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Expanded data-driven solutions and value-based care strategies now offered through achi

achi, a holistic care management company, has acquired certain assets of Front Health. The deal was finalized in Columbus, Ohio, on December 30, 2021, and resulted in certain analytic tools and other assets being transferred to achi.

“We are thrilled to gain access to Front Health’s analytic tools and other assets as we continue to expand our service capabilities in the value-based care market,” said Hayley Studer, Founder and CEO of achi. “As a bright light continues to shine on how the social determinants of health are affecting communities nationwide, data analytics are needed to help pinpoint areas of greatest opportunity. While these challenges are not new, they have garnered the attention of many leaders that want to take action. The value-based strategies and specialized analytical tools brought to the table by Front Health will enhance the services offered by achi, furthering our mission, and supporting our core growth initiatives.”

The acquisition of selected Front Health assets fits into achi’s strategy to create healthier communities while reducing overall healthcare costs to transform healthcare payment models through a value-based approach. By purchasing certain Front Health assets, achi will now be able to expand its data-driven capabilities and solutions to further support clients in making informed strategic decisions that will allow for better outcomes at a lower cost. The unparalleled tools and resources attained will further achi’s mission to address the social determinants of health, equipping the company to continue changing lives and transforming healthcare.

About achi

achi is a holistic care management company that lowers overall expenses by actively engaging people and connecting them to organizations to address the social determinants of health. Through innovative partnerships, cross-sector collaboration, and creative solutions, we equip organizations across multiple industries to educate the people they serve and connect them with resources to improve their lives from the ground up. By partnering with health systems, educational institutions and corporations, achi empowers lasting transformation in individual lives— resulting in an overall healthier population and data to transform our healthcare payment models. To learn more about achi and its mission, visit www.achi.solutions.

‍About Front Health‍

Front Health accelerates success by providing insights and strategy healthcare organizations can act upon. Born out of a health system collaborative focused on transforming care across six of the largest health systems in Ohio, Front Health now serves leading healthcare organizations across the country, both those that pay for and deliver care. Together with your team, we uncover what drives your organization’s performance in at-risk contracts and connect the dots to help you develop the best strategy and capabilities to get – and stay – in front of opportunities. To learn more about Front Health, visit www.fronthealth.com.

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IT Developer Hengte Zhang joins team to perform code analysis and development for client tools

Front Health puts clients first, providing insights and strategy to reach success in value-based care by giving them the intel they need to make informed decisions. To add additional functionality based on client feedback and further empower clients with decision-making tools, Front Health is excited to welcome Hengte Zhang as a new intern IT developer.
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“Hengte joins our team with a wide array of skills that will allow us to enhance the functionality of our comprehensive tools,” says Hayley Studer, Executive Director. “His education in engineering, business, and analytics gives Hengte the knowledge and skill set to not only translate and update previous code, but to also work with the other team members to develop more efficient ways to design new tools for growth.”
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Hengte is currently working on his Master of Science in Business Analytics at the University of California San Diego. Hengte obtained his first master’s degree at the University of California Irvine in Engineering Management, with a focus on both business and engineering. His undergraduate background is Engineering.
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“As a technical guy, I am passionate about using my coding skills to solve complex business problems and then generate value to our company. I can’t wait to see how convenient and powerful the analytics tools are for our customers after they are all integrated. It should be a total upgrade,” says Hengte. “The most exciting thing is I expect the new analytics tool will generate more value to our customers than before.”
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Hengte’s work will without a doubt bring a positive impact to the company and help Front Health assist clients as they move to more value-based care models, ultimately benefiting the patients, healthcare providers, and payers.
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‍About Front Health‍

Front Health accelerates success by providing insights and strategy healthcare organizations can act upon. Born out of a health system collaborative focused on transforming care across six of the largest health systems in Ohio, Front Health now serves leading healthcare organizations across the country, both those that pay for and deliver care. Together with your team, we uncover what drives your organization’s performance in at-risk contracts and connect the dots to help you develop the best strategy and capabilities to get – and stay – in front of opportunities. To learn more about Front Health, visit www.fronthealth.com.

Developer Jiaoli Yang joins team to enhance data analysis and visualization for clients

Front Health is committed to providing insights and strategy to reach success in value-based care, continuously giving their clients the intel they need to make informed decisions. To enhance data analysis and visualization, Front Health is excited to welcome Jiaoli Yang as a new intern developer. Jiaoli will transfer projects from R scripts to Python, create data visualization in Tableau and provide enhancements to Front Health’s current tools, as well as work with the team to complete assigned projects.
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“We were impressed with Jiaoli from the moment we first spoke,” says Hayley Studer, Executive Director. “She's a self-starter and a go-getter, which meshes so well with our team. Her skills align perfectly with the projects she’ll be working on in her new role. Her prior experience as a data analyst is extremely valuable as she can better understand the end-user’s needs in addition to performing the programming work, but ultimately I’m thrilled to have her join Front Health as an opportunity for her to gain some valuable experience as well as help us further our client work.” 
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Jiaoli attends Northeastern University and is working on her Master of Science in Information Systems. Her prior experience along with a passion for learning new things and desire to make insightful discoveries with data and transfer them into actionable business decisions make Jiaoli a perfect match for Front Health.
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“I am motivated by digging into data. Give me a spreadsheet or some data, and I am eager to figure out its pattern or new insights,” says Jiaoli. “The data from the dashboard or reports can help drive and determine how a company moves in it’s next step and helps clients make a better decision. Being able to provide that essential information is really motivating.”
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New to the healthcare industry, Jiaoli’s skills and eagerness to learn poise her well within the Front Health team and among clients as the company continues to make strides in value-based care.
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‍About Front Health‍

Front Health accelerates success by providing insights and strategy healthcare organizations can act upon. Born out of a health system collaborative focused on transforming care across six of the largest health systems in Ohio, Front Health now serves leading healthcare organizations across the country, both those that pay for and deliver care. Together with your team, we uncover what drives your organization’s performance in at-risk contracts and connect the dots to help you develop the best strategy and capabilities to get – and stay – in front of opportunities. To learn more about Front Health, visit www.fronthealth.com.

