Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan announced a new partnership with Dedicated Senior Medical Centers (Dedicated), a subsidiary of ChenMed, as they open six primary care centers in Wayne County and the surrounding areas. The first four Dedicated centers will open during the summer of 2021.
ChenMed, the parent company of Dedicated, is a leading primary care provider organization offering personalized and affordable services that improve health for seniors. Through this partnership, Dedicated will provide medical care services to Blue Cross members with Individual Medicare Advantage plans, with an emphasis on moderate-to-low income seniors who often lack access to high-quality primary care.
“Blue Cross has a historic mission to expand access to care and ChenMed has a track record of high-touch care – including bringing their doctors into people’s homes – that has proven to deliver better health outcomes for patients,” said Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Daniel J. Loepp. “We are excited to partner with Dedicated Senior Medical Centers to serve Blue Cross’ Individual Medicare Advantage members in Wayne County.”
The ChenMed family of brands, including Dedicated, serve tens of thousands of Medicare-eligible seniors benefiting from Medicare Advantage insurance in 10 states. They provide personalized, well-coordinated care that effectively detects and manages multiple and complex illnesses; using a combination of frequent telehealth and in-person physician appointments. Dedicated’s large, interdisciplinary care team supports social determinants of health screenings and coordination of social services, wrapping services around the member.
“Our physician-led care teams do whatever it takes to help our family of patients,” said Christopher Chen, M.D., ChenMed CEO. “Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan members can count on Dedicated to honor seniors with affordable care that delivers better health. That’s what we do through more than 75 centers serving diverse populations of seniors – especially those living in underserved neighborhoods.”
Dedicated follows the proven ChenMed approach to high-touch care that consistently yields better health outcomes. Consumers receiving care at Dedicated centers experience 50% fewer hospital admissions compared with a standard primary-care practice, 28% lower per-member costs and significantly higher use of evidence-based medications than the comparable averages for Medicare beneficiaries. Their expertise includes the provision of health care services targeted to the senior population and is adaptive to their specific needs. Dedicated supports strong physician-consumer relationships to earn the trust needed to ensure healthier consumers.
Dedicated’s financial model with Blue Cross is both risk and value-based. This particular arrangement emphasizes quality of care and care coordination to better manage chronic conditions, as well as addressing social needs. The model aligns with Blue Cross’ strategy of advancing value-based risk contracts to optimize member health through high-quality care in order to contain rising costs, first established in 2019 with the Blueprint for Affordability program.
While the locations of all six clinics are currently being finalized, they will reside in areas where convenient access to primary care providers is limited, in Wayne County and the surrounding areas. One of the clinics has been confirmed for the East Warren/Cadieux area of Detroit, the same neighborhood that Blue Cross is investing $5 million in through 2022, a pledge that will help inclusive neighborhood development through Detroit’s Strategic Neighborhood Fund and Affordable Housing Leverage Fund. ChenMed expects to invest $20 to $25 million in the new health centers and hire approximately 200 Detroit employees by 2023.
This was reported by Dedicated Senior Medical Center/ChenMed on December 14, 2020.
Contact information: Jim Brown, Director of Public Relations and Community Affairs, Dedicated Senior Medical Center/ChenMed LLC, 305-310-7214; Email: james.brown@ChenMed.com; Website: https://www.chenmed.com/
Contact information: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, 600 E Lafayette Blvd, Detroit, Michigan 48226; 313-549-9884; Email: newsroom@bcbsm.com; Website: https://www.bcbsm.com/
