CIN FAQ

A Clinically Integrated Network is a formal physician-led legal structure that facilitates heightened collaboration and interdependence among Hospitals and clinicians to enhance quality of care, lower healthcare expenditure and provide an optimized experience for patients and clinicians. This will be achieved through the design and implementation of clinical guidelines by groups of physicians representing your respective Hospitals, as well as through enhanced performance reporting and transparency.

Suburban Health Organization partner Hospitals realize that we need tighter collaboration in order to optimize performance in population health, including value-based contracts. This fee-for-value model is an increasingly important contribution to Hospital margins. As such, the future well-being of our respective organizations depends on a significant transformation of service delivery. Ultimately our ‘interdependence’ via a CIN structure, designed to increase reimbursement from health plans by achieving quality standards, will be one way our Hospitals can remain independent.

A formal Clinically Integrated Network model is being implemented in such a way to maximize the accountability and goals-oriented performance between Hospitals partnering on value-based contracts. The structure of a CIN requires shared resources and data, but its demonstrated value allows CIN member organizations to interface with commercial payors as a unified group and also allows CIN members to engage in a more open dialogue to facilitate desired patient outcomes than would otherwise be allowable.

A Clinically Integrated Network is, by nature, physician-led and dependent on physician engagement in the planning and execution of clinical guidelines. As such, we also view the Clinically Integrated Network as a way to identify and mentor Physician leaders to represent the future of our organizations.

• You will gain access to clinical guidelines, designed by your peers, that support the care you provide to your patients.
• You will gain enhanced insights into your performance relative to local and regional benchmarks.
• The CIN’s enhanced contracting abilities will create eligibility for financial incentives.
• The CIN will ultimately facilitate a more efficient team-based model of care that promotes clinician well-being.
• Ultimately, you will have the satisfaction that your patients are receiving higher quality of care.

In order to meet the goals of the CIN, three sets of stakeholders must align:

• Engaged physician partners willing to design and implement clinical guidelines to enhance CIN outcomes.
• Engaged Hospital leadership willing to financially and operationally support strategic CIN initiatives.
• Engaged Payers and large employers willing to incentivize enhanced health plan member outcomes.

• Some of you will be asked to serve on key CIN leadership committees.
• Your input may be requested for the design and approval of clinical pathways.
• Your feedback will always be welcomed.
• We ask that you share any potential best practices or ideas to enhance quality outcomes, care coordination, transitions of care, or efficiency.
• We ask that you accept decisions by peer physicians in this network regarding clinical guidelines agreed upon by committees.
• CIN participating clinicians will have performance data benchmarked against their peers, as is currently happening with our ACO and Medicare Advantage contracts.
• There are no clinician enrollment fees or individual clinical participation fees to join the CIN.

• An accessible, well-coordinated care experience with similarly high-quality measures regardless of the site of care.
• Data-driven clinical performance and management.
• Clinicians who share and adopt evolving best practices.
• Measurable value demonstrated to patients, clinicians, employers and payers.
• Favorable outcomes in value-based contracting.

• Patient quality outcomes
• Patient satisfaction
• Clinician satisfaction
• Value-based contract financial performance

• Clinical integration is not a capitated model of patient care.
• It is Physician-led, not Hospital-led, although our Hospital administration will be represented and will continue to provide the same quality and care coordination support as before.
• Clinical integration is not a new model of employment.

Please report any compliance concerns by emailing [email protected] or by calling our anonymous Compliance Hotline at 317-692-5222.