ACN Advance: Provider Newsletter

As Arizona Care Network seeks to improve coordination of care for patients and reduce the average cost-of-care for inpatient and outpatient services to meet the value-based care objectives of our payer partners, the physician-led Board of Managers approved a new participation requirement for specialists, effective July 1, 2023.

This was created to help ensure care is more affordable for patients accessing the network.

For the past several years, specialty medical groups that treat patients at in-network facilities less than 50 percent of the time are engaged to create and implement a Care Coordination Action Plan (CCAP) during subsequent quarters.

Under the new participation requirement, physicians treating patients covered under ACN’s various value-based agreements at in-network facilities less than 25 percent of the time will no longer be eligible to participate with ACN.

Individual physicians who do not meet this new requirement will be removed from ACN’s provider- and member- facing directories effective the first day of an upcoming quarter. These physicians will also be removed from the rosters ACN sends to its payer partners for removal from the network, effective 90 days later (270 days later for OB-GYN providers) to ensure continuity of care for patients.

If you have any questions about these participation requirements, or wish to receive additional guidance of this new participation requirement for your organization, please contact your dedicated Clinical Performance Consultant or email practicetransformation@azcarenetwork.org.

In December 2022, ACN’s physician-led Board of Managers established the Jon Hackenyos Practice Excellence Award recognizing high-performing practices, in honor of Dr. Jonathan Hackenyos.

Dr. Hackenyos was a former ACN Board Chair, Network Committee Chair, and co-founder of Ocotillo Internal Medicine who passed away in December 2021.

This annual award honors a local primary care practice with the highest performance within ACN’s quarterly incentive program, as determined upon completion of the prior year’s fully measured program.

Led by Dr. Anupa Ashar and Dr. Nandini Raman (pictured above, third and fourth from left), AZ Internal Medicine’s staff received top honors during a presentation with ACN on June 13.

Ocotillo Internal Medicine (Chandler and Gilbert) and Infinity Internal Medicine (Chandler) were also recognized as high-performing practices.

On behalf of ACN and our Board of Managers, congratulations on your hard work, dedication to patient care, and success!

To further improve the provider experience and reduce administrative burdens, Dignity Health is requesting practices register for its Health Information Exchange (HIE) Provider Portal.

Note: This is Dignity Health’s HIE Provider Portal, and is NOT the State of Arizona HIE (Contexture).

Registering and utilizing the Dignity Health HIE Provider Portal only requires a couple minutes to complete and will help reduce delays for records requests and other administrative needs in a timely manner.

Click here for step-by-step instructions for Dignity Health’s HIE Provider Portal registration (.PDF).

Here are few tips for creating and accessing the Dignity Health HIE Provider Portal:

• Your practice’s designated administrator (or HIE contact) can begin the process by visiting the Provider Portal website and select a Dignity facility (you will have access to all facilities) and request an account.
• If this is your first time requesting access to the Dignity Health HIE for your practice, please be prepared to include information for a co-signing physician, who will sign for staff members requesting access to the HIE.
• The Dignity Health HIE is an Oracle product called Provider Portal. The Oracle team works closely with Dignity Health, so you may receive HIE support from both Dignity Health and Oracle.
• Once registration is complete, your practice will receive an email within 1-2 weeks with instructions to activate the account.

If you have questions about creating your account, please contact hie-providerportal@commonspirit.org.

As part of CMS’s participation requirements within the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) Enhanced ACO model, notification follow-up letters were sent by ACN to beneficiaries attributed to an ACO-participating practice.

The letter and notification serve as a reminder that each member received a similar letter in early 2023. The letter and notification explain the MSSP Enhanced program, its benefits, and no-cost services available to all members (including Care Coordination). It also includes privacy and contact information.

Per CMS guidelines, a verbal or written follow-up communication (written, email, verbal, telephonic) is required no later than the next visit following the initial beneficiary notification or, if no subsequent visit, within 180 days from the initial beneficiary notification.

Please contact your Clinical Performance Consultant or email practicetransformation@azcarenetwork.org with any questions or feedback.

To further improve in-network utilization and care coordination efforts between primary care and specialist practices, a few updates are coming to the eight Medical Neighborhood Maps across Maricopa County that are available to your practice.

• Handshake icons highlight specialty practices which feature ≥ 50 percent in-network care coordination utilization.
• An asterisk (*) denotes the specialties being monitored quarterly for in-network utilization (Cardiology, General Surgery, OB-GYN, Orthopedics, Urology), per the new network utilization requirements.
• A purple directory icon is a recommendation to consult ACN’s Find-A-Provider tool to check an individual provider’s network status.

Please contact your CPC or email practicetransformation@azcarenetwork.org to receive any of these Neighborhood Maps, and with any questions or feedback.

With both school- and summer- vacations in full swing, now is a crucial time for members to bring in children ages 0 through 21 years for an annual Well-Child Visit before the 2023-2024 school year begins.

In addition to helping close important quality gaps throughout the year, a Well-Child Visit can be crucial toward reaching key developmental milestones and receiving the care your patients need to stay physically and mentally healthy.

Your practice is welcome to download and print ACN’s 1-page tip sheet which contains a wealth of well-child and adolescent visit resources, including best practices, documentation requirements, and a list of ICD-10 codes for proper billing.

Download/Print ACN’s Quality Measure Tip Sheet for Well-Child Visits (.PDF)

Need support? ACN can help patients schedule a Well-Child Visit with your practice by calling (602) 406-7226 or email members@azcarenetwork.org.

Please contact your Clinical Performance Consultants or email practicetransformation@azcarenetwork.org to receive any Quality measure tip sheet or with questions.

