Accolade Introduces Centers of Excellence Solution through New Partnership with Health Design Plus

SEATTLE, Dec. 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Accolade, a personalized advocacy solution for employers, health plans and their members, and Health Design Plus (HDP), provider of value-based Centers of Excellence programs nationally, today announced a formal alliance designed to help employers optimize the value of their Centers of Excellence (CoE) programs and improve health outcomes and related healthcare costs.

Accolade and HDP actively engage individuals and families in their health and support them in getting to the right care at the right time. The integrated Accolade and HDP model seeks to eliminate unnecessary surgery, reduce complications and related care costs, and significantly improve the experience and overall cost of care for the employer and the member. Accolade provides personalized advocacy services that fully complement the CoE program. Accolade combines compassionate advisors, clinical experts and intelligent technologies that work together for the early identification of employees who can benefit from a Center of Excellence, while driving awareness and program utilization.

The HDP Employers Centers of Excellence Network (ECEN) ? offered in partnership with Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH) ? features elite medical centers and surgeons from across the country in the areas of oncology and surgery ? for joint replacement, bariatric, spine and cardiac conditions. After rigorous evaluation, HDP and PBGH select the centers for the ECEN program and negotiate bundled payments for self-insured employers, enabling high-quality surgical care for specific high-cost procedures while reducing costs for the employer and plan member.

Optimizing Centers of Excellence Experience and Outcomes with Personalized Advocacy

Accolade and HDP are integrating their teams, technologies, data and processes to more efficiently identify members who can benefit from using the ECEN for specific types of care, and to enhance the member's experience before, during and after receiving care. By optimizing the use and experience of the ECEN, the Accolade and HDP partnership will help employers meet their objectives for improving the quality, outcomes and cost trend of employee healthcare.

"Through the ECEN, HDP delivers employers superior results for their employees and family members compared to traditional programs ? including significantly fewer 30-day readmissions, shorter average lengths of stay, and zero transfers to skilled nursing facilities across all procedures," said Dr. Ivor Horn, Chief Medical Officer at Accolade. "Our respective solutions bring staggering patient satisfaction and cost savings for both the member and their employer. Integrating Accolade and HDP will allow more employers of all sizes to achieve breakthrough results for their people and their business."

"Employers are increasingly turning to CoEs and bundled payments as a value-based care strategy to improve the quality and cost of employee healthcare," said John Strickland, President of HDP. "But, employers face significant challenges at every stage of the CoE process, from selecting high-quality centers to ensuring members use their CoE benefit, to coordinating care across settings. Together with Accolade, we are delivering an innovative service and technology approach that overcomes these obstacles and delivers a superior CoE experience that improves satisfaction and reduces costs."

By combining CoE and personalized advocacy into a unified experience, Accolade and HDP enable employers to drive new levels of performance in the following areas:

• High Quality Care ? The ECEN requires the highest-quality care providers and surgeons at leading medical centers around the country. The program qualifies at both the medical center and individual surgeon level, and requires other best practices to promote care excellence.
• Early Employee Engagement ? Accolade's intelligence platform is able to identify appropriate CoE candidates early in the healthcare process, and uses pre-certification processes to intercept members seeking related care elsewhere to redirect them to the ECEN as appropriate.
• Program Participation ? Accolade Health Assistants® educate members about the quality and cost advantages of the ECEN, influence care decisions, prepare and guide them throughout and in concert with the CoE process, and support eligibility processes for ECEN services if denied.
• Appropriate Care ? The HDP ECEN identifies many spine and joint-replacement patients who do not need surgery once referred to a CoE, which provides significant savings to the employer and member by guiding the member on a more appropriate care plan.
• Care Coordination ? Accolade Clinicians coordinate with HDP and ECEN providers by presenting insights about a member's health and life context to improve continuity of care across all settings, and supports member compliance with care plans before, during and after procedures.

For further information or to schedule a meeting to discuss the Accolade and HDP program, please visit https://www.accolade.com/contact/. 

About Accolade
Accolade is a personalized health and benefits solution that can dramatically improve the experience, outcomes and cost of healthcare for employers, health plans and their members. With a unique blend of compassionate advisors, clinical experts and intelligent technologies, we engage individuals and families in their health, establish trust, and influence their decisions at every stage of care. Accolade connects the widest array of personal health data and programs to present a single point of entry to the most effective health and benefits resources, while coordinating with providers at every step. Accolade consistently achieves 60 and higher Net Promoter Scores, 98% consumer satisfaction ratings, and up to 15% employer cost savings. Accolade has been recognized as one of the nation's 25 most promising companies by Forbes, a fastest-growing private healthcare company by Inc. 5000, and is consistently rated a Top Workplace across the country. For more information, visit www.accolade.com.

About Health Design Plus
Health Design Plus is an innovative third-party administrator and care management company based in Hudson, OH. Utilizing a member-focused model powered by cutting-edge technology, HDP has become a national leader in the design and administration of value-based, Centers of Excellence programs.  Working in collaboration with elite medical centers and surgeons across the country, HDP has delivered significant financial savings to employers, while achieving a 97% member satisfaction. For more information on Health Design Plus, please visit us at www.hdplus.com.

About Pacific Business Group on Health
The Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH) is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) membership organization leading efforts to transform US healthcare using the combined influence of some of the largest purchasers of healthcare services in the United States, private employers and public agencies. More information is online at www.pbgh.org.

SOURCE Accolade