ROCKFORD, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Coventry Health Care of Illinois, Inc. and SwedishAmerican Health System are pleased to announced a new high-performance network in Rockford, IL.

The new product, Carelink from Coventry: A SwedishAmerican Partnership, is effective September 1, 2013. The goal of this collaboration is to improve quality of care and lower overall health care costs. This partnership shows a commitment to delivering more value to the patient, no matter what his or her health care needs may be.

SwedishAmerican is collaborating with its physicians, Coventry and employer groups to implement a model of care that aids people when they are sick, and also focuses on keeping them healthy and out of the hospital unless they are acutely sick or injured, said Dr. Bill Gorski, President and CEO of SwedishAmerican. We are creating a physician-directed team approach to foster more accountability across the continuum of care, from the patient to the physician and all health care staff in between. Our primary goal is to help the health care team manage and improve the health and well-being of the patient.

Jered Wilson, Vice President of Network Development for Coventry, said, We are excited to expand our partnership with SwedishAmerican to offer the Rockford community access to a new health care delivery model. We believe our members will receive an enhanced level of coordinated care that will result in better health outcomes. Together with SwedishAmerican, we want to improve the health of our communities.

High-performance network model drives focus on more coordinated care

A high-performance network collaboration is a group of health care providers who assume responsibility for the quality and cost of care for a group of patients.

Richard Walsh, Executive Vice President and COO of SwedishAmerican, said, One of our goals is to provide physicians with better predictors of their patients health risks earlier in life. By implementing behavior interventions early, we can improve health and outcomes long term. We will also provide tools to help physicians better manage patients with multiple chronic conditions who need immediate interventions. Such resources and tools can be used to more efficiently manage a growing patient population, maintain patient health and focus on those patients who need their doctors guidance the most.

Coventry is working with health care organizations throughout the state to develop products and services that support value-driven, patient-centered care. For more information on this specific high-performance network, please visit http://www.chcillinois.com > Health Care Solutions > Our Products > Carelink from Coventry.

About SwedishAmerican Health System

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Coventry Health Care of Illinois and SwedishAmerican Health System Collaborate to Form High-Performance Network