With estimates that at least 500 million people worldwide suffer from chronic kidney disease, the kidney care industry has reached a critical inflection point that requires us to rethink the path forward.
For 25 years, Fresenius Medical Care has worked to improve the quality of life for patients across their entire kidney health journey. Today marks an important next step in that journey as we announced a three-way merger between Fresenius Health Partners, InterWell Health, and Cricket Health, forming the nation’s premier, value based kidney care provider under the InterWell Health name.
The new InterWell Health will operate as an independent entity, with a separate board of directors, and a mission of expanding and improving kidney care with leading capabilities, including strong physician leadership and innovative technology to support patients across the continuum of kidney care.
As a leader in value based kidney care, Fresenius Health Partners brings expertise in value based contracting and performance to the new InterWell Health. Fresenius Health Partners has worked directly with InterWell Health since 2019 to form a network of more than 1,600 nephrologists, and together, we’ve significantly reduced hospitalizations and readmissions as well as created savings for payor partners. The new InterWell Health will also use Cricket Health’s machine learning and predictive analytics capabilities to facilitate improved engagement and earlier intervention.
Every decision we make centers on our patients, and the new InterWell Health will deliver individualized comprehensive care to patients at every point of their diagnosis, including access to the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) accredited KidneyCare:365 CKD program. As more patients opt for home dialysis, the new company will have the resources to focus on improving home dialysis utilization and further slowing disease progression through 24/7 patient support service.
The new InterWell Health will empower physicians to do what they do best – focus on patient care. InterWell Health has always emphasized its patient-centric values, and this merger will ensure physicians continue to have a voice in the decisions that create better outcomes for patients, physician practices, and payors.
Visit TransformingKidneyCare.com for more information on the new InterWell Health. This is an exciting next step for InterWell Health, Cricket Health, and Fresenius Health Partners. More importantly, it’s critical for our patients that we continue to find new ways to improve value based care to support them with greater health outcomes and a better quality of life.