Achieving shared savings for FQHCs in year one: how trusted partnerships make it possible

Carmelo Cruz Reyes, MPH, Co-Founder and Market President (Emerging Markets)

When I co-founded Yuvo Health nearly three years ago alongside Cesar Herrera, Janel Sia and Stephanie Hudson, we made a promise to lift up all Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) to collectively ensure their sustainability and success - especially those smaller and mid-sized clinics that play such a vital role in their communities. 

Each of us have first-hand experience of how FQHCs can change lives, which only strengthens our commitment to our partners at Yuvo Health, as well as to the broader movement of community care that has helped marginalized communities since 1964. 

As someone who has been in the value-based care (VBC) and social care spaces on both the health plan and provider side for close to twenty years, I know that value-based care holds enormous promise for FQHCs and their patients. I also know that it can be challenging for community health centers to benefit from this systemic shift, especially in uncertain economic times.

However, there is no doubt that FQHCs are potential powerhouses in the VBC ecosystem. With their demonstrated ability to deliver exceptional care at lower costs to some of the most complex populations in the nation, FQHCs already have all the right ingredients to succeed in models that offer financial incentives for high-quality outcomes and controlled spending.

The challenge is opening up opportunities for them to prove it in a contracting environment that hasn’t always been favorable.

At Yuvo, we’re flipping the script on the perception that FQHCs can’t gain from participation in value-based care. And we’re rapidly generating evidence to support the idea that FQHCs are, in fact, the ideal candidates around whom a modern, collaborative, equitable VBC system can be designed. In fact, FQHCs have to be at the table shaping the future for VBC to succeed in the broader care continuum. 

Thanks to a close partnership between Yuvo, Fidelis Care, and pioneering New York-based FQHCs, our shared commitment to making value-based care work for FQHCs led to shared savings in our very first performance year of value-based contracting—a notable feat that often eludes much bigger and more experienced organizations, especially in Medicaid. 

In the first year of a two-year contract that began in 2022, the participating FQHCs generated $15.35 per-member-per-month (PMPM) total savings to the network and produced gains in high-value quality metrics, such as a 20% improvement in gap-to-goal for potentially preventable admissions and potentially preventable readmissions.

As a result, the participating FQHCs were able to share in the savings right at the beginning of their value-based care journey.

How did they do it? Together. With dedication, trust, partnership, and holistic support from Yuvo’s dedicated contracting, analytics and population health teams.  

We collaborated closely with executive leaders and front-line staff to explain the value proposition of VBC, identify targeted areas for improvement, and showcase specific actions that could lead to better results. We even provided upfront payments to help the FQHCs make the adjustments they need to be successful and reduce the barriers to entry into VBC.

With positive experiences and hard-earned knowledge on their side, these FQHCs are now active participants and leading lights in the growing VBC community, providing strong evidence that FQHCs aren’t just capable of participating in these contracts, but have the innate capacity to become truly outstanding leaders on the path to equitable, accessible, value-driven care.

Yuvo is proud to be a part of their journey. Achieving shared savings is just another way FQHCs support their communities, and we are eager to scale these results even further to make the most of the opportunities available to FQHCs and the patients they serve.

Ready to unlock new revenue for your health center?

The door to shared savings is officially open for all FQHCs. Schedule a call today.

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