Two Blues programs have announced partnerships with American Well, adding to the telehealth provider's impressive list of customers and offering further evidence of payer acceptance of the online healthcare delivery platform.
BlueCross BlueShield of Louisiana and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts both announced partnerships with Boston-based American Well during this week's America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) Exchange Conference in Las Vegas.
“We are thrilled to partner with these telehealth innovators to reshape healthcare delivery and provide quality care throughout these communities,” said Roy Schoenberg, MD, MPH, American Well's CEO, in a press release. “The introduction of Online Care will mean new options for those seeking care, whenever and wherever they need it at this important time in our healthcare history.”
In Massachusetts, BCBSMA will use American Well's Online Care platform as part of its Alternative Quality Contract, a new project that officials say is designed to improve quality of care and health outcomes while reducing healthcare spending. The AQC pilot, expected to launch this fall, will allow practices throughout the Commonwealth to better manage patient populations and coordinate care with other providers.
“We have committed, through our Alternative Quality Contract, to allow our providers to redesign the way they deliver care to improve quality and outcomes and increase efficiency,” said Gregory LeGrow, BCBSMA's director of network innovation, in the press release. “Online Care will give our providers a critical tool in their efforts to better coordinate care for our members and help move us closer to our goal to make quality care affordable."
In Louisiana, BCBSLA will use the Online Care platform as an added feature of its Quality Blue Primary Care population health and quality improvement program, beginning this fall. The option will also be offered to certain self-insured employer groups, officials said.
“This partnership will strengthen our commitment to improving the culture of health by bringing patients closer to their personal physicians,” said David Carmouche, BCBSLA's chief medical officer, in the release. “American Well’s platform will create a new level of access to the increased quality of care that has been at the core of our commitment to our members, and it fits nicely into our efforts to boost health outcomes through our new QBPC program.”
American Well's platform is designed to enable physicians to use the web, smartphones or mobile devices to review a patient's clinical information, conduct a video visit, prescribe medications and coordinate follow-up care.
Since launching in 2009 in a project with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, the company has forged a number of significant partnerships, working with Tufts Medical Center to treat patients in Haiti, connecting with retirement villages in Florida through the University of South Florida and providing home-based care for veterans via the Department of Veterans Affairs. American Well also has programs with Ascension Health, Rite Aid, WellPoint, OptumHealth and Blue Cross and Blue Shield chapters in western New York, northeastern New York and North Carolina, is providing online care to people in Australia and New Zealand through Medibank and recently launched a partnership with Allscripts to integrate telehealth into electronic health records.
