GREENSBORO, N.C. — Cone Health announced Friday it is becoming part of another healthcare system called Risant Health, a nonprofit organization.
WFMY News 2 asked Cone Health President & CEO Dr. Mary Jo Cagle questions about how this new transaction will impact patients and staff at Cone Health.
What will change with care?
"The great news is, your care and your doctor is exactly the same - as it has always been, absolutely no change," said Cagle. "You make appointments the same way, you go see the doctor the same way, and the same nurse that you always have."
What changes with jobs?
"There are no changes in the jobs. People come to work the same way tomorrow the same way they always have, and we have no plans for any changes to our 13,000 wonderful employees at Cone Health," Cagle said.
What kind of deal is this?
"It’s never been done in this state. They’re not purchasing our assets, which is important to note. I use the analogy of like, old General Motors was the parent company but Cadillac and Chevy were separate organizations under the parent company. Risant is the parent corporation and Geisinger (out of Pennsylvania and became part of Risant last year) and Cone are separate corporations under the parent company."
"We’re still Cone Health, we still have our leadership team. We still have our board, all of our assets are still right here in Guilford County and so it is a different model than we’ve seen in other places," said Cagle.
What changes will come?
"The difference we hope our patients see is that it’s easier to make your appointments, easier to determine where you need to go for care, and easier to pay your bills and take care of the day-to-day things you need to in health care - that’s what we really hope they see," said Cagle.
What does Risant bring to the table?
"Value-based care is something Cone Health has been working at for over 12 years through our ACO, the Triad Health Network, but unfortunately, it’s not available to all patients, so when we talk about value-based care, we talk about high-quality, low-cost care that is focused on prevention and wellness rather than sick care. In Greensboro, that’s mostly for medicare plans, but what we’d like to see is to spread to all insurance types," Cagle said.
She continued, "Risant has begun to develop along with Kaiser Permanente, that has a platform with care pathways, how we take care of patients, but also payment pathways, so how we pay and work with insurance companies..and how we help patients navigate the system, so it’s multi-factorial that helps us deliver that value-based care - so, high quality, low cost, more prevention, and healthier living, all of which lowers the cost of care."
What does Cone Health bring to the deal?
"Risant is a very mission-driven organization. They are looking for like-minded health systems that have been doing this for a while. They get the intellectual capital of all of these organizations. There are some things that Cone is doing that the others are not doing. Our Radiation Oncology team has done innovative work that they’re known around the country for some of that is in how they deliver treatment that results in fewer treatments and takes less time to get the same results. We know they do that better than most places."
Where does the deal stand now?
"Moving now into the regulatory review, that happens at the federal and state level - that will probably take until the end of the year. We notified the governor and the AG yesterday so that started the state review; filling out the paperwork for the federal now."
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