In the near future, office practices such as ours will have to join clinical forces with other practices- primary and specialty practices, and with the hospital. The government's idea is to ask such team to take on more responsibility for the wellbeing of the patients by coordinating clinical efforts and resources. The purpose of an ACO is to improve the quality of care while also reducing waste. This teamwork model requires collection and sharing of patient information. It also calls for measuring and reporting of quality and cost data. That is why an EMR is absolutely vital for the success of new model of care based on an ACO concept.
Each practice will be measured for its quality and value. The five broad areas where we will be evaluated are:
1. patient/caregiver care experiences
2. care coordination
3. patient safety
4. preventive health
5. at-risk population/frail elderly health
Let us look at patient/caregiver experiences measures.
We will have to survey our patients and report the following seven measures:
1. getting timely care, appointments, and information
2. how well your doctors communicate
3. helpful, courteous, respectful office staff
4. patient’s rating of doctor
5. health promotion and education
6. shared decision making
7. health status/functional status
You can see that there are areas where your input and leadership will be absolutely critical in making our office practice even more patient-centered. Any thoughts on this ?
Each practice will be measured for its quality and value. The five broad areas where we will be evaluated are:
1. patient/caregiver care experiences
2. care coordination
3. patient safety
4. preventive health
5. at-risk population/frail elderly health
Let us look at patient/caregiver experiences measures.
We will have to survey our patients and report the following seven measures:
1. getting timely care, appointments, and information
2. how well your doctors communicate
3. helpful, courteous, respectful office staff
4. patient’s rating of doctor
5. health promotion and education
6. shared decision making
7. health status/functional status
You can see that there are areas where your input and leadership will be absolutely critical in making our office practice even more patient-centered. Any thoughts on this ?
