Blue Shield of California continues to grow its nationally recognized Accountable Care Organization (ACO) program, now providing more than 600,000 Californians access to the nonprofit health plan’s ACO providers.
That’s a significant jump from the same quarter a year ago when Blue Shield’s ACO program served about 435,000 people. The biggest increase (about 75,000) came from Californians signing up for Blue Shield’s Individual and Family Plans’ Trio HMO product.
Trio HMO plans are designed to access Blue Shield’s ACOs, which focus on improved care coordination among physicians, specialists and hospitals, and also includes unique features such as one-stop customer service.
Blue Shield’s ACOs are alliances formed with physicians and hospitals who work together to provide Californians access to high-quality care that’s sustainably affordable – the core of Blue Shield’s mission.
“Our commitment is to work hand-in-hand with our providers to help transform our health care system into one that helps people get healthy and stay healthy. The growth of our ACO program is just the latest example of our efforts and together with our providers, we look forward to serving even more Californians,” said Terry Gilliland, M.D., Blue Shield of California’s Chief Health Officer.
Currently, there are 44 Blue Shield ACOs across California. The program that began in 2010 as a pilot in Sacramento has now saved more than $486 million in estimated healthcare costs. To learn more about Blue Shield’s ACO program, see the video below.