Value-based care has become a viable answer in the changing world of American healthcare, where costs are rising and quality varies greatly. New Century Health (NCH) is one of the companies leading this change. They are known for provide value-based care management for difficult specialties, especially oncology and cardiology.
New Century Health, which was founded in 2002 and is now part of Evolent Health, has developed a paradigm that combines evidence-based clinical standards, real-time decision support, and provider cooperation to improve treatment for some of the most expensive and problematic patient groups.
The Healthcare Challenge in Oncology and Cardiology
In the US, heart disease and cancer are the two most common causes of mortality. They are among of the most expensive diseases to treat. The American Cancer Society said that cancer care would cost more than $200 billion in 2023. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said that heart disease costs the government hundreds of billions of dollars per year.
These specialties are marked by:
- Rapid advances in treatments and technologies
- High variability in care delivery
- Overuse or misuse of expensive therapies
- Fragmented communication between providers
Both public and private payers want to find ways to keep costs down without hurting patient outcomes. New Century Health is here to help with these problems by using a mix of medical knowledge, data analysis, and technology.
What New Century Health Does
New Century Health is a full-service specialty care management partner for health plans and provider organizations who take on risk. Its goal is to make sure that the correct patient gets the right care at the right time, while keeping costs down.
The core of NCH’s approach includes:
1. Clinical Pathways and Decision Support
The core of New Century Health’s strategy is a set of clinical pathways, which are standardized, evidence-based treatment plans established with the help of medical professionals. These rules assist doctors make sure they chose the best and most cost-effective treatment for each patient.
New Century Health helps people make decisions in real time through an electronic portal or by connecting directly to electronic health records (EHRs). NCH checks treatment plans sent by oncologists or cardiologists against its recommendations and gives comment or approval, usually within a few hours.
This only improves adherence to best practices but also:
- Reduces variability in care
- Prevents overuse of high-cost drugs or unnecessary interventions
- Encourages timely adoption of new evidence-based therapies
2. Peer-to-Peer Collaboration
New Century Health puts more value on working together than on fighting. The medical directors, who are board-certified specialists in oncology or cardiology, don’t just say no. They talk to the doctors who are treating the patients about their conditions. These conversations help everyone understand each other better and agree on care plans. This makes providers happier and patients do better.
3. Population Health Analytics
NCH uses advanced analytics and artificial intelligence to find patients who are at high risk, guess what will happen, and help make decisions about care. Its tools for population health benefit payers and providers:
- Monitor utilization trends
- Identify gaps in care
- Forecast costs
- Track outcomes
These findings lead to preemptive actions, greater care coordination, and better use of resources.
4. Risk-Based Contracting
New Century Health supports risk-based contracts that tie payment to results, not volume, as healthcare moves towards value-based models. NCH helps its partners make money by offering shared savings, capitation, and bundled payments, all while providing high-quality care.
Oncology: A Complex and Expensive Battlefield
In the age of precision medicine and immunotherapy, New Century Health’s cancer solutions are important than ever. It can cost $100,000 per year for each patient to get new cancer treatments. But many of these treatments don’t work well, you don’t use them correctly.
NCH helps oncologists navigate this complexity by:
- Offering treatment pathways tailored to cancer type, stage, and patient factors
- Supporting biosimilar adoption where appropriate
- Reviewing treatment intent and aligning with NCCN or ASCO guidelines
- Managing supportive care, diagnostics, and end-of-life considerations
Cardiology: Tackling the Chronic Disease Epidemic
Cardiology is another field that is full of complicated cases and high costs. There are many different kinds of inefficiencies, such using the wrong imaging, putting in stents that aren’t needed, or not following the guidelines for taking drugs.
NCH’s cardiology program includes:
- Pathways for heart failure, coronary artery disease, arrhythmias, and more
- Support for evidence-based medication regimens
- Utilization review for cardiac procedures and diagnostics
- Preventive care and medication adherence programs
NCH improves quality metrics by treating acute and chronic heart diseases.
Real-World Impact
New Century Health boasts a growing body of evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of its model. In a recent case study involving a national Medicare Advantage plan:
- Total cost of oncology care dropped by 11%
- Chemotherapy-related ER visits declined by 20%
- Provider satisfaction increased due to collaborative reviews and faster approvals
In the same way, cardiology programs have led to better utilisation of medications that are recommended by guidelines and less unneeded imaging tests.
These results show that a data-driven, clinically led approach may balance cost and quality, which is a big problem in American healthcare.
Partners and Growth
New Century Health partners with a broad array of stakeholders:
- Health plans, include Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and commercial insurers
- Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs)
- Provider groups and integrated delivery networks
NCH has grown a lot Evolent Health bought it in 2018. Evolent’s larger platform includes population health management, risk adjustment, and primary care enablement. These features work together to make NCH’s services better.
Future Outlook
New Century Health is in a good place to grow as value-based care becomes more common. There are some important trends that will affect its future:
1. Expansion to New Specialties
Oncology and cardiology remain its core, NCH is exploring expansion into other high-cost specialties, such as:
- Nephrology
- Rheumatology
- Pulmonology
2. Integration with Digital Health
New Century Health is in a fantastic position to grow as value-based care becomes more popular. There are certain major trends that will have an effect on its future:
3. Focus on Health Equity
New Century Health is starting to include equity measurements in its care models it knows that social determinants of health (SDOH) have a big effect on results. This will make sure that underserved groups get the right kind of high-quality specialty care.
Conclusion
New Century Health is a new way to manage specialty care. It is helping to tackle one of healthcare’s biggest problems: how to provide sophisticated, personalized treatment at a cost that can be sustained.
As healthcare changes, groups like New Century Health will be important to making sure that quality, affordability go hand in hand, not in theory but also in real life.
FAQs of New Century Health
1. What is New Century Health?
New Century Health (NCH) is a company that helps health insurance, providers improve, streamline specialty care, especially in oncology and cardiology. It helps clinicians decide on therapy by using analytics, real-time decision support, and therapeutic paths that are based on evidence.
2. Who owns New Century Health?
Evo lent Health is a publicly traded firm that helps organizations that provide value-based care. New Century Health is a completely owned subsidiary of Evo lent Health.
3. When was New Century Health founded?
The year 2002 saw the start of New Century Health.
4. What is the mission of New Century Health?
The goal is change specialty care by making sure that patients get the right treatment at the right time, while enabling payers and providers offer care that is focused on value and keep costs down
5. What specialties does New Century Health cover?
Currently, NCH primarily focuses on:
- Oncology (cancer care)
- Cardiology (heart disease care)
It is exploring additional high-cost specialties like rheumatology, nephrology, and pulmonology.