Southeastern Health Partners generates more than $27M in Medicare savings over three years

New report illustrates Southeastern Health Partners’ efficiency, low annual cost

Southeastern Health Partners is helping make health care more efficient, generating more than $27 million in Medicare savings in the past three years.

Southeastern Health Partners helps provide patients with access to the best quality care, while also reducing healthcare costs by helping sick patients stay healthier and healthy patients remain well.

Southeastern Health Partners has consistently been among the most efficient Accountable Care Organizations within its benchmark group, with per capita expenditures of $9,408 in 2019. Even among the most efficient Accountable Care Organizations in the Medicare Shared Savings Program – those with an annual benchmark of less than $9,575 in per capita expenditures – Southeastern Health Partners ranks near the top.

Launched in 2017, Southeastern Health Partners is a collaboration of 11 hospitals and more than 2,000 providers. In each of the last three years, the effort cut Medicare costs in South Carolina by more than $9 million, while also receiving quality scores of more than 92 percent, according to a report from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Southeastern Health Partners, in its first year of operation, became the largest Medicare Shared Savings Program Accountable Care Organization in South Carolina – based on the total number of Medicare members attributed to providers in the program.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rewards Southeastern Health Partners for improving quality of care and reducing costs. Southeastern Health Partners ended 2019 with a savings rate of 1.95 percent on its Medicare population. Southeastern Health Partner’s success is particularly notable given its already low benchmark cost. This means that before starting to cut costs, Southeastern Health Partners providers had lower costs per Medicare patient than most other providers. Then, Southeastern Health Partners providers reduced costs even further, illustrating that tight financial goals can be met while improving quality care for Medicare patients.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services uses Accountable Care Organization and Medicare Shared Savings Program models to lower Medicare spending and keep the Medicare program sustainable for the long term. Success depends on hospitals, physicians and other clinicians encouraging patients to maintain their health through better habits – including taking medication as prescribed — in order to prevent unnecessary emergency room visits and preventable hospitalizations.