Strive Health Partners with Nearly 200 Nephrology Providers Across Multiple States to Implement Innovative Medicare Kidney Care Program

Strive Health, a national innovator in value-based kidney care, today announced that it has partnered with nearly 200 physicians and advanced practitioners from 20 nephrology groups across several states to participate in Medicare’s Comprehensive Kidney Care Contracting options of the Kidney Care Choices model (CKCC).

CKCC is a new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) payment innovation model that incentivizes healthcare providers to manage the care of Medicare beneficiaries with chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages 4 and 5 and end stage renal disease (ESRD). Unlike prior value-based kidney care models, CKCC addresses both CKD and ESRD beneficiaries and aligns patients based on nephrology care, not dialysis treatments. The implementation period for the program started on October 15, 2020 and the official launch of the performance period is on April 1, 2021.

“New payment models like CKCC are putting nephrologists at the center and creating meaningful opportunities to transform care for our patients,” said Gary Singer, MD, a nephrologist who leads Midwest Nephrology Associates in St. Louis, MO. “We looked for a partner whose incentives align with our goal of delaying the progression of kidney disease, and whose model blends technological innovation with high-touch care. We believe Strive is well-positioned to support us in CKCC and beyond,” said Dr. Singer.

Strive Health provides technology, high-touch care teams, and management expertise that empower nephrologists to participate and succeed in new value-based kidney care models. Physicians partnering with Strive gain access to advanced tools and resources that improve care delivery, such as sophisticated data science models that predict CKD disease progression with greater than 95% accuracy. Physicians also participate in performance-based incentive programs that reward high-quality and low-cost patient outcomes.

“Our company is the market leader in transformative, value-based kidney care. The new CMMI models take an exciting step in the right direction and create unprecedented opportunities for nephrologists to innovate and be rewarded for high-quality, long-term care goals over individual treatments,” said Chris Riopelle, CEO and co-founder of Strive Health.

Through partnerships with nephrologists and direct care arrangements, Strive manages thousands of complex CKD and ESRD patients in five states today and will be managing, or supporting the management of, more than 30,000 patients in 12 states by early 2021. The company is actively launching new kidney care arrangements with commercial payors, health systems, and medical groups – most recently announced include Humana and Conviva Care Centers – and engaging local nephrologists as central care providers within these models. Future growth plans include new application opportunities for CKCC and additional government programs.