Preserving Medicare Advantage

By Buffalo Medical Group | December 6 2021 | Uncategorized

By Lisa Dombro, Chief Experience & Innovation Officer at agilon health

Today, agilon health and 12 of our physician partners are proud to announce a our partnership with Better Medicare Alliance (BMA), the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit research and advocacy organization dedicated to supporting Medicare Advantage. As the need for high-quality senior care in America continues to increase, our role as official BMA allies is a fruitful and vital step toward upholding the critical value of the independent physician in primary care.

As BMA is the only organization that aligns providers and health plans toward a common goal and focus—the success of the Medicare Advantage program—this partnership provides an elevated platform for agilon health and our independent physician partners in the critical, ongoing conversations surrounding the policies and evolution of Medicare Advantage. We are honored to join the esteemed group of BMA allies that includes Meals on Wheels America, National Business Group on Health, National Minority Quality Forum, National Hispanic Medical Association, the Alliance for Aging Research, the Association for Community Affiliated Plans, and the Council for Affordable Health Coverage, among many others.

Our partnership also arrives at a time when patients are reporting high rates of satisfaction with their Medicare Advantage plans. According to a December 2020 Morning Consult poll, 98% of seniors (and 99% of minority seniors) who are on Medicare Advantage report being satisfied with their plans, while 69% report being “very satisfied.” Meanwhile, 97% of respondents stated that they were specifically satisfied with their plan’s network of hospitals, specialists and primary care providers. These satisfaction rates correlate with better health outcomes for Medicare Advantage patients; research published by Avalere Health in December 2020 shows that Medicare Advantage beneficiaries experience a 43% lower rate of avoidable hospitalizations for any condition compared to traditional FFS Medicare recipients.

The collaboration with BMA highlights the critical importance of agilon health’s mission while providing constructive, rewarding opportunities to join forces with BMA on key advocacy initiatives. Many of the health plans we closely work with are active participants within BMA; through leadership forums, campaigns and other advocacy initiatives, the addition of agilon health and our partner practices (see the full list of BMA-allied partner practices below) will strengthen the voice of the independent physician both within BMA and throughout the industry. And while today, our providers already utilize some of the tools available through BMA (such as patient education tools), formalizing this allyship allows our partner practices to avail themselves of BMA’s full spectrum of resources and programming.

We also look forward to sharing our experiences as leaders in establishing the Total Care Model for Medicare Advantage patients with other members of the BMA community. Those experiences include: Our success in achieving world class net promoter scores within our partner’s Medicare Advantage patient populations; the access we provide to Medicare Advantage patients in federally designated underserved communities through over 40% of our partner practice locations; and the clinical results we’re driving in terms of reducing unnecessary hospitalization and emergency room utilization.

Partnering with BMA is yet another way for agilon health to strategically integrate with those health plans that are our critical parts of agilon health’s Total Care Model—and just one of many approaches being taken by agilon health to continue to ensure that the voice of the independent physician remains at the forefront of any discussion on the future of Medicare Advantage.

agilon health BMA-allied Partner Practices:

• Austin Regional Clinic*
• Buffalo Medical Group
• Central Ohio Primary Care*
• FamilyCare Medical Group, PC
• Physicians Group of Southeastern Ohio
• Pinehurst Medical Clinic
• Pioneer Physicians Network
• Premier Family Physicians
• PriMed Physicians
• Starling Physicians
• The Toledo Clinic
• Wilmington Health

*Existing BMA Ally