Highmark Health Services, a Pittsburgh-based health insurer, has announced the formation of the Accountable Care Alliance, in collaboration with health care providers in the Allegheny Health Network (AHN), which it maintains will improve the coordination of care and lower health care costs.

The Accountable Care Alliance will include AHN physicians from six AHN hospitals, including: Allegheny General Hospital, Allegheny Valley Hospital, Canonsburg Hospital, Forbes Hospital, Jefferson Hospital, and West Penn Hospital.

Highmark says the Accountable Care Alliance will eventually include other physicians and hospitals from Western Pennsylvania and other communities served by Highmark Health Services.

According to Tony Farah, M.D., AHN chief medical officer and president, Allegheny Clinic, the Accountable Care Alliance represents the future model of patient care management in the country as the health care industry moves away from traditional volume-based revenue incentives to those based on quality outcomes, prevention of disease and more efficient and effective patient-centered care.

According to the announcement, the Highmark Health Services Accountable Care Alliance will address changes in the way providers are paid by accelerating the movement to pay-for-value payment methods that align incentives to help improve quality and patient safety while encouraging delivery of the best possible care in the most appropriate setting.