KINGWOOD, Texas—Southern New England Practice Transformation Network (SNE-PTN) will be awarding over 1,100 select Vision Source member practices achievement payments of up to $2,500 per practice, for their performance in the transformation towards value-based care, in 2019. Vision Source member practices constitute greater than 99 percent of the total award recipients. Practices currently enrolled in SNE-PTN will be eligible to receive achievement payments for having completed activities that prepare their practices for success in value-based care and alternative payment models.

Vision Source and SNE-PTN have been collaborating to implement skills that guide Vision Source practices in the value-based payment world, helping them progress through five phases of transformation. Payments will be disbursed to practices based on progression through those phases and diligence in the reporting of diabetic eye examinations and care for patients who would otherwise have been treated in a hospital emergency department, the company said.

“At Vision Source, one of our primary goals is to enable the success of our network member optometrists, now and in the future,” said Jim Greenwood, Vision Source president and CEO. “With an ever-increasing investment by health plans and health delivery systems in value-based care, it is essential that Vision Source practices are not only capable of delivering value-based care but have demonstrated outcomes which make a difference.”

“At a time when most optometric practices have been excluded from participation in Medicare’s Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), the collaborative efforts between Vision Source and SNE-PTN has allowed all of our members to participate in a path toward this evolving future of health care,” said vice president and chief medical officer of Vision Source, Paul Williams, OD.

“Not only has the experience and training for our member practices made a difference, the award will exceed what they would have earned under MIPS in some cases—and if they are reporting under MIPS, they are still eligible for these Performance Awards as an additional incentive.”

“While diabetes care is an increasingly important need within our health care system, it is a long-term achievement which makes a difference over a patient’s lifetime,” stated Amir Khoshnevis, OD, Vision Source executive vice president and chief clinical officer.

“Since the inception of monitoring patients who would have otherwise been seen in the emergency department, practices reporting through SNE-PTN have demonstrated savings in excess of $298 million. Providing an alternative for these patients provides an immediate improvement in both the patient experience and financial bottom line.”

For more information about SNE-PTN visit SNEPTN.org.