Atrius Health reports $38.7M operating surplus for 2018

New England’s largest independent medical group building strong future to transform healthcare through value-based approaches

Atrius Health, Inc., the largest nonprofit independent medical group in New England, announces a $38.7 million operating surplus for 2018, resulting in a 2.1 percent operating margin on revenues of $1.89 billion. This solid financial performance builds on a turnaround that began in 2017, and strengthens an impressive foundation that will continue to support Atrius Health in leading the healthcare industry’s shift from traditional fee-for-service to value-based models of care.

“These results are a real validation of our model of care and a testament to our track record of effective prevention, access and care coordination in managing total medical expenses. Proactively serving patients and helping keep them out of costly settings like the emergency department or hospital has worked very well,” said Steve Strongwater, MD, president and CEO of Atrius Health. “We are tremendously proud of our dedicated clinicians and staff whose hard work made possible another impressive year, and we thank them for putting Atrius Health in a terrific position on our journey of transforming care to improve the lives of our patients.”

Recent data from the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission supports Atrius Health’s position as a value leader, showing that the organization had among the lowest total medical expense in eastern Massachusetts, the lowest use of low-value and unnecessary tests and screenings in the Commonwealth, and the best rate of avoidable emergency department visits in the state.

Atrius Health cited its longstanding history of delivering value-based care and ability to perform well on its full-risk contracts as key drivers of its improved financial results for 2018. About 75 percent of Atrius Health’s revenue now derives from full-risk contracts in which the organization is accountable for the quality, experience of patient care and total cost of care. By keeping patients healthy and out of costly acute care settings, Atrius Health can reinvest the savings from these global budget contracts into its practice. For example, in its first performance year as part of the Medicare Next Generation ACO model, Atrius Health saved CMS $19.9 million compared to its target, and returned $15 million in savings to the organization.

In addition to effectively managing its operating expenses to attain 2018 financial results, Atrius Health advanced on several clinical fronts, including improvements in patient experience scores, and achieving an organizational historic high score for patients’ “willingness to recommend providers.” Looking ahead, the organization will continue to innovate care delivery through initiatives like its new collaboration with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, which provides a global budget for the care of more than 130,000 of Atrius Health’s patients who are Blue Cross members with commercial PPO, HMO and Medicare plans.  

“In the years to come, we look forward to making the care experience fundamentally better and easier by helping our patients navigate a sometimes confusing and complex healthcare system, and finding new ways to conveniently serve them in the most appropriate settings,” said Dr. Strongwater.