Iowa Health System, the organization which Methodist joined in October 2011, is now known as UnityPoint Health. This is much more than a name change; it represents a system-wide focus on surrounding the patient with care that is coordinated among family physicians and specialists, hospitals, home health, long-term care and community services.
Over the years, leadership at Methodist and throughout Iowa Health System recognized that healthcare delivery is too often fragmented, episodic and economically unsustainable. The healthcare industry had evolved to reward volume of care and not the quality. Instead of helping people with diabetes, heart problems and other chronic diseases live healthier, the system was designed to treat them when they were sick.
Transformation to Value
The vision statement for UnityPoint Health, “Best Outcome for Every Patient Every Time,” provided direction for a transformation to value-based healthcare. Using a team approach, care is coordinated around the patient to help him or her get healthy more quickly and stay as healthy as possible.
This patient-centered model is led by physicians affiliated with UnityPoint Health, including nearly 900 doctors and providers working in more than 280 UnityPoint clinics across Illinois and Iowa. They are supported by UnityPoint Health hospitals, including UnityPoint Health – Methodist, and by UnityPoint at Home, including UnityPoint at Home – Peoria. Together, we will guide a transformation of care delivery that strives to achieve:
- the best clinical outcomes for our patients;
- the best patient experience; and
- the most affordable price.
Imagine the ability to connect patients with their primary care physicians before the onset of chronic conditions or before their conditions require admission to the hospital. Imagine wrapping a coordinated interdisciplinary team around a patient—a team focused on all aspects of that patient’s well-being. Imagine having a care navigator who regularly monitors the patient and can connect the patient in real time to whatever healthcare or community resources he or she needs. Those capabilities are not in the distant future; they are real and they are working now. UnityPoint physicians, hospitals and home care entities are leading a variety of care coordination innovations:
- Utilizing advanced medical teams led by care navigators who partner with primary care doctors to ensure patients understand and follow discharge instructions and keep medical appointments, as well as address issues in the home that may hamper a patient’s recovery and connect patients with healthcare resources to better manage their health.
- Reducing costly, avoidable visits to emergency departments by helping frequent emergency service users get preventive care from primary care physicians in the most appropriate settings.
- Integrating mental healthcare into primary care clinics to assure patients with both mental health and clinical conditions get the care they need.
- Managing value-based accountable care organizations serving more than 220,000 people, including one of the nation’s original Pioneer ACOs in Fort Dodge, Iowa, as well as the Medicare Shared Savings Plan ACO, of which Methodist is a part. A new day has come in healthcare. A unified team surrounding the patient with value. UnityPoint Health is more than a name. It is our commitment to putting the patient in the center… the point of unity is you. iBi