As chlamydia and other sexually transmitted diseases continue to increase among women in the United States, preventative screening is crucial toward early detection and treatment, especially for sexually active women in their teens through mid-20s.

For women ages 21-65, cervical cancer screening is a simple and important first step toward prevention, of, if necessary, treatment. And it can begin with asking patients a simple question: “Have you recently been sexually active?”

These screenings among your female patient population not only close important quality gaps, but can save time, medical costs, and even lives.

Cervical Cancer tip sheet (.PDF)

Chlamydia Screening tip sheet (.PDF)

Additional 1-page tip sheets are available to your practice for a wide variety of wellness and preventative care situations, including:

• Breast cancer screening
• Colorectal cancer screening
• Depression
• Diabetes/A1c
• Immunizations
• Medication adherence
• Opioids
• SDOH
• Tobacco screening, and more

Need support? ACN can help patients schedule a chlamydia or cervical cancer screening with your practice by calling
(602) 406-7226 or email members@azcarenetwork.org.

Please contact your Clinical Performance Consultant or email practicetransformation@azcarenetwork.org to receive any
1-page tip sheets.

• Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for additional news, health-related content for providers and patients, organizational updates, and more.
• Learn more about ACN’s Care Coordination program and services designed to partner and support your practice in achieving healthy, cost-effective patient outcomes in this video.
• ACN’s improved Specialist Performance Reports and Medical Neighborhood Maps are available to your practice anytime. Additionally, Physical Therapy and Radiology listings quick reference guides are also available. Contact your Clinical Performance Consultant or email practicetransformation@azcarenetwork.org to receive any of these reports and/or maps, all of which are updated quarterly.
• A 1-page Payer ID Card Quick Reference document is available from your Clinical Performance Consultant. This document contains samples of ID Cards from ACN payer partners, as well as contact information. Contact your CPC or email practicetransformation@azcarenetwork.org if your practice would like copies of this document.
• Quality measure tip sheets are available from your Clinical Performance Consultant, including colorectal cancer screening, depression screening and follow-up, diabetes (A1C, Eye Exam, Nephropathy), Social Determinants of Health (SDOH), and Tobacco screening. These 1-page tip sheets (.PDF) include best practices, documentation requirements, and codes for your practice to help close quality gaps. Contact your Clinical Performance Consultant or email practicetransformation@azcarenetwork.org to receive any or all tip sheets.
• Abrazo Arizona Heart Hospital introduced its new cardiac MRI system to primary care and specialist physicians in May. Specialized software is designed expressly for cardiac MRI examinations, including a stress test can be performed in real-time; watching the contrasted blood flow as it enters the heart to help identify the reason, and possible therapy for heart failure. The Cardiac MRI can identify normal muscle from scar tissue, observe normal and abnormal blood flow within the heart, measure blood flow across the heart valves and in arteries, identify tumors and masses, and create 3D models to aid in understanding of each individual’s unique anatomy and physiology. It can also be used to see the major arteries within the body to assess for aneurysms or blockages.
• Dignity Health’s Norton Thoracic Institute is co-hosting a lecture series on July 11 featuring David McGiffin, MB BS, FRACS, DMEDDHS, Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Monash University and Alfred Health. An 8-9 a.m. session (health sciences professionals and learners) and 12-1 p.m. session (transplant teams and staff) are available. More information and RSVP details is available here.
• Breastlink is hosting a Breast Cancer webinar July 13 at 5:30 p.m. featuring a panel of breast cancer experts across the continuum of care. Topics include ways to calculate personal risk factors for breast cancer, when to start and when to stop worrying about breast cancer, when to consider surgery according to age range. More information and registration is available here.
• Save the date: Dignity Health and Arizona Diagnostic Radiology are co-hosting a Men’s Health Symposium on Sept. 15 from 12:30-5:30 p.m. at the Marriott Phoenix hotel in Chandler. BPH common symptoms, enlarged prostate, and prostate cancer. Learn about the new advancements in treatment options and hear first-hand from a patient’s experience on how they are living their life today. CME credits are available. More information and RSVP is available here.
• For the 13th consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report ranked Phoenix Children’s among the nation’s “Best Children’s Hospitals.” The health system was also named the No. 1 children’s hospital in Arizona and third in the Southwest region. U.S. News & World Report surveys nearly 200 children’s hospitals annually using a variety of measures including clinical expertise, patient outcomes and national reputation. Rankings also reflect survey results from thousands of pediatric specialists who rate children’s hospitals based on where they would send their sickest patients, without respect to proximity or cost. Full rankings for each specialty are available here.
• Abrazo physicians that completed residencies earlier this summer included the health network’s first Emergency Medicine physicians. Abrazo launched its Emergency Medicine Residency in 2020 with six residents having completed their three-year program through training in the Level I Trauma Canter at Abrazo West Campus in Goodyear, as well as Abrazo Arizona Heart Hospital and Abrazo Arrowhead Campus.
• Abrazo’s “Survivors of Stroke,” a support group for stroke survivors and their families, recently celebrated its 1-year anniversary at Abrazo West Campus. The group offers a welcoming place for those affected by stroke to talk about their experiences. Stroke support group meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in the second floor conference room at Abrazo West Campus in Goodyear. New attendees and families are welcome to attend each meeting.

• A to Z Dermatology
• AZ Ortho
• Bigfoot and Ankle Institute
• Desert Valley Dermatology
• Khakwani and Mohammad Medical
• NeuroDiagnostic Laboratories
• Saguaro Ophthalmology
• Sonoran Pain and Spine
• The Foot

You can also view a list of provider organizations no longer participating with ACN.