The initial months after launching a value-based care (VBC) agreement set the tone for your partnership with health plans. Frank Cheung, CEO of Accorded, and Eric Fennel, Aetna's former VP of Network Strategy and Founder & President of Value Strategies, shared insights on how to navigate this critical period successfully.

Key Success Factors for the First 90 Days

1. Establish a Proactive Communication Cadence

Don't wait until quarterly reviews to check in with payers. Establish frequent touchpoints from the start to address challenges in real-time. Early and consistent communication fosters trust and ensures providers remain top-of-mind.

Regular communication helps to:

• Identify emerging issues before they become problems
• Demonstrate your commitment to the partnership
• Build relationships with key stakeholders at the health plan
• Reinforce your unique value proposition

2. Set Clear Performance Metrics

While ultimate success in VBC is measured by cost savings and quality outcomes, these results take time to materialize. Focus on leading indicators:

• Patient engagement rates
• Adherence to care pathways
• Early utilization shifts

Patient stories complement data effectively. Sharing real examples of how your care model impacts patients helps health plans understand the value you provide beyond the numbers. "One of the best examples I've seen was a provider who opened every discussion with a patient story, connecting back to what we set out to deliver when we launched the partnership," Fennel explained during the webinar.

3. Tailor Messaging for Different Stakeholders

Within payer organizations, different teams evaluate performance through distinct lenses:

• Actuaries focus on cost impact
• Medical directors prioritize clinical outcomes
• Finance teams assess risk exposure

Customize your communication approach accordingly. As Fennel noted, "You need to reinforce how you're different from other providers. By default, you'll end up in an apples-to-apples comparison about base metrics, when at the end of the day you want to be an orange."

Addressing Early Performance Challenges

Not all VBC agreements yield immediate cost savings. Instead of hiding unfavorable data, providers should frame challenges as opportunities for collaboration. By conducting root-cause analyses and presenting clear action plans, providers can shift the conversation from blame to problem-solving.

The Power of Proactive Analytics

As highlighted in the webinar, providers who proactively manage their own analytics capabilities have a distinct advantage. Health plans often operate on legacy data infrastructure with stretched resources, making timely analytics a challenge.

In one example shared during the discussion, a successful provider approached the health plan saying, "We've been working on solutions for this problem for several years. We've done the modeling, we know how the math should work... send us the claims data and allow us to take on the burden of doing the analysis and we'll share the methodology and output back with you to validate."

This approach enabled the provider to:

• Bypass health plan resource constraints
• Apply their specialized expertise to the analysis
• Build credibility through transparent methodology
• Accelerate the path to insights and action

The key takeaway: don't wait for health plans to deliver analytics. Develop your own capabilities to track key metrics, understand performance drivers, and identify improvement opportunities.

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This is part 2 of our Value-Based Care Success series. In our next post, we'll explore "Beyond the First 90 Days: Sustaining Long-Term Value-Based Partnerships."

Are you a healthcare provider looking to optimize your value-based care strategy?
Connect with Frank at hello@accorded.com to learn how Accorded's tech-enabled actuarial products and services can help you optimize for success, or contact Eric at eric@valuestrategies.health to learn more about Value Strategies, LLC.