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Brandon Balogh joins team to advance patient-centered care‍‍

As Front Health continues to provide insights and strategy to reach success in value-based care, the team is excited to welcome Consultant Manager, Brandon Balogh. Brandon will lead client engagements, qualitative and quantitative analysis, synthesize issues, and provide recommendations to guide clients from fee-for-service to value-based healthcare.
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“The addition of Brandon to our team opens the door for even further opportunity for both Front Health and for our clients,” says Hayley Studer, Executive Director. “Brandon’s extensive background as a data analyst packaged with his passion for community impact and patient-centric care make him the perfect fit for this role. We are excited to have him on our team.”
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Before joining the Front Health team, Brandon was an Operations Analyst for PopHealthCare, LLC in Franklin, TN. The experience from his previous positions along with his desire to make an impact in his community through social programs informed by data analytics are just a few key elements that Brandon brings to the table to lead Front Health’s clients to success.
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“I believe that patient-centered care is the future of healthcare and Front Health provides the insights needed to ensure success in the value-based care arena,” says Brandon. “Knowing that the information I provide can help improve patient care is my motivating factor in this new role, and I’m looking forward to providing insights and recommendations to guide our healthcare clients towards value-based care.”
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As an Ohio State University alumnus, Brandon is excited to join the Columbus-based healthcare collaborative and looks forward to making new memories with his wife, April, and their two daughters, Mia and Jane, in the buckeye state.
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‍About Front Health‍

Front Health accelerates success by providing insights and strategy healthcare organizations can act upon. Born out of a health system collaborative focused on transforming care across six of the largest health systems in Ohio, Front Health now serves leading healthcare organizations across the country, both those that pay for and deliver care. Together with your team, we uncover what drives your organization’s performance in at-risk contracts and connect the dots to help you develop the best strategy and capabilities to get – and stay – in front of opportunities. To learn more about Front Health, visit www.fronthealth.com.

Referring to COVID-19 as the “100-year pandemic,” as if to suggest we should, in some small way, feel fortunate it doesn’t happen more often, does little to lessen the devastation and disruption it has left in its wake while enveloping the world. Although there are now signs of slowing, the pandemic has exposed beyond a doubt the weaknesses of fee-for-service (FFS) reimbursement that U.S. healthcare is so dependent upon.  The level of disruption has thrown off the delicate balance between profitable FFS activities and revenue-anemic inpatient admissions, especially the ultra-expensive intensive care unit (ICU) stays. Layer in the added cost of personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies, physical capacity expansion, and staff resource support, the entire care infrastructure has been overwhelmed physically, emotionally, and financially. The human toll has been immense, not only on direct lives lost to date [and continuing to rise], but to the future impact on the survivors, the families, the front-line providers, and the millions of patients who have foregone care.  Financially, based on conservative, early pandemic estimates, healthcare systems will have lost nearly half a trillion dollars by the end of 2020 leading to tens of thousands of “less critical” workers being furloughed, and hospitals closing or declaring bankruptcy. There are many systemic healthcare lessons being written about this pandemic, but the one that requires a remedy from our collective wherewithal is how we prevent this from happening again.

Fortunately, there have also been many positive learnings that have emerged from the pandemic, including the rapid movement to [and payment for] certain value-based care delivery processes, e.g., virtual visits, which may well serve as the initial inoculations necessary to avert a similar fate down the road.  Further evolution of these and other care delivery and payment innovations should remain a priority, both out of current necessity as well as future preparedness in the eventual move toward less and less reliance on FFS reimbursement.  As difficult as it may feel, now is the time to capitalize on the tools and capabilities that will inevitably help us succeed in value-based care.  In a not-too-distant world where the focus of healthcare gradually moves away from high-cost hospital centricity and more appropriately onto the shoulders of ambulatory and post-acute care, we must take advantage of current positive population health financial returns and be the drivers of future pay-for-outcomes models that will eventually sustain an appropriately scaled healthcare system.  

Here are a few examples:  

• Reach out to Medicare FFS and Medicare Advantage patients to complete their Annual Wellness Visits (AWV) and appropriate follow up services
• Create office processes to ensure appropriate coding and documentation to garner deserving financial credit for the sickest patients that require more care intensity
• Dedicate a team member to ensure quality and satisfaction pay-for-performance measures are at or above contractual targets
• Initiate or expand the team’s care navigation skills to stratify patients, and manage high complexity patients at financial risk
• Maintain or expand an appropriate level of telephone and video visits yielding to patients’ preferences and conditions
• Lead payer contract negotiations toward risk arrangements where you’ve created effective population health capabilities, e.g., care navigation, appropriate use best practices

While these initial value-based care steps may not seem transformative, they can enhance revenue with little investment and achieve better outcomes for patients.  Over time, bolder steps in care delivery will be needed, in collaboration with payers, moving progressively toward more downside risk.  With this experience, providers will be more confident in aligning terms of payer contracts that will ensure their own financial success.

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