Brazilian Healthcare System, UNIDAS, Visits CHA
A group of senior leaders from the Brazilian healthcare system, UNIDAS, visited Cambridge Health Alliance from October 31 through November 3 to study our Accountable Care Organization (ACO) model.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A group of 43 senior healthcare leaders from Brazil visited Cambridge Health Alliance from October 31 through November 3 to study CHA's care model. The Accountable Care Organization (ACO) is an increasingly important method to finance and deliver healthcare, with the objectives of improving quality and efficiency of care. CHA’s ACO has contracts with MassHealth, Medicare, and several commercial payers.
The delegates received lectures on comprehensive patient-centered primary care, population health, integrated behavioral health, value-based healthcare financing, and on the internal management of the ACO as an organization. Point32Health, a major Massachusetts health insurance company, also provided the payer perspective on the ACO model. They also heard from the Health Policy Commission of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on the government’s view of the role of ACOs in the state’s health care delivery strategy.
The group visited Broadway and Cambridge Family North primary care sites, as well as Cambridge Hospital, where they learned about care integration. They also visited Mount Auburn Hospital to how their interventional cardiology and cardiac surgery program integrates with CHA cardiology and emergency departments.
Senior leadership of UNIDAS, an organization of self-insured industries representing 4 million patients, sponsored the event. Other key participants included directors of the ANS, the agency that regulates the private health systems in Brazil; as well as UNMED, the world’s largest physician cooperative.
UNIDAS wants to innovate in order to address rising health care costs, persistent gaps in care quality, and a fragmented delivery system. The fee-for-service payment model, that dominates the Brazilian healthcare system, does not support reform of the delivery model. UNIDAS is seeking new ways to organize and finance healthcare in order to achieve better outcomes in Brazil.