The joint venture between Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) and Deerfield Management Company has begun operating under the name Alo, a practice management resource for independent physicians. Matt Eirich, former chief growth officer for Humana Inc.’s primary care business, was appointed as Alo’s president and chief executive officer.

“Alo creates new options for independent physician practices across North Carolina,” said Sonny Goyal, senior vice president of diversified business and chief strategy officer at Blue Cross NC. “With our investment in this new venture, Blue Cross NC is advancing our support of primary care and freeing up physicians to focus on what they do best – providing high-quality, patient-centered care.”

“Matt has worked in both payer and provider environments, and these experiences have afforded him a unique perspective and deep understanding of what is needed to help physicians transition to value-based care,” said Adam Grossman, partner at Deerfield Management. “We are excited to welcome him as Alo’s president and chief executive officer. I know the team will greatly benefit from his leadership as Alo embarks on supporting independent providers.”

“The company’s vision is to enable physicians to focus on the health of their patients, leaving business and administrative concerns to Alo,” said Matt Eirich. “I’m passionate about realizing this vision for physicians and couldn’t be more excited to be joining Alo.”

As president and CEO of Alo, Eirich will lead the development and growth of Alo as a new management services organization offering support on payer strategy, practice management, patient experience, and value-based care to independent physician practices throughout North Carolina. Eirich came to Alo from CenterWell and Conviva Care Solutions, Humana’s primary care businesses, and before that served as Humana’s vice president of corporate strategy. He holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA from Davidson College.

For additional details on this update, read the full press release.