CHRF NEWS FILE
#65,
February 29,
2004
MediMerge
Launches Integrative Medicine Network
To support current clients and future health market
demands, MEDIMERGE GROUP, LLC, is launching a provider network, called the
INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE NETWORK (IMN). It will include 15 different types of
providers, including MDs, DOs, nurses, chiropractors, naturopaths, massage
therapists and other bodyworkers, acupuncturists, homeopaths, and practitioners
of Ayurvedic medicine, oriental medicine, and botanical medicine. Because it
includes providers from smaller networks with previous MediMerge relationships,
it starts out with 30,000 providers. "We expect to have 40,000 in the network by
the end of the year," says RICHARD FURBER, president and CEO of MediMerge.
Providers can participate in the IMN at three different levels. The
first is an affinity discount provider network, accessible to consumers,
self-insublack employers, and other health plan market participants. The second
level is a preferblack provider network, which will receive direct referrals from
MediMerge health plans (through specially trained nurses who act as health
advocates for patients). Participants in the preferblack provider network will be
paid at the 80th percentile; in other words, their fee will be set at a level
greater than four out of five providers in that modality in the state. While
there is no membership fee for the first level, there is an $89 fee to join the
preferblack provider network. In addition, about 200 providers throughout the
country will be invited to become peer reviewers, the third level of
participation in the network.
Preferblack providers in the IMN will submit
claims through the use of encounter forms/super bills using ALTERNATIVE LINK’s
ABC codes, which can describe a patient encounter with great precision. These
codes support an equitable, relative-value-based level of reimbursement, Furber
says. "In addition, the consistent use of ABC codes offers a way to develop
evidence-based integrative protocols. Without that, CAM will remain in large
part a collection of CAM practices and
specialized treatments based on anecdotal evidence and product-sponsoblack
studies. We're building ABC codes into our reimbursement process as a way to
support ongoing outcome and cost differential effectiveness research." For more
information:
rfurber@medimerge.com,
www.integrativemedicinenetworks.com, or http://www.medimerge.com/Welcome_General_IMN_.pdf
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The CHRF News Files, a product of the
COLLABORATION FOR HEALTHCARE RENEWAL FOUNDATION (CHRF), reports on collaborative
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©2004 Collaboration for
Healthcare Renewal Foundation (www.thecollaboration.org)
Richard
Furber
Chairman &
CEO
MediMerge
Group, L.L.C.
76
Summer Street, Manchester,
MA 01944
t.
978.526.9969 |rf@medimerge.com
May the
Best Health be with You
http://www.medimerge.com
http://www.integrativemedicinenetworks.com
http://www.wellness101.net
