Florida Physicians Earn More Than $2.1 Million in Bonus Payments

Florida Physicians Earn More Than $2.1 Million in Bonus Payments for Improving Health Outcomes for UnitedHealthcare Medicaid Beneficiaries

• Homestead physician among 263 practices statewide recognized for delivering quality patient care
• Key quality measures include preventive screenings, child immunizations and well-care visits

UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Florida awarded more than $2.1 million in bonus payments to 263 physician practices statewide last year for improving the quality of care for people enrolled in UnitedHealthcare’s Medicaid plans.

Through its Quality Performance Incentive Program (QPIP), UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Florida rewards physician practices that achieve or exceed Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) targets, which are industry-accepted standards that define and track the quality of care. These goals include conducting preventive health screenings, adolescent well-care visits, child immunizations, diabetes monitoring and eye exams.“Thousands of UnitedHealthcare Medicaid plan participants statewide receive quality, compassionate care from hundreds of physicians who deliver more personalized and better-connected care,” said Dr. Eina Fishman, chief medical officer, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Florida. “We are grateful for the opportunity to reward Florida physicians for embracing a value-based relationship with UnitedHealthcare that is helping Medicaid beneficiaries live healthier lives.”

QPIP features clinical practice consultants who work alongside care providers to help identify patients who need specific health care services, prioritize services for these patients and find ways to improve access to quality care. UnitedHealthcare provides technical, reporting and administrative support to primary care practices to help facilitate continuous improvement.

There are more than 650 primary care practices in Florida participating in QPIP. Eligibility is determined quarterly, and bonus payments are made in the following quarter.

For example, Ocala-based Premier Pediatrics reported a marked increase in the number of patients seeking preventive-care appointments and other services as a result of working with a UnitedHealthcare clinical practice consultant who worked with the practice on HEDIS measures and collaborated with physicians on how to enhance their performance.

Portofino Pediatrics in Homestead also has benefited from the program’s expertise. “The educational meetings and detailed analysis has given us a clearer picture of what we were doing well, with direction on specific areas that needed more attention,” said Dr. Nivia Vasquez of Portofino Pediatrics.

UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Florida, which serves more than 275,000 Medicaid plan participants statewide, deployed the program in 2015.

“Early results of the program show promising trends toward transforming how health care is delivered, paid for and rewarded, with a greater emphasis on value instead of volume,” said Michael Lawton, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Florida. “In the last year, 36 percent of our plan participants have accessed care from a physician practice that has earned a quality bonus.”

QPIP is one of many UnitedHealthcare initiatives aimed at shifting the nation’s health care system to a value-based care model that rewards the quality of patients’ health outcomes and has the potential to reduce overall costs.

Care providers nationwide are showing strong interest in a shift to value-based care. UnitedHealthcare’s total payments to physicians and hospitals that are tied to value-based arrangements have tripled in the last three years to more than $52 billion. By the end of 2018, UnitedHealthcare expects that figure to reach $65 billion.

For more information about UnitedHealthcare’s changing relationships with care providers and how value-based programs are helping to improve quality and people’s health, visit www.UHC.com/valuebasedcare and download the Value-based Care Report.

UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, military service members, retirees and their families, Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, contracts directly with 1 million physicians and care professionals and 6,000 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or follow @myUHC on Twitter.