January 13, 2015

TriHealth and five other leading health systems in Ohio have agreed to form a large-scale entity whose mission is to improve the value of health care services delivered to patients and communities throughout the state.

Called the Midwest Health Collaborative, the entity also includes:

• Aultman, Canton and northeast Ohio
• Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland and northeast Ohio
• OhioHealth, Columbus, north central and southeast Ohio
• Premier Health, Dayton and southwest Ohio
• ProMedica, Toledo, northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan

While remaining independent, our organizations will work together to:

• Assess the feasibility of creating a statewide provider network.
• Exchange best practices.
• Share resources.
• Reduce costs.
• Develop innovative ways to deliver health care across large populations.
• Reduce care variation.

Key MHC initiatives over the next several years will focus on supply chain and cost transformation, identifying tailored and innovative payment models, and creating an actively managed large-scale network.  

The MHC members seek to increase value to the communities they serve and to their collective organizations, through:

• A commitment to active clinical management.
• The development of standardized care pathways.
• The use of real-time data and predictive analytics to enhance personalized care.
• An optimization of patient-centered medical homes and care coordination skills through collaboration.

With more than 100,000 team members collectively, there will be an emphasis on sharing best practices in team member health programs through plan benefit design analysis and best-in-class wellness initiatives and programs.

Nationally, the health care industry is moving toward a value-based framework rather than traditional fee-for-service model. This shift has spurred increased activity by health systems to explore new and innovative ways to work together while remaining independent.

Considerable research was conducted in identifying potential benefits of such a collaboration in Ohio including the development of a comprehensive eight-week study to determine the interest in an actively managed statewide network.

The leaders of the MHC recognize the strength of the collaborative and benefits of pooling their resources and expertise to positively impact the health of populations across Ohio.