Primary Partners And AMC Health Team Up To Provide Telemonitoring For High-Risk Patients

Customized, end-to-end telemonitoring solutions will eliminate care gaps and help ACO's patients manage chronic diseases

Primary Partners, LLC (Primary Partners), a physician owned and managed accountable care organization (ACO), announced recently entered into a partnership agreement with AMC Health, a leading provider of telemonitoring solutions, to improve care coordination and outcomes for patients with chronic conditions.

Under the agreement, AMC Health will provide solutions that enhance care for Primary Partners' patients with heart failure, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other chronic illnesses. The telemonitoring services will enable Primary Partners to eliminate gaps in care that occur after patients are discharged from a hospital.

According to Cara Jakob, M.D., one of Primary Partners' founding physicians who serves as the clinical integration director and chairman of the board, "As one of the oldest ACOs in the country, we have developed long-term relationships with many of our patients and we work together as partners. We selected AMC Health because their telehealth solutions are patient-centered and scalable. This gives us the ability to tailor care management programs that best meet the individual needs of our high-risk patients who benefit from this extra level of monitoring."

Dr. Jakob added, "As physicians we are on the front line with our patients. Our partnership with AMC Health ensures that we will be notified whenever ongoing monitoring and case management services indicate that we need to see our patients between planned visits. It's this continuum of care that we believe will significantly reduce utilization, particularly preventable 30-day readmissions."

"By identifying gaps in care and providing services and tools that support seamless and effective transitions of care, AMC Health will make it easier for our doctors to deliver high-quality, cost-effective and efficient evidence-based care," explained Jaime Gonzales, M.D., one of the ACO's founding physicians and a board member. "This will position us to successfully navigate the impending shift to an outcomes-based reimbursement system." 

AMC Health will provide a post-hospital discharge remote monitoring program and tailored disease-specific telemonitoring programs employing biometric devices such as blood pressure and glucose monitors and scales that automatically transmit readings for analysis so Primary Partner physicians are alerted and able to intervene before a patient requires a trip to the emergency department or hospitalization. To help keep patients on track and encourage them to make healthy behavior changes, AMC Health will also offer customized coaching that aligns with a patient's specific circumstances, as well as installation, training and repair for in-home monitoring devices.

"We are pleased Primary Partners selected us to support its powerful and innovative patient-centered, shared-risk approach to care," said Nesim Bildirici, president and CEO of AMC Health. "By harnessing the power of our telehealth offerings, Primary Partners will gain access to real-time, clinically actionable data that will allow them to detect and prevent avoidable problems that people with chronic conditions often suffer due to lack of coordination, follow up and communication when they transition from one care setting to another." 

About Primary Partners 
Primary Partners, LLC was one of the first Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) in the country. The organization is physician owned, led and managed with over 60 providers in four counties in Central Florida. Its vision is to exemplify quality care models, while allowing physicians to maintain independent practices and to provide a voice for patients and independent physicians. Primary Partners offers innovative and enhanced communication methods to enhance care coordination between physicians, specialists, hospitals and all providers that center on the patient and healthcare needs of our population.

About AMC Health
With headquarters in New York City, AMC Health is a leading provider of telehealth solutions that provide customized, scalable, cost-effective programs that assist organizations serving at-risk populations. A proven combination of technology and end-to-end support services enables safe, dependable monitoring at home and identifies potential problems that require intervention to avoid serious complications. AMC Health's remote patient monitoring programs deliver clinically actionable information that enhances care coordination, improve patient outcomes and reduce the overall cost of healthcare. For more information, visit www.amchealth.com.