively pursuing population health in a market that is still fundamentally fee-for-service. “It’s a moral imperative. When you discover something that’s better for the patient, you have an obligation to do it,” said Mark DeRubeis, chief executive officer at PMA and AMGA board member.

Using Optum One, PMA has increased the proportion of patients with hypertension who have their blood pressure in control from 62% to 80%. Premier currently has the best overall performance among A4i collaborative participants in AMGA’s Together 2 Goal(R) diabetes campaign. PMA has also been raising awareness among clinicians and patients about the importance of colorectal cancer screening. They have increase screening rates from 50 to 80 percent in only two years.

“We have developed a culture that optimizes resources to ensure every patient receives the best care,” notes PMA President Bob Crossey, DO. “Ultimately, our focus on providing the best patient care at the lowest cost is right for the market, as well as the patient,” said Frank Colangelo, MD, FACP, chief quality officer at PMA.

AAMGA’s A4i Collaborative is an initiative to improve population health through comparative clinical analytics, using an unparalleled data resource provided by Optum as a springboard for collaborative shared learning and translation. A4i facilitates data-driven collaboration among its member health care organizations to improve outcomes and reduce cost. A4i extends AMGA’s proven model for shared learning, bringing member groups together to share practical lessons about how to enhance value in population health.

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For more information about A4i or to learn more about the Optum One platform, please contact Cindy Shekailo.