Atlantic General Hospital and Health System Joins Delmarva Health Network and Beebe Healthcare to Improve Quality and Lower Cost

“Delmarva Health Network is about transforming the way care is designed and delivered,” says Dr. Jeffrey J. Heckert, M.D, CPE, FAAFP and chairman of the Board of Delmarva Health Network. “We can integrate communication across more providers as more physicians and health systems join us. We can coordinate care for more people in our community.”

“That the leadership at Atlantic General has decided to join the Network tells us that we’re on to something very positive and powerful,” stated Jeffrey M. Fried, FACHE, President and CEO of Beebe Healthcare. “This is an exciting partnership between two high-quality health systems.” Beebe started Delmarva Health Network in May 2013 as means of transforming the health care system and to deliver high quality care, with the most value for the patients, at a low cost.

“Our primary care physicians have been working for several years in our Patient-Centered Medical Home initiative, to slow the progression of disease and keep people healthy,” said Michael A. Franklin, President and CEO of Atlantic General Hospital and Health System. “Joining Delmarva Health Network was a natural step for us along this progression of caring for people differently. It is also an ideal complement to the new hospital payment system in Maryland.”

Delmarva Health Network was approved to participate as a Medicare Shared Savings Program Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) starting in 2014. With the addition of Atlantic General, approximately 17,000 people in Sussex, Worcester, and Wicomico Counties who are Medicare beneficiaries will have access to high-quality, coordinated care. Since passage of the Affordable Care Act, more than 360 ACOs have been established, serving over 5.3 million Americans with Medicare. Beneficiaries seeing health care providers in ACOs always have the freedom to choose doctors inside or outside of the ACO.

Delmarva Health Network will seek to participate in programs with other insurance companies that pay for the value of the healthcare care provided, not just the quantity of care.

Atlantic General Hospital has been providing quality health care to the residents of Worcester, Wicomico, Somerset (Md.) and Sussex (Del.) counties since May 1993. Built by the commitment and generosity of a dedicated community, the hospital’s state-of-the-art facility in Berlin, Md., combines old-fashioned personal attention with the latest in technology and services. It provides quality specialty care such as weight loss surgery, orthopedics, outpatient infusion for individuals with cancer or blood/autoimmune disorders, retina surgery and a comprehensive women’s diagnostic center. Atlantic General Health System, its network of more than 40 primary care providers and specialists, care for residents and visitors throughout the region. For more information about Atlantic General Hospital, visit www.atlanticgeneral.org.

Beebe Healthcare is a not-for-profit community healthcare system with a charitable mission to encourage healthy living, prevent illness, and restore optimal health for the people residing, working, or visiting in the communities we serve. It offers services throughout Southern Delaware including a 210-licensed-bed hospital, a cancer center, and outpatient facilities at multiple sites providing walk-in care, lab, imaging, and physical rehab services. For more information, please visit us online at www.beebehealthcare.org.