Frontiers of Health Services Management - Summer 2013 - (Page 21)
Bringing the Care Together
Beginning in 2010, we pursued the creation of a single physician enterprise across
all of our regions, thereby bringing together
our disparate employed groups. the rationale was simple: first, our care coordination brand would not be successful without
a single physician brand. Second, we could
not become physician driven if multiple
voices were trying to influence our direction. finally, we would not transform our
delivery model unless a singular physician
influencer, along with other clinicians, was
involved in that transformation.
the work involved in bringing our physicians together could consume a separate
article. Suffice it to say, 18 months of discussion, debate, and persuasion ultimately
helped us to determine a shared vision
for future care delivery and to recognize
that we would either succeed together or
not at all. the development of our shared
vision was helped by our decision to create the Physician leadership academy.
collaborating with the american college
of Physician executives, we developed a
curriculum to help physicians learn and
master leadership skills. it afforded us a
great opportunity for deep discussion with
our physicians about our future environment and a sense of what it would take to
be successful. in addition, it strengthened
our collective sense that we were in this
together. our first leadership class graduated in July 2011, and we are about to commence our third. the importance of the
academy in helping coalesce our physicians cannot be overstated.
We recognize this physician enterprise
as a senior affiliate, equivalent to our
hospital enterprises. its ceo has a seat at
the system executive table and on our parent board. each region is treated equally
regardless of size or revenue. inviting this
level of involvement sent a powerful, critical message to our physicians.
We also have the advantage in most of
our regions of operating a single, strong
Wil l ia m B . L e ave r , FAC H E • 21
f e a t u r e
We then built a road map (exhibit 1)
to achieve our strategic intent, in which
physician alignment was the key to our
ability to create value, that is, to coordinate
care. We launched our initiative with an
impressive array of capabilities already in
place: great hospitals, excellent physicians,
a single home care company covering most
of our regions, our own fiber-optic network
connecting all of our employed physician
clinics and hospitals, a call center staffed by
nurses around the clock, and a common it
platform throughout our hospitals and clinics. although our employed physician base
(most of whom were primary care physicians) numbered about 700, those physicians operated in nine groups, each with
its own billing system and management
infrastructure. in short, we had many of the
elements necessary for a different delivery
model, but they were not integrated, were
not focused on the same objectives, or did
not operate under the same incentives.
the road map helped crystalize the path
to a future delivery model and an understanding that care coordination could not
occur without physician alignment. it also
built on our assumption that patients will
first look to their physician for guidance,
counsel, and answers. So if we desired to
manage care across the continuum or between silos, we had to put the patient and
the physician at the center and build coordination capability around them. Because
we realized that opportunities to demonstrate value or value-based contracting
would appear at any time and not necessarily when we were completely ready, the
road map was not assumed to be linear.
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
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ache/fhsm_drmtest
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ache/fhsm_2016winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ache/fhsm_2016fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ache/fhsm_2016summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ache/fhsm_2016spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ache/fhsm_2015winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ache/fhsm_2015fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ache/fhsm_2015summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ache/fhsm_2015spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ache/fhsm_2014winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ache/fhsm_2014fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ache/fhsm_2014summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ache/fhsm_2014spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ache/fhsm_2013winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ache/fhsm_2013fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ache/fhsm_2013summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ache/fhsm_2013spring
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com