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Interoperability, Patient Engagement, Analytics..Why all the buzz?

It was too predictable not to happen – proper exchange of data between disparate systems (inteRead More

2015: What might we expect from the healthcare industry

Last year was the first for many aspects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) including health insuranceRead More

Physicians Quality Reporting System: Definition and how it works

In 2007 the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative was formed.  This program was designed to voluntRead More

 

 

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Lessons from the Physician Survival Conference

The AHS team  attended the Physician Survival Conference on weekend of Dec 8th, 2012 in Raleigh, NC. It is very apparent that physican practices independent from hospital or large health systems are facing financial risk and always under the threat of being overtaken by their more powerful counterparts.

1) Joining an IPA (independent practice associations) is one strategy by which these practices can remain operationally independent and yet have the advantage of a collective voice which is important in devising and imeplementing solutions (ie. financial, operational, etc.) crucial towards remaining solvent and competitive.

2) Joining an (Accountable Care Organization) is another option as it fosters colloboration between practices and hospital systems rather than direct competition. Here is the push is cost savings through the improvement of quality and streamlining of processes.

ACE Health Solutions is specialized in equiping medical practices with the tools to remain independent. Please check out our entire website for further details.

Future Implications of the Affordable Care Act

Future Implications of the Affordable Care Act

Described below are brief but detailed key points on how the Affordable Care Act and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are likely to affect the practice of medicine:

•Focusing care around exceptional patient experience (PCMH) and shared clinical outcome goals (MU stage 3)

•Expanding the use of electronic health records with capacity for drug reconciliation, guidelines, alerts, and other decision supports. (MU program)

•Redesigning care to include a team of non-physician providers, such as nurse practitioners, physician assistants, care coordinators, and dietitians. (being done already)

•Establishing, with physician colleagues, patient care teams to take part in bundled payments (acts like capitation model- incentivizes efficiency as payment fixed to cover costs) programs, such as accountable care organizations and patient-centered medical homes

•Proactively managing preventive care—reaching out to patients to assure they get recommended tests and follow-up interventions (patient portal).

•Collaborating with hospitals to dramatically reduce readmissions and hospital-acquired infections.

•Engaging in shared decision-making discussions regarding treatment goals and approaches (patient centered medical home).

•Redesigning medical office processes to capture savings from administrative simplification (patient centered medical home).

•Developing approaches to engage and monitor patients outside of the office (e.g., electronically, home visits, other team members).

•Incorporating patient-centered outcomes research to tailor care appropriate for specific patient populations.

Details of each of these bullet points will be covered in future posts.