April 3, 2012 Mark Hagland
blog
James L. “Larry” Holly, M.D., president and co-founder of Southeast Texas Medical Associates (SETMA), in Beaumont, Texas, has helped lead his colleagues towards a significant optimization of readmissions management for the at-risk patients being cared for by their group. What’s SETMA’s secret?
April 3, 2012 Jennifer Prestigiacomo
article
In upstate New York, where an aging population of primary care providers is leaving the workforce faster than new PCPs can be recruited, community leaders have founded the Adirondack Region Medical Home Pilot Program to increase emphasis on primary, preventive, and chronic care, as well as improving patient communication. Coming together as a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) however has not been without its challenges, which include interfacing clinical information systems and aligning incentives between payers and providers.
February 28, 2012
news
CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (Washington D.C.) has said it will give more than $8.5 million over three years in funding to help 12 safety net health center programs in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC, implement medical home and care coordination programs for the region’s most vulnerable population, the chronically ill. In all, the funded programs are expected to provide services to as many as 66,000 individuals at more than 20 locations throughout the region, according to CareFirst.
January 14, 2012 Mark Hagland
article
Healthcare industry expert Joe Damore of Premier Health Alliance is helping hospitals and health systems nationwide to move forward on the development of accountable care organizations (ACOs). Not surprisingly, key lessons are already being learned by those organizations at the head of the pack.
September 26, 2011 Mark Hagland
article
Among the many issues facing these leaders: how to plan for the development of accountable care organizations (ACOs), the patient-centered medical home model, bundled payments, and other federal policy requirements; how to make progress towards meaningful use, under the HITECH Act; how to plan for ongoing infrastructure, interoperability, and mobility development; and how to prioritize a variety of disparate efforts aimed at fulfilling different types of needs. No one medical group leader has all the answers; but our panel of leaders certainly has many important and useful perspectives to share.
May 20, 2011 Jennifer Prestigiacomo
article
To help meet meaningful use and create patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs), Mid-Atlantic Community Health Center Association (MACHC), based in Lanham, Md., decided to support offer patient outreach software from the Dallas-based Phytel to its 19 members. MACHC, a nonprofit membership organization and the primary care association for Maryland and Delaware, provides healthcare to medically underserved and uninsured patients. One of MACHC’s main directives is to provide cutting edge tools for its member organizations to help them build PCMHs.
March 17, 2011 Jennifer Prestigiacomo
article
Humana Cares, Humana’s (Louisville, Ky.) chronic care management program, grew out of Green Ribbon Health (GRH), one of the Medicare Health Support Program pilots. The Medicare Health Support Program in 2008 sought to help increase adherence to evidence-based care, reduce unnecessary hospital stays and emergency room visits, and help participants avoid costly and debilitating complications and co-morbidities. Green Ribbon Health in central Florida started as 50/50 partnership between Pfizer (New York, N.Y.) and Humana to provide the acute care management of Medicare recipients.
March 16, 2011 David Raths
article
With the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) expected to issue rules for accountable care organizations (ACOs) as soon as March 23, attendees at this week’s National Medical Home Summit in Philadelphia were eager to learn more about the relationship between the medical home and ACO concepts and the information technology models underpinning them.
March 6, 2011 James L. Holly, M.D.
blog
“The Baton” is a pictorial representation of the patient’s “plan of care and the treatment plan,” which is the instrument through which
March 2, 2011 James L. Holly, M.D.
blog
The provider must be intimately involved in the patient’s life. A new data base will be required for this work which will include:
February 28, 2011 James L. Holly, M.D.
blog
The Only Structural Change Which Will Make a Difference–Coordination of Care Someone has to take charge of health care and there are only two
February 22, 2011 David Raths
article
On January 31, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) released new standards for its Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) program. At the HIMSS Conference in Orlando Feb. 21, an NCQA official described how those goals align with meaningful use incentives and suggested that regional extension centers should consider helping physician groups pursue both goals at the same time.
