Illinois Health Partners (IHP) and UnitedHealthcare are collaborating to improve care coordination and enhance health services through a new accountable care relationship that will benefit more than 36,000 Illinois residents enrolled in UnitedHealthcare’s employer-sponsored health plans, effective Jan. 1, 2016. IHP is composed of 1,600 physicians, including primary care physicians who work in family practice, internal medicine and pediatrics, as well as specialists trained in more than 50 different areas of medicine. This new arrangement builds on an existing accountable care relationship established in May 2014 with IHP for Illinois residents enrolled in UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage plans.

The two organizations’ work together will help shift Illinois to a patient-centered health care system that promotes higher quality, lower costs and better health. Participating physicians are paid based on patients’ actual health outcomes and for encouraging services that are proven to deliver consistent, high-quality care. The enhanced care coordination makes it easier for IHP to form a complete picture of a patient’s overall health. UnitedHealthcare has more than 750 accountable care programs active today as it engages in deeper, more collaborative relationships with physicians and hospitals across the United States. For more information about UnitedHealthcare’s full spectrum of value-based initiatives, visit www.AccountableCareAnswers.com.