Members of Dallas/Fort Worth community receive quality health care through UT Southwestern health fairs

Thanks to UT Southwestern Accountable Care Network, some 68,000 members of the Dallas/Fort Worth community are receiving much-needed access to quality health care, including flu shots, screenings, education, and more through a series of 22 health fairs across the Metroplex running now through Nov. 20.

The health fairs are sponsored by and available to members of UT Southwestern Medical Center's Accountable Care Network (ACN), a physician-led partnership between UTSW, Texas Health Physicians Group (THPG), and community physicians in UT Southwestern Clinically Affiliated Physicians. Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) seek to improve health care outcomes for Medicare patients and to lower health care costs by coordinating care among providers and making them jointly accountable for the health of their patients.

Most of the health fairs are being held in YMCA facilities across the Metroplex, as well as at Moncrief Cancer Institute in Fort Worth, which is affiliated with UT Southwestern. The health fairs are intended to improve the health and address gaps in the medical history of patients in the UT Southwestern ACN who have been invited to attend the gatherings.

Last year, UT Southwestern ACN was one of just 20 percent of Accountable Care Organizations nationwide that generated savings for health care consumers in their first year of operation. The UT Southwestern ACN is the only such network in the Metroplex affiliated with an academic medical center, where evidence-based care is the standard of practice.

"Accountable Care Organizations represent the future of medicine in this country, so it's appropriate that North Texas' leading ACO would be affiliated with UT Southwestern, which is known for delivering the future of medicine today," said Dr. Mack Mitchell, Chief Medical Officer for UT Southwestern's ACN.

According to Dr. Mitchell, networks such as UT Southwestern's provide a new model of health care delivery, offering high-quality care in a cost-efficient manner and with a patient-centered approach.

"UT Southwestern is proud to have our clinicians participating in closely knit, community-based care teams that are measurably improving the health of our patients and the community and reducing costs for patients," said Dr. Mitchell, Professor and Vice Chairman of Internal Medicine. "We expect that going forward UT Southwestern's ACN will continue to enhance patient care and generate even greater savings for health care consumers in North Texas."