Mayor Kasim Reed announced that the City of Atlanta has entered the next phase of its pilot program with the World Economic Forum to improve outcomes and reduce costs for patients suffering with heart failure. More than one hundred representatives from healthcare providers, patient advocacy groups, public sector organizations, pharmaceutical companies, medical device companies and academic institutions gathered at City Hall and signed a letter of intent for the pilot program.

Nearly six million people suffer from heart failure in the United States, and about half of these patients die within five years. Direct spending in the U.S. on care related to heart failure amounts to $31 billion. Forty percent of Medicare funds are spent on treating heart failure. As a national leader in heart failure survival, Atlanta could save 26,000 lives over the next 10 years.

“I am pleased that Atlanta, through this pilot program with the World Economic Forum and our private sector partners, has the opportunity to craft a new approach to care for patients with heart failure. Through this unique initiative, and with strong cooperation among our healthcare stakeholders, we can focus on solutions that lead to more favorable outcomes at a lower cost,” said Mayor Reed.

This is one of the first efforts globally to take a systemic approach to value-based healthcare, with all stakeholders working together to design and manage health systems. This novel approach has the potential to deliver improved health outcomes at lower cost and is part of a project run by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with The Boston Consulting Group.

“Value-based care represents the collaboration required to ensure that health systems of the future can deliver the outcomes that matter to patients at sustainable, long-term costs,” said Arnaud Bernaert, Head of Global Health and Healthcare Industries at the World Economic Forum.

Over the past seven months, the experts have identified the barriers to managing patients in Atlanta suffering from heart failure and have worked on solutions. Many organizations, including Grady Health System, Wellstar Health System, Emory Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente, Morehouse Healthcare, Humana, Centene Corporation, UnitedHealthcare, Georgia Health Information Network, Georgia Department of Public Health, and DeKalb County Board of Health have signed a letter of intent to jointly implement the solutions over the next five years. The Atlanta Regional Collaborative for Health Improvement and the American Heart Association will co-lead the project.

This transformation towards a value-based approach to care delivery in Atlanta is supported by industry leaders, including Bruce Broussard, President and Chief Executive Officer, Humana, Omar Ishrak, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Medtronic, Joseph Jimenez, Chief Executive Officer, Novartis, Michael Porter, Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, Harvard Business School, Edith Schippers, Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport of the Netherlands, Simon Stevens, Chief Executive Officer, National Health Service England, Bernard J. Tyson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Kaiser Permanente, Rick Valencia, President, Qualcomm Life, and Christophe Weber, President and Chief Executive Officer, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company.