Frontiers of Health Services Management - Summer 2013 - (Page 15)

• expanding the program to weekends • improving the handoffs between weekly care teams from one week to the next • reducing the variations in care processes within and between the weekly teams • incorporating Piedmont Heart’s cardiac, vascular, and thoracic surgeons in a modified Patient first weekly schedule Potential for Further Integration to date, integration at Piedmont Heart has focused on hospital-to-cv-physician, physician-to-physician within the same cv specialty, and physician-to-physician across cv specialties. Because of the comorbidities of many cv patients and the need for a team approach to care driven by the extensive specialization in medicine today, Piedmont Heart physicians will need to better and more formally collaborate and coordinate with non-cv physicians outside Piedmont Heart. clini- Lessons Learned and Conclusion a willingness to explore disruptive innovation that may not fit within today’s model of care will become a key characteristic of successful healthcare organizations in the next five years. innovative solutions to healthcare’s biggest and toughest challenges are not always workable or broadly accepted in today’s infrastructure, and even when successfully implemented they can be highly disruptive. at PHc, the real disruptive innovation of Piedmont Heart was putting physicians in charge of managing the clinical enterprise within the walls of the hospital. the direct involvement of physicians in all aspects of patient care, along with their administrative counterparts, improves quality and drives increased value. as physicians become “owners” of the process and outcomes, they make better clinical and administrative decisions than nonclinical administrators could possibly conceive or imple- Michele M. Molden, FACHE; Charles L. Brown III; and Bryan E. Griffith • 15 f e a t u r e Beyond PaH, the Patient first program can be expanded in a modified form to the other PHc hospitals for acute care and, eventually, to Piedmont Heart clinics across the health system to improve care along the continuum. creating a program like Patient first requires an evolved and highly integrated physician–hospital relationship. a Patient first–type structure in a traditional practice model would significantly challenge that organization, so it is important not to attempt change of this nature until the culture of the integration effort has some tensile strength. effective communication and change management are also required to support an initiative of this magnitude. cal pathway development is a multidisciplinary exercise that, as it expands, not only will require physicians from other specialties to assist in creating pathways but also, through standard processes and increased communication, will better align the various specialties. Piedmont Heart will soon be partnering with other PHc specialties in joint program development, such as erectile Dysfunction with Urology, lung cancer Screening with Piedmont Heart’s thoracic Surgery practice, and Women’s Heart Health clinic with obstetrics/gynecology. finally, as PHc focuses more on population health, Piedmont Heart will help to develop better vehicles to transition patients along the continuum of care and manage their health outside an acute care setting.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Frontiers of Health Services Management - Summer 2013

Frontiers of Health Services Management - Summer 2013
Contents
Editorial
At the Heart of Integration: Aligning Physicians and Administrators to Create New Value
Volume to Value
Physician-Led Models of Accountability and Value: Observations on Payment Policy and Culture
Collaboration Across Clinical Silos
Breaking Down Clinical Silos in Healthcare

Frontiers of Health Services Management - Summer 2013