Announcing our first annual report: Value-based care for community health centers, with Yuvo Health

In the United States, Community Health Centers (CHCs) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) play a pivotal role in providing care to over 30 million people, many of whom are on Medicaid or are underinsured or uninsured.

These centers are often the lifeline for some of our most vulnerable friends and family, offering not just high-quality clinical care, but also a sense of safety, empathy, and cultural understanding that make them the heart of their communities.

But these health centers are struggling. They are underappreciated, under-resourced, and under the gun to find new ways to achieve sustainability in a rapidly changing financial and regulatory environment. As the pressure builds, health centers need someone to support them in the same way they support the people they serve.

Yuvo Health is designed to care for the caregivers by eliminating barriers to thriving in the exciting world of value-driven healthcare. Our mission is to unlock access to innovative financial models that reward CHCs for the exceptional care they already deliver – without the revenue risks that have traditionally kept health centers away from these opportunities.

As we release our first annual report, we invite you to learn more about value-based care for health centers and see how our partners across the nation are leveraging these strategies to foster strong, sustainable communities of care in the places they call home.

Read the report here

FQHCs and CHCs embracing value-based care

Over the past year, Yuvo Health has ramped up its abilities to level the playing field for CHCs by de-risking the equation of value-based care. With Yuvo Health, CHCs have the opportunity to enroll in an independent practice association (IPA) designed exclusively for health centers. The IPA empowers CHCs with strength in numbers to negotiate favorable contracts with payers and combine patient panels for greater success with quality and spending benchmarks.

“By joining the Yuvo IPA, we’re now in an entity with ten times as many patients as we have in our own organization, which really increases our clout when we’re at the table with managed care plans,” explained Mary Ellen Diver, Chief Executive Officer at Advantage Care Health Center on Long Island, NY. “In New York, joining an IPA is the only way for a CHC to get access to higher level downside risk contracts in Medicaid, which we wanted to explore.”

“In New York, joining an IPA is the only way for a CHC to get access to higher level downside risk contracts in Medicaid, which we wanted to explore.”

Mary Ellen Diver, CEO
Advantage Care Health Center

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CHCs that partner with Yuvo Health also benefit from hands-on support in improving practice operations, coding and documentation optimization, and clinical quality improvement. Yuvo Health's Program Success team is embedded in the organization, helping CHCs identify opportunities for improvement and providing coaching and guidance to meet quality and financial goals.

“We are very fortunate to be working with Yuvo because now we have so much expertise and passion available at our fingertips to help us along the way,” said Diver.

In the annual report, you can see how a variety of health centers partnered with Yuvo Health to gain the advantage in value-based care.

Case study: Joseph P. Addabbo’s quality metrics improvements

For over three decades, the Joseph P. Addabbo (JPA) Family Health Center has been a healthcare anchor in New York City, primarily serving Medicaid patients. Their unique approach encompasses holistic care, including social services, to address patients’ broader needs.

However, under traditional fee-for-service models, JPA couldn’t bill adequately for addressing social determinants of health (SDOH), hindering their ability to offer comprehensive care. In March 2022, JPA partnered with Yuvo Health to embrace value-based care.

Yuvo Health’s collaboration with JPA brought immediate improvements. They tackled risk capture, a complex area for CHCs, with in-depth education and guidance on coding for value-based care. This resulted in increased risk scores and more accurate discussions with payers.

Yuvo Health also helped JPA improve clinical quality metrics by breaking down key quality measures and optimizing performance. Notable achievements include raising adolescent immunizations from 49% to 57% and doubling child and adolescent well visits from approximately 26% to 54%. Breast cancer screenings also improved from 57% to 61% for eligible patients.

These enhancements benefit both JPA’s patients and the overall performance of the Yuvo Health IPA. The partnership has empowered JPA to provide better care, improve communication among providers, and unlock new revenue opportunities.

In the annual report, you can follow JPA's journey in more detail.

Read the report here

‍Conclusion

The past year has proven that CHCs are more crucial than ever to the communities they serve. It’s key that health centers find sources of strength and support to keep thriving in the face of adversity.

“There are people on our side willing to take a risk on us,” said Bilello from Metro Community Health Center. “Yuvo Health is willing to work with us around the challenges that CHCs have in the value-based conversation. We need someone like Yuvo to come in, eliminate the barriers, work with us, assist us with finding the creative workarounds to obstacles that are in our way. I’m excited for the growth opportunities for our organization and for the future of value-based care for all CHCs.”

“We need someone like Yuvo to come in, eliminate the barriers, work with us, assist us with finding the creative workarounds to obstacles that are in our way.”

Rita Bilello, CEO
Metro Community Health Center

After a phenomenal year of growth, learning, and partnership with the CHC community, Yuvo Health will continue to expand its IPA throughout 2024 and beyond to give community health centers the best possible chance to improve care quality, maximize revenue, and forge a new path forward into the era of value-driven community care.

Read the full annual report here.