Backed by a $4.5 million investment led by venture capital firm Venrock, Dr. Farzad Mostashari – the former National Coordinator for Health IT – launched Aledade, a new company that will partner with independent, primary care physicians to make it easy and inexpensive for them to form Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) in which doctors are paid to deliver the best care, not the most care. Dr. Bob Kocher, MD, partner at Venrock, will join the Aledade Board of Directors. Bryan Roberts, also of Venrock, will serve in an advisory capacity for the company.
“Empowering doctors on the front lines of medicine with cutting edge technology that helps them understand and improve the health of all of their patients has been the mission that’s animated my career,” said founder and CEO Farzad Mostashari. “That’s Aledade’s mission – and we’ve assembled the best possible team to guide our doctor partners to success in the ACO space.”
Led by Dr. Mostashari, who oversaw the largest-ever investment in health
information technology, Aledade will provide everything doctors would need to create and run an ACO – from business and practice transformation services to upfront capital and a cutting-edge technology platform.
By doing this, Aledade will help physicians in all types of communities across
America preserve their autonomy, deliver better care to their patients, reduce overall costs, and keep their independent practices flourishing.
“This team has been on the forefront of health care policy and technology
innovation for the past two decades, and now they’re going to apply that expertise to build a business that will help transform health care. They know the dominant trends, can navigate the regulatory landscape, and instinctively understand how technology can empower primary care physicians to deliver great quality care on their own terms,” said Bob Kocher, partner at Venrock. “Their combined experience uniquely positions them to partner with doctors as they transition to an ACO model.”
Aledade ACOs are networks of primary care physicians who band together to deliver coordinated care to their patient populations. They operate under a payment structure designed to reward patient outcomes rather than solely paying doctors based on the number of tests, procedures, or office visits completed.
When ACOs successfully deliver high-quality care at lower cost, they share in the savings through payments from the health plan. Physician-led ACOs have been proven to work. In the first year of the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), 72 percent of the ACOs that achieved savings were physician-led – underscoring a huge potential for small, independent medical practices to adopt this model.
Aledade has already initiated partnerships with primary care physicians in four targeted regions across the country – Delaware, Arkansas, Maryland, and the metro New York area. The company will create a national, replicable model and dramatically expand its footprint over the next nine to 12 months.
Aledade is not tied to any hospital or health care plan, enabling the company to completely align its incentives with the doctors it serves. The Aledade model provides a low-risk way for doctors to form ACOs with no upfront cost to the physician. Aledade makes money when its physicians realize savings, sharing the savings with the physicians in the ACO.
“Primary Care Providers are uniquely situated right now to lead the transformation of health care from volume to value -- if we band together with others who are also committed to quality, coordinated care,” said Dr. Rebecca Jaffe, one of Aledade’s doctor partners. “As a family physician in a small, independent practice, we provide thoughtful, evidence-based care while occupying an important position in the communities we serve. Aledade is the first company offering all the resources we need to be successful -- they're a partner who understands the regulations, can bring us cutting edge technologies and data, and support our on-the-ground practice transformation.”
Aledade’s founding team has deep roots in health care regulation, health IT, and medical care -- bringing an insider’s perspective to a complex and changing landscape. Dr. Mostashari is the former National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he oversaw a successful $2 billion investment in IT-based health care quality improvement; prior to his tenure at HHS, Dr. Mostashari facilitated the Primary Care Information Project, equipping over 1,500 doctors in underserved New York communities to improve population health through the use of electronic health records.
His co-founders are: Executive Vice President Mat Kendall, who began his career as a health clinic executive and later led the largest medical technical assistance project in history, the Regional Health IT Extension Center Program; and Chief Technology Officer Edwin Miller who has launched over 30 healthcare technology products, and was the key product designer for three successful cloud-based electronic health record platforms.
About Aledade
Aledade is a new company with an old-fashioned goal: putting doctors back in control of health care. Aledade partners with independent, primary care physicians to provide everything the doctors need to create and run an Accountable Care Organization (ACO) – from business and practice transformation services to upfront capital and a cutting-edge technology platform. Our customized solutions – and our continuous, on-the-ground support of our physician partners – will help doctors in all types of communities across America preserve their autonomy, deliver better care to their patients, reduce overall costs, and keep independent physician
About Venrock
Originally established as the venture capital arm of the Rockefeller family in 1969, Venrock continues a tradition of partnering with entrepreneurs to establish successful, enduring companies. With a primary focus on technology and healthcare, portfolio companies have included Adify, Apple Computer, Athenahealth, Centocor, Check Point Software, DoubleClick, Endeca, Gilead Sciences, Idec Pharma, Imperva, Illumina, Intel, Millennium Pharma, SlideShare and Tudou. For more information, please visit Venrock’s Web site at www.venrock.com and follow the firm on Twitter at @venrock.