Aledade claims title of nation’s top network of independent primary care practices

With more than 450 new practices joining for 2023, Aledade announced it has become the nation’s largest network of independent primary care practices.

This year, the Bethesda, Maryland-based company will have more than 2 million patients covered by more than 150 value-based contracts covered by Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and commercial payers. Its network includes 1,500 independent primary care practices, including almost 60 heath centers, with more than 5,000 physicians and 15,000 clinicians in 45 states and Washington, D.C.

Aledade announced the company has acquired Curia, a developer of applications using artificial intelligence “to optimize the targeting of patient care and engagement programs.”

“We launched Aledade with the goal of building a health care system that works better for patients, practices, and all of society,” Aledade CEO and Cofounder Farzad Mostashari, MD, MPH, said in a news release. “We are the largest network of independent primary care practices, with millions of patients all across the country getting better care from a primary care physician 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.

“But we are just getting started,” Mostashari said. “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.”

Meet Curia

Curia’s developer, the company Foundry.ai, includes health care among case studies about the sectors using its AI to enhance patient engagement programs.

Aledade and Curia used a Curia pilot program to target comprehensive advanced care planning (CACP) services for patients. It identified more than 8,000 patients facing the highest risks of mortality in the next two years, and Aledade will work with primary care physicians to enroll patients in CACP services.

“The future of health care isn’t on the horizon; it’s here – in value based care, population health, artificial intelligence and empowered primary care,” Jim Manzi, Foundry.ai founder and partner said in a news release. “That mission is what attracted our team of world-class talent to Curia, and it’s why we were able to work so well with our colleagues at Aledade and improve care for thousands of patients. We share a common mission, and I can’t wait to see what this team will accomplish as one.”

For public benefit

This year, Mostashari announced Aledade would change its corporate governance structure to become a public benefit corporation (PBC). That structure “requires the company to weigh the interests of its primary care practice partners, their patients, its employees and those who bear the burden of rising health care costs, alongside those of its shareholders, in all decision making.”

“We hope that by taking this step, Aledade can amplify the work we do everyday to rebuild some of the trust that our health care system has lost,” Mostashari said in the company’s announcement. “Aledade became a PBC because I want primary care docs, the people at the foundation of our health care system, to know that we will serve you and work for your interests over the long run. To make it so, we have literally built you into the very charter that defines Aledade’s purpose.”