Atrius Health

Atrius Health formed in 2004, is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, and is the largest independent physician-led healthcare organization in the Northeast. Atrius Health delivers a system of connected care for more than 740,000 adult and pediatric patients in eastern and central Massachusetts. Atrius Health’s 36 medical practices, with more than 50 specialties and 900 physicians, work together with the home health and hospice services of its VNA Care subsidiary and in close collaboration with hospital partners, community specialists and skilled nursing facilities.

The Atrius Health groups have a long history of operating as a model for Accountable Care Organizations (ACO), with full responsibility for the quality and cost of care for many of their patients since before the term was coined by Elliott Fisher, MD, MPH, in 2006. In 2009, Atrius Health became one of the first organizations to sign on to the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Alternative Quality Contract (AQC), viewed by many as one of the first models of an Accountable Care Organization.

Atrius Health is also a participant in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service’s Pioneer ACO program. In 2015, Atrius Health’s Pioneer ACO’s quality scores were the highest among Pioneer ACO’s in Massachusetts and the third highest among Pioneer ACOs nationally. The ACO model enables Atrius Health to employ effective population health management to pro-actively care for groups of patients with similar conditions over the long term and across the care continuum.

Almost all of the Atrius Health primary care practices have received the highest possible national accreditation as Level 3 Patient-Centered Medical Homes from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).

Atrius Health has also earned Stage 7 recognition from HIMSS Analytics, the highest level possible nationally for the use of health information technology. This sophistication of technology includes a web portal that allows clinicians within Atrius Health and partnering organizations to have easy one-click, read-only access to a patient’s electronic medical record at many hospitals in the area. Patients of Atrius Health can access a secure patient portal to allow access to medical records and communicate securely with doctors online.

Dr. Steven Strongwater, MD became President and CEO of Atrius Health in August 2015. He is responsible for all aspects of leading this non-profit accountable care organization of 6,800 employees serving 740,000 patients across eastern Massachusetts with coordinated medical care, home health and hospice. From September 2012 to July 2015, Dr. Strongwater served as Geisinger Health System’s Chief Transformation Officer. Prior to this, Dr. Strongwater served as CEO of Stony Brook University Medical Center where he built advanced clinical programs and implemented major capital and information technology operations.

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