Aledade buys value-based care analytics provider Curia

Adeldade added over 450 primary care practices, including nearly 60 health centers, to its network

Aledade is a company helping the system transition to a model that incentivizes the physician to give the patient quality care. It works with independent practices to develop Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), which focus on a value-based care model through Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurers.

The idea is to reward these practices for keeping their patients healthy, for following up with them when they leave the hospital, and for keeping them out of the hospital altogether.

All of that is predicated on using its data to help physicians deliver the best care they can, which is why the company announced on Tuesday that it acquired Curia, a provider of value-based care analytics. The cpmpany uses practical applications of artificial intelligence to optimize the targeting of patient care and engagement programs.

No financial terms of the deal were disclosed; going forward, Aledade will not continue offering Curia's products and services to third parties, Dr. Farzad Mostashari, CEO and co-founder of Aledade, told VatorNews.

Current Curia employees and leadership will join various teams at Aledade, while the company will integrate Curia's technology into its core offerings.

"Aledade’s core mission is to build a health care system that works better for patients, practices, and all of society. Central to that is helping primary care physicians deliver better care to their patients, which we are doing thanks to our success in using advanced predictive analytics and tech-enabled workflows to better identify patients who would benefit the most from particular interventions," said Mostashari.

"The team at Curia is drawn by that same mission and our work with them has proven that, together, we’re going to make a real and lasting impact for the practices we serve and their patients."

The two companies have worked together in the past: this acquisition follows a pilot where Aledade leveraged Curia’s technology and team to target comprehensive advance care planning (CACP) services to the patients who need them most. As a result, Aledade was able to exceed its enrollment goal of 8,000 patients having received a CACP facilitation in the first year, with patient satisfaction scores at 98.5 percent for these services.

"This is a way for us to provide more support to our independent primary care practice partners so that they can deliver better care at lower cost, our mission from day one," said Mostashari.

"Practices will be able to better target care to their patients who need it most, and more patients will receive tailored interventions beyond what a typical primary care office could provide on its own."

Now that it will be adding Curia's technology, Adledade plans to replicate the results of the CACP pilot across other services and interventions; next, it plans to to scale Kidney Care Management services to Aledade’s network nationwide.

In addition to the acquisition, Adeldade also revealed that it added more than 450 primary care practices, including nearly 60 health centers, to its nationwide network for this year. The company now works with more than 1,500 independent primary care practices and health centers, up from more than 1,000 practices in 2022, including more than 5,000 physicians and 15,000 clinicians across 45 states and the District of Columbia. 

"Ultimately, and consistent with our mission, success looks like helping the practices in our national network improve care and lower costs for their patients and society as a whole," said Mostashari.

"Improving our ability to predict who can benefit most from an intervention will not only improve the care experience, but also lower overall health care costs by avoiding unnecessary hospitalizations and other unnecessary care."

This is Aledade's second acquisition after buying Iris Healthcare, a provider of Advance Care Planning solutions, in January 2022.