St. Mary’s Health Care System and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia announced a new, multi-year provider network agreement. The agreement secures long-term access to affordable health care for St. Mary’s Health Care System patients covered by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia health plans.

As part of the agreement, the two organizations will accelerate their collaboration on several innovative initiatives, including advance data connectivity and value-based care (VBC) models designed to improve health outcomes and better control costs for care for St. Mary’s Health Care System patients covered by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia health plans.

The new agreement covers all three St. Mary’s acute care facilities – St. Mary’s Hospital in Athens, St. Mary’s Sacred Heart Hospital in Lavonia, and St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital in Greensboro – as well as providers within St. Mary’s Medical Group, St. Mary’s Home Health Care/Hospice Services, and all St. Mary’s outpatient facilities and services.

St. Mary’s and Anthem will incorporate Epic Payer Platform into regular operations, a technology that will streamline secure patient data flow between the organizations, bolster operational efficiency, accelerate approval processes, and improve patient outcomes. The platform’s Clinical Data Exchange simplifies processes and reduces administrative burden for medical teams, allowing doctors to spend less time doing paperwork and more time treating patients.

“We are pleased that an agreement with Anthem could be reached without disruption to patient care,” said Stonish Pierce, President/CEO of Trinity Health Georgia which includes St. Mary’s Health Care System. “St. Mary’s looks forward to our continued partnership with Anthem in serving our communities with the high-quality care people need and trust.”  

While St. Mary’s and Anthem have long partnered on VBC delivery and quality-based payment models, the new agreement expands that work to include Anthem’s advanced VBC methodology. This represents further progress in moving toward healthcare models that align payment with improved health outcomes and reduced cost trends.

“We look forward to continuing to collaborate with St. Mary’s Health Care System on simplifying care for the members we mutually serve,” said Robert Bunch, President of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia. “Our goal has always been to improve health outcomes for our members focusing on one’s whole health while keeping costs manageable for consumers and employers.”