VirtuaCare is one of the first organizations in the region selected to participate as an Acountable Care Organizations (ACO) by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). If you are a Medicare Fee-for-Service patient and your physician is participating in the VirtuaCare ACO, you 
should have received a letter with more information. If you have not received a letter, please call VirtuaCare at (855) 847-8566.
What is an ACO?
An ACO is a group of doctors and other healthcare providers working together with Medicare to give you improved service and care. The goal of VirtuaCare is to support your doctor in caring for you. Your healthcare providers will be able to work together more closely and make sure they have the most up-to-date information about your overall health.
VirtuaCare Benefits You
VirtuaCare reinforces Virtua's mission of helping you be well, get well and stay well. Medicare will give your medical team the information they need to create a wellness program specifically for you. Your physicians will work closely with you to create a treatment plan to coordinate your overall health. Instead of treating you primarily when you are sick, your healthcare providers will work closely together to keep you well. VirtuaCare aims to improve your care by:
- Enabling your doctors to be part of a better coordinated team that will develop a treatment plan specific to your health care needs
- Eliminating the need to fill out as many medical forms that ask for the same information
- Avoiding duplication of tests or answering the same questions over and over
- Helping each of your doctors to not only know about the health issues they’ve treated, they will have a more complete picture of your health through talking with your other doctors
Please note that your Medicare benefits are not changing, and you will still receive your benefits through Medicare. This isn’t a Medicare Advantage plan or an HMO plan. You still have the right to use any doctor or hospital who accepts Medicare, at any time.
You Control Your Personal Information
Medicare plans to start sharing certain health information with your doctors about your care to help you receive the right care in the right place and at the right time. This information will include the following:
- Visits to the doctor or hospital
- Medical conditions
- Prescriptions you’ve had in the past and moving forward
Having this information will help your primary care physician and your other health care providers participating in VirtuaCare to give you high-quality care.
Your privacy is very important to VirtuaCare, and you control the use of your personal health information. Like Medicare, VirtuaCare has important safeguards in place to make sure all your medical information is safe. You may choose to have your name and other personal information removed from the information that Medicare shares with your doctor by doing one of the following:
- Call 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY users should call 1-877-486-2048); or
- Sign a form available in your doctor or other healthcare provider’s office, which you may also receive in the mail from your doctor.
If you receive a letter from your doctor, unless you take one of these steps, your medical information will be shared automatically starting 30 days from the date you are notified.
For more information about VirtuaCare, please call (855) 847-8566.