Florida Blue and Palm Beach Accountable Care Organization, LLC form Accountable Care Program

Florida Blue, Florida’s Blue Cross and Blue Shield company, and  Palm Beach Accountable Care Organization, LLC (PBACO) are pleased to announce the implementation of an accountable care program that aims to improve the quality and efficiency of patient care in the South Florida area.

An accountable care program (ACO) is an important step in moving away from the traditional payment model that has focused on reimbursement per service, and instead concentrates on a holistic approach to member care. 

Through this collaboration between Florida Blue and PBACO’s network of physicians, patients will benefit from a concerted effort to deliver high quality coordination of care and improve health status and affordability.  The shared savings program benefits patients in Palm Beach County as well as Miami-Dade, Broward, Martin, Okeechobee and St. Lucie Counties, providing data sharing and care coordination focused on both high-quality and cost efficiencies.

“Florida Blue is excited to be working closely with Palm Beach ACO to drive patient satisfaction and engagement, improve quality and outcomes while eliminating duplication of services,” said Kirk Fischer, vice president of Delivery System for Florida Blue.  A leader in the state’s health care industry, Florida Blue has value-based arrangements with over 56 hospitals and more than 11,500 physicians, including 23 ACOs. 

“Palm Beach ACO is proud of this collaboration with Florida Blue.   We believe this partnership adds depth to both organizations which share goals of achieving better clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction,” said Palm Beach ACO Chairman Sharab Mohamed, M.D. 

About Florida Blue

Florida Blue, Florida’s Blue Cross and Blue Shield company, is a leader in Florida’s health care industry. Driven by its mission to help people and communities achieve better health, Florida Blue serves approximately 4 million members across the state. An additional 15.5 million people in 16 states are served through its affiliated companies. Florida Blue is a not-for-profit, policyholder-owned, tax-paying mutual company. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., it is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies.

For more information, visit www.FloridaBlue.com.

About Palm Beach Accountable Care Organization

Palm Beach ACO is a physician owned and operated network of approximately 240 Primary Care Physicians and 160 Specialist Physicians.  We believe that through our high performing network of independent physicians we can improve clinical outcomes while reducing healthcare expense and increasing patient satisfaction.  Palm Beach ACO currently ranks 2nd out of 330 ACOs nationally in Medicare annual cost savings and currently maintains a 91.7% quality score which ranks 4th out of 37 ACOs in Florida.  For more information, visit http://www.pbaco.org.