Alexandria, Va. and Wakefield, Mass., June 2, 2017– Premier Medical Associates (PMA), a multispecialty physician practice based in Monroeville, Pa., received the 2017 Award for Innovation in Population Health from AMGA and Optum. The award honored PMA for outstanding improvements in population health using analytics and for sharing its approaches with other AMGA member organizations.

Aggressively pursuing population health in a market that is still fundamentally fee-for-service, PMA uses the clinically based predictive models in the Optum One population health analytics platform. Combining this with learning through AMGA’s Analytics for Improvement (A4i) collaborative, PMA employs the predictive models to design more proactive care processes for high-risk patients. Nurse navigators and care coordinators prioritize outreach and tailor care for patients with heart failure, diabetes, and pediatric asthma to avert hospitalization and emergency department (ED) visits.

“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, M.B.A., chief executive officer of PMA.

Using Optum One, PMA increased the proportion of patients with hypertension who have their blood pressure under control from 62 to 80 percent. The organization currently has the best overall performance among A4i collaborative participants in AMGA’s Together 2 Goal® campaign to improve care for patients with Type 2 diabetes.

“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, M.D., FACP, chief quality officer of PMA.

One of Dr. Colangelo’s passions is making both clinicians and patients aware of the importance of colorectal cancer screening, increasing screening rates at PMA from 50 to 80 percent in just two years.

“PMA physicians have used Optum One to reduce hospital admissions, enhance preventive care, and benchmark their performance―not only on quality measures, but on care process efficiencies, which highlight opportunities to reduce healthcare costs,” said Mary Lantin, Optum’s senior vice president of client services, Optum Analytics.  “We are honored to present this year’s Award for Innovation in Population Health for PMA’s work in improving patient care and helping their patients live healthier lives.”

PMA President Bob Crossey, D.O., says PMA’s on-boarding for new care providers helps create a culture that emphasizes “doing right by the patient.”

“We have developed a culture that optimizes resources to ensure every patient receives the best care,” noted Dr. Crossey.

“We are honoring PMA for an ideal combination of strong analytics and a practice culture that’s exuberant about improving quality for patients,” said John Cuddeback, M.D., Ph.D., AMGA’s chief medical information officer. “They have been very generous in sharing their approach 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 and Mercy.

About Optum

Optum is a leading information and technology-enabled health services business dedicated to helping make the health system work better for everyone. With more than 125,000 people worldwide, Optum delivers intelligent, integrated solutions that help to modernize the health system and improve overall population health. Optum is part of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH). For more information, visit optum.com.

About AMGA’s Analytics for Improvement (A4i) Collaborative

A4i is an AMGA 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

About AMGA

AMGA is a trade association leading the transformation of health care in America. Representing multispecialty medical groups and integrated systems of care, we advocate, educate, innovate and empower our members to deliver the next level of high performance health. AMGA is the national voice promoting awareness of medical groups’ recognized excellence in the delivery of coordinated, high-quality, cost-effective care. More than 175,000 physicians practice in our member organizations, delivering care to one in three Americans. Learn more at amga.org