Anthem Blue Cross Adds Providence to Value-Based Care Health Plan

Anthem Blue Cross announced on Monday that Providence Southern California joined its Vivity Health Plan as a joint-venture partner, making this the first joint-venture between health systems and a like-minded health plan in the country. The partnership was formed to enhance member experience and promote value-based care.

Providence’s extensive network of 746 physicians, 2,800 specialists and 11 award-winning hospitals in Orange and Los Angeles counties joined Vivity’s founding non-profit health systems, all of which are ranked in the top 30 in Los Angeles County by U.S. News & World Report. Other Vivity systems include Cedars-Sinai, PIH Health, Torrance Memorial Medical Center, Huntington Hospital, and UCLA Health.

“We know the relationships we have with the Vivity providers are important to creating choices for our consumers and to fulfilling our mission of improving lives and communities,” said Beth Andersen, president of Anthem Blue Cross commercial plans. “That’s why we are pleased to welcome Providence to the Vivity family as a partner, helping us to increase access to health care that’s affordable.”

Echoing this sentiment was Erik G. Wexler, chief executive of Providence Southern California.

“Providence is proud to join the Vivity partnership, which shares our commitment to simplify access to quality care, with compassion, and affordability,” said Wexler.

Offered as an HMO product for employer groups in Southern California, Vivity delivers high quality care at an affordable cost to its customers and members, Anthem Blue Cross said. The average Vivity premiums in 2019 were 20 to 25 percent lower than Anthem Blue Cross’ leading traditional HMO network.

Vivity’s model strives to provide members with exceptional customer service through a concierge-style member services team. Vivity’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) rating has gone up year after year and most recently in 2020, Vivity outperformed the average health insurance industry NPS by nearly five points.

The joint-venture, which virtually creates an integrated health care system experience, was designed to enhance member health and follows a unique provider reimbursement structure that includes shared savings from various community risk pools. Established as an LLC, joint-venture partners share ownership over the governance of an organization.

“As a joint-venture among major non-profit health systems and Anthem, Vivity aligns incentives to deliver high-quality care and the best patient experience that is affordable,” said Rick Jacobs, executive vice president and chief strategy officer at Cedars-Sinai.

“We are thrilled to have Providence join Vivity so we can expand access in Southern California and continue to strengthen the value of care delivery,” Jacobs continued.

By leveraging value-based care, the joint-venture with Vivity is set to simplify access to care and streamline the healthcare experience for members. The joint-venture officially became effective on November 1.

“This partnership complements our strategy to deliver a high value network of care focused on keeping people well and providing them the highest quality and coordinated care when sick,” said Prub “P.K.” Khurana, chief strategy officer of Providence Southern California and chief executive of Providence St. Joseph Health Network.

In addition to bringing Providence Southern California on as a joint-venture partner, Vivity has recently contracted with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital located in Valencia. While this is not a joint-venture partnership, the addition of Henry Mayo to Vivity’s network will provide additional access to value-based care in Los Angeles County for members.

“This is an exciting opportunity for the Vivity Partnership with Anthem and the founding health systems to have the caliber of Providence who as a new participating founder and regional integrated provider will only complement the standard of a high performing network delivering on both quality and value,” said Raj Takhar, Senior Vice President of Huntington Hospital.