Johns Hopkins Establishes an Accountable Care Organization

To the Johns Hopkins Medicine community

Dear Colleagues:

It is with great pride and tremendous anticipation that we announce that Johns Hopkins Medicine has established an Accountable Care Organization (ACO)—Johns Hopkins Medicine Alliance for Patients, LLC (JMAP)—and it has been selected by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to participate in its Medicare Shared Savings Program beginning on Jan. 1, 2014.

JMAP brings together Johns Hopkins and non-Johns Hopkins primary and specialty care practices and our five mid-Atlantic hospitals to collaborate on the care of 35,000 fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries. We will all work together to improve outcomes and efficiencies and achieve year-over-year savings that will be shared with CMS, JMAP and the participating practices.

JMAP, however, isn't exclusively a Johns Hopkins endeavor. In this venture, we welcome Columbia Medical Practice, Potomac Physician Associates and Cardiovascular Specialists of Central Maryland as partners—a historic move that we feel will enrich JMAP's scope and effectiveness.

Under the leadership of William Baumgartner, M.D., senior vice president of the Office of Johns Hopkins Physicians, and Patricia M.C. Brown, senior vice president of managed care and population health and president of Johns Hopkins HealthCare, JMAP has been in development for almost a year. Bill and Patty serve as co-chairs of the JMAP board and have pulled together an amazing team of Johns Hopkins colleagues led by Scott Berkowitz, M.D., executive director for JMAP and medical director of accountable care, to develop an impressive infrastructure for this new entity. Clinical, quality, IT and administrative personnel have been working for over six months on the initial application, development of policies and processes, and they are currently in the process of readying the ACO for launch.

To provide broader insight, Matthew Poffenroth, M.D., medical director for JMAP and director of clinical integration, has taken the lead in developing three Regional Advisory Councils (Greater Baltimore, Mid-Maryland and Greater Washington) to bring together key health care stakeholders in each community to focus on identifying ways to improve quality and efficiency of care. Rounding out the Johns Hopkins' representatives on the JMAP Board of Directors are Richard Bennett, M.D., president of Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center; David Eisele, M.D., director of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery; John Flynn, M.D., chief administrative officer of the Office of Johns Hopkins Physicians; and Steven Kravet, M.D., president of Johns Hopkins Community Physicians.

Drawing on the expertise of this collective group and with input from the councils, JMAP will use analytical tools, evidence-based protocols and best practices to identify those beneficiaries at greatest risk. Linda Dunbar, Ph.D., vice president of population health and care management at Johns Hopkins HealthCare, and her team will be collaborating with physicians on the development and execution of the care plans to address each need.

This is an exciting time for Johns Hopkins Medicine, as each new step brings us closer to achieving our strategic priorities. We look forward to working with many of you to bring this initiative to fruition.
Sincerely,

Paul B. Rothman, M.D.
Dean of the Medical Faculty
CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine

Ronald R. Peterson
President
The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System
EVP, Johns Hopkins Medicine