Health Management Associates (HMA) and AristaMD today announced they will combine the consulting and content expertise of HMA with a health technology solution designed by AristaMD. The partnership will offer healthcare providers a new way to facilitate specialty consults and referrals at significantly decreased costs.
“As many as 40 to 60 percent of referrals to specialists are clinically unnecessary and can be resolved at a primary care level with the right tools,” said Rebecca Cofinas, president and chief executive officer of AristaMD. “These unnecessary visits challenge an already strained system, prevent timely answers for patients, and equate to $10 billion annually in unnecessary added expenses.”
“We are always looking for new ways to help clients as they navigate the shifting healthcare landscape,” said Jay Rosen, president of HMA. “We are excited to work with AristaMD to help providers implement solutions that will improve the way care is delivered for them and their patients.”
The AristaMD Platform was designed by practicing clinicians to offer a streamlined and simple approach for primary care providers to triage and facilitate specialty referrals. AristaMD has over 200 clinical guidelines for the most common referral scenarios that ensure an appropriate assessment and work-up before referrals are made. AristaMD also offers access to a broad panel of board-certified specialists to provide e-consults for the primary care provider within 24 hours. This suite of tools was designed to support primary care physicians and effectively replaces a significant portion of routine specialist consults.
“Our Referral Intelligence Platform recognizes how critical primary care is and utilizes health technology to design a new care model that better serves patients and physicians” said Joy Hardison, AristaMD’s medical director. “Our mission is to empower physicians with effective tools to improve patient care and access.”
HMA recognizes the need for innovation in today’s healthcare landscape and has helped a number of clients design strategic solutions that improve clinical care, increase access, and reduce costs. HMA is an expert in the healthcare space and is uniquely positioned to help AristaMD optimize solutions based on client-specific needs.
AristaMD’s Platform has been validated over the course of a five-year pilot study encompassing more than 2,000 electronic consults between primary care and specialty care physicians. Use of the platform had high satisfaction scores from primary providers and resulted in significant reductions in specialty in-office referrals, ER visits and hospital admissions.
“Building upon these important decision-making guidelines will help spread this comprehensive specialty referral management solution to a wider audience of physicians,” Cofinas said. “We see a synergistic alignment in HMA and AristaMD’s respective approaches, skill sets and vision for helping physicians take care of more people in a more timely and cost-efficient manner.”
About AristaMD
AristaMD is a health technology company focused on improving the specialty referral process. Designed by physicians, the AristaMD Referral Intelligence Platform combines clinical guidelines and specialist e-consults into a simple interface. The platform empowers physicians with better referral decision-support and helps them deliver better patient care. Institutions that partner with AristaMD significantly reduce the cost of unnecessary specialty referrals, with measurable improvement in patient care and timely specialist access. AristaMD was founded in 2014 by Rebecca Cofinas. For more information, visit www.aristamd.com.
About HMA
Health Management Associates (HMA) is an independent, national research and consulting firm specializing in publicly financed health care including policy, programs and reform. HMA serves government, public and private providers, health systems, health plans, institutional investors, foundations and associations. With 16 offices and more than 150 multidisciplinary consultants coast to coast – including a roster of practicing clinicians and IT Advisory Services experts – HMA’s expertise, services and team are always within client reach. For more information, visit www.healthmanagement.com.