Meritus, CareFirst explore population health initiative

Meritus Health (Meritus), a Western Maryland regional anchor health organization, and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst), one of the country’s largest not-for-profit healthcare organizations, are considering how a population health initiative, taking a holistic approach to addressing social drivers of health, could improve health in the region.

“As we continue to support the health needs in our community as an anchor organization, it is important that we are considering all opportunities to improve health outcomes,” said Meritus Health President and CEO Maulik Joshi, Dr.P.H. “In working with CareFirst, our teams would have the opportunity to foster collaboration, engage in data-driven decision-making and continue to shift the focus from reactive ‘sick care’ to proactive wellness opportunities for all we serve.”

“As a leading not-for-profit healthcare organization in Maryland, we prioritize finding innovative ways to advance accessible, affordable and equitable care for people throughout the state,” said Brian Wheeler, Executive Vice President of Health Services at CareFirst. “We look forward to exploring how a population health initiative in collaboration with Meritus can help our organizations better serve our shared communities in Washington County.”

The state of Maryland is home to one of the most innovative hospital payment models in the United States. This exploratory collaboration between CareFirst and Meritus will simulate a payment model that focuses on health and healthcare for a defined population. The hope is that from this partnership, the two organizations will learn from an all-in health and payment model which could further value-based and population-based care beyond a hospital based global budget revenue.