Peninsula Regional Health System is among independent systems that have created Advanced Health Collaborative LLC.

With a concept known as the Triple Aim, the collaborative will  allow members, without merging, to “share ideas and explore opportunities to enhance the quality of health care, reduce costs and improve the health of people in the state of Maryland,” according to a news release from PRMC.

Other members are Adventist HealthCare, LifeBridge Health, Mercy Health Services, Trivergent Health Alliance which includes Frederick Regional Health System, Meritus Health and Western Maryland Health System.

Triple Aim refers to a focus on primary care and prevention under the population health approach.

This includes helping people coordinate medical care or prescriptions. Hospitals might help arrange access to treatments and social services.

The collaborative, which will serve about half the population in Maryland, will have a collective, significant voice in the state to speak in favor of, or against, proposed legislation, said Christopher Hall, chief business officer and vice president of strategy and business development at PRMC.

He said it will also help participating hospitals find ways to keep populations healthy, with classes, screenings and access to doctors. That’s an arduous task for a single hospital, but members of the collaborative will meet regularly to exchange ideas they can all use, he said.

“This allows Peninsula Regional Medical Center to remain independent but collaborate with some of the best minds in health care,” Hall said.

By helping people stay well, health systems can reduce the number of hospital admissions and costs while continuing to improve quality of health care, fulfilling the goals of the Triple Aim, the news release explained.

“Because of recent changes in how Maryland hospitals are reimbursed for the care they provide, our health systems have new opportunities and challenges,” Robb Cohen, chief executive officer of the new collaborative, stated in a news release.

“By joining together … we plan to harness the collective strengths of our members, putting them in a stronger position to advance common interests and goals, including providing higher quality care with greater cost efficiency,” he said.

The agreement comes as hospital systems in Maryland move into the second year under a new global budget reimbursement system.

Since Jan. 1 last year, Maryland hospitals have received a predetermined reimbursement based on the size of the populations they serve, rather than payment for each service they provide, the news release states.

The shift to a global budget means hospital systems focus on the value of care while treating illness. There is less focus on patient volumes.

The goal is for hospitals to better manage the health of the people they serve.

“For Maryland hospitals, the shift to the global budget system requires a whole new way of thinking and doing business, which can be both exciting and daunting,” Cohen said.

“We believe that by sharing ideas and working together, AHC members will be more successful in transitioning to this new model of care and achieve faster and better results.”