In a Texas Orthopaedic Association interview, Denver-based Muve Health President and CEO P. Marshall Maran said the health system has its sights set on becoming one of the largest providers of joint replacement procedures in the U.S.
Here are four key notes from the interview.
1. Muve uses standard criteria such as body mass index, the A1C test, active malignancies and tobacco use to determine if a patient is qualified for an outpatient procedure.
"However, the presence or the failure of a patient to meet our criteria doesn’t automatically exclude them as a joint replacement candidate at Muve," Mr. Maran said. "Rather, we'll work with that patient to optimize their conditions to convert them into a qualified status. So if a patient's BMI is above 40, we'll work with them on a weight loss program or if they smoke tobacco, we'll get them into a 30-day smoking cessation program."
2. "Muve is a hyperspecialized, full-episode program of care. It is not multispecialty, and it is not 'simply' an ASC," Mr. Maran said.
He highlighted four factors that differentiate Muve from the traditional multispecialty ASC model: hyper-specialized focus on orthopedic procedures; efforts to optimize outcomes and reduce unnecessary variation in total joint replacement care delivery; 48 hours of post-operative care and monitoring; and partnership with patients from pre-surgery through one year post-surgery.
3. Muve is not engaged with Bundled Payments for Care Improvement or Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced.
"We're the only ASC we know of to have a 90-day prospective bundle for joint replacements for commercially insured beneficiaries. We believe the use of VBR models will expand over time and we're poised to drive that expansion, but we hope more in the provider community will embrace this approach as it really creates a triple win in the market for patients, payers and surgeons."
4. Muve plans to have 30 facilities nationwide within the next three years.
"We are expanding in Texas and have new facilities under development in four other states. Our focus will continue to be on lower extremity joint replacement, but we are also creating a program around certain spine procedures which we believe our model is well suited to provide," Mr. Maran said.