Seton Health Alliance and UnitedHealthcare announced June 27 that they are teaming up to improve health care in the area through an Accountable Care Organization, a program that will allow physicians and nurses to spend more time with their patients.

The goal of the program is to improve overall health and establish stronger relationships between patients and their health care providers.

Patients will need to sign up for the program, which will be available Aug. 1 at no cost to anyone who has UnitedHealthcare through his or her employer.

When patients sign up for the program, someone from the ACO will be assigned to them to keep track of their health care. For example, if a patient has several chronic conditions and sees multiple doctors, the ACO navigator will tell the patient when tests need to be done, when prescriptions need to be refilled and when to see doctors for checkups.

Jess Garza, president and CEO of Seton Healthcare Family, said the goal of the ACO is to improve people's overall health and quality of life. As part of the program, the ACO will analyze data to ensure that patient health and satisfaction in care is improving, Garza said.

"Nowhere in the nation is the landscape of health care being transformed more than here in Central Texas," Garza said. "And we're here today to announce a major step in the direction of care that will improve people's health, contain cost [and] focus not on volume of care, but the quality and value of care that patients and their families are provided."

The ACO's long-term goal is to build a broad network of providers to increase quality and reduce costs for patients, and to expand the program to many other health insurance providers in the future, said Jeffrey Cook, president and CEO of Seton Insurance Services.

Seton Health Alliance is a partnership that includes Austin Regional Clinic, Lone Star Circle of Care and Seton Healthcare Family.