Thirty-one upstate New York hospitals and health centers earned a combined $30 million in quality improvement payments from the Rochester-based health insurer that includes Univera Healthcare in Western New York. The funds are part of the nonprofit health insurer’s Hospital Performance Incentive Program which, since 2005, has paid out more than $371.2 million in quality improvement incentives.

“It’s core to our health plan’s mission that everyone in the communities we serve has equitable access to high quality health care,” said Univera Healthcare President Art Wingerter. “The foundation for achieving that mission is the collaborative relationship we have with our hospital and physician partners.”

Four hospitals and health systems in the Western New York region participated in this program in 2021, sharing $615,000 in quality improvement incentive payments. Participating hospitals included Erie County Medical Center, Kaleida Health, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, and UPMC Chautauqua.

“In 2021, the Hospital Performance Incentive Program evaluated participating hospitals on projects that are in alignment with and responsive to the ever-changing health care environment,” said Lorna Fitzpatrick, M.D., Univera Healthcare vice president medical affairs and senior medical director. “Although COVID is still a dominant issue for the hospitals, the best evidence that this collaboration is a success is that our partners are able to maintain focus on continuous quality improvement.”

Areas targeted for improvement in 2021 included:

  • Clinical Processes of Care – Focused on improvements in follow up after hospitalization, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), surgical care, and other measures unique to each participating hospital
  • Patient Safety – Centered on reductions in hospital-acquired infections, readmissions, and other adverse events or errors that affect patient care
  • Patient Satisfaction – Used the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey, which is a national, standardized, publicly reported survey of patients’ perspectives of hospital care

In addition to meeting required clinical and patient safety measures in 2021, other nationally endorsed measures and target outcomes were jointly agreed upon by each hospital and the health insurer using benchmarks established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and others.