AMSTERDAM and DALLAS, Dec. 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) and CHRISTUS Health, an international, Catholic, not-for profit health system, today announced they have extended the scope and duration of their alliance to now include domestic population health management (PHM) initiatives. The ability to aggregate and analyze data across all CHRISTUS Health U.S. health systems for care management and quality reporting is a key driver in this expanded relationship.

"Philips Wellcentive has been a trusted partner for several years, and our expanded commitment to their solution and this relationship will enable us to thrive under the movement toward value-based care," said Randy Osteen, VP & Associate CIO, CHRISTUS Health. "With the MACRA* final rule issued in October, it's clear to us that we need to accelerate our population health initiatives and take advantage of population-based incentive models as well as alternative payment models. We've seen the writing on the wall and we know that Philips Wellcentive will help us achieve our ambitious goals to continue to provide the highest quality of care for our patients."

Additionally, CHRISTUS Health is among a growing number of systems offering health plans to its total staff of 40,000 associates, and manages plan offerings on state exchanges. This "payvider" (payer/provider) status will also expand the collaboration with Philips Wellcentive to explore aspects like value-based insurance design to help attain a sustainable healthcare system model nationwide.
"This expanded agreement will give CHRISTUS Health the flexibility to engage Philips' population health management technology at the most comprehensive level," said Tom Zajac, Business Leader, Population Health Management, Philips. "As we move from organizing and optimizing clinical data to deliver actionable insights for population health management and quality reporting, we'll continue to provide our expertise and advanced solutions to help CHRISTUS Health providers drive better outcomes among their patient populations nationwide."

The CHRISTUS Health system includes over 50 hospitals and 175 clinics in more than 60 U.S. cities. Its more than 15,000 physicians participate in accountable care organizations (ACO), clinically integrated networks (CINs) and long-term care settings, among others.

Population health management is a transformational approach to proactively provide healthcare and wellness engagement, by leveraging large sets of data to identify different groups within a population in order to increase patient engagement. The result is a combination of improved health outcomes in alignment with existing reimbursement models.

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