Albuquerque was one of the markets where further investigation into the development of a PSO made sense. First, taking care of the Medicare population is an essential part of our healthcare mission. In this program, St. Joseph accepts a fixed fee from the State to keep seniors who are medically eligible for nursing home stays, out of a nursing home. St. Joseph Healthcare has, and will continue to, contract with insurance companies under capitated payments as a Medicare provider. Secondly, as in many markets, Albuquerque is witnessing a rapid consolidation in the number of health insurance companies in the marketplace.
Seniors have fewer options for healthcare.
The PSO will give greater opportunity for Medicare enrollees to choose St. Joseph Healthcare, the last remaining religiously sponsored healthcare system in the state. Thirdly, forming a Medicare PSO allows St. Joseph Healthcare to extend its long standing partnership philosophy with physicians. St. Joseph Healthcare is also making a significant investment in Medical Information Systems to provide the PSO caregivers with medical information to optimally manage the healthcare needs of the PSO membership. Our goal is to have our PSO make a contribution in renewing the focus on the patient-doctor relationship. The current pressures on Congress to pass the Patients Rights Bill are clear evidence that managed care is really widely believed to be managed costs instead.