OneCare Vermont to shut down
OneCare Vermont, an accountable care organization aiming to reform how health care in Vermont is paid for, will shut down at the end of 2025, the organization announced Wednesday.
The University of Vermont Health Network subsidiary was the lead organization running the state’s “all-payer” model, a health care reform program that seeks to improve Vermonters’ health and decrease costs. The all-payer model, a federal framework that allows OneCare to accept payments from both Medicare and Medicaid, will conclude at the end of 2025.
That wind-down spurred the decision to shut down OneCare, its CEO, Abe Berman, said in an interview.
“Ultimately, this is such a pivotal point in the region’s health care reform journey,” Berman said. “It made sense, when we talked to UVM and our other board members and colleagues, that it’s the right time for us to sunset this effort and look towards what comes next (for) Vermont.”
OneCare’s goal is to lower health care costs and improve the general health of its patient population, which numbers roughly 200,000. To achieve those goals, OneCare is intended to work by decoupling insurer payments from individual medical procedures, tests or services. Instead, OneCare, by contracting with insurers, aims to provide regular lump sums to providers regardless of how many procedures they conduct.