adminA group of physicians, practice administrators, and health care consultants met on Aug. 7 for PAMED’s second volume-to-value workshop conducted by nationally recognized expert Ray Fabius, MD.
For those who were unable to attend the second workshop, here are five practical tips from Dr. Fabius that you can use NOW during this transition to value-based payment systems:
- Identify practices like yours who are having success in areas where you’d like to make improvements. Visit those practices and employ their best ideas. This can help you solve problems without having to reinvent the wheel.
- Make sure there are no “ghosts” in your practice. If a patient hasn’t seen you for one to two years , it’s time to figure out whether that person is still your patient. When you engage with your patients, you create motivated patients who are more likely to take advantage of services such as preventative care.
- Don’t be afraid to take a proactive approach with payers. Establish relationships with insurance companies, in particular medical directors. Remember that physicians and payers do have common goals—for example, ensuring customer/patient loyalty and market share.
- Implement peer support programs for health issues that you’ve identified as significant for your patient population. Peer support is a valuable, cost-effective tool. When he was a practicing pediatrician, Dr. Fabius identified asthma as the condition causing the most hospitalizations for his patients. He created a lecture series for parents, and that series evolved into a way for parents to support each other and share caregiving responsibilities.
- Never underestimate the importance of a strong physician-patient relationship. Establishing relationships is key to patient care, patient satisfaction, and reimbursement. For instance, it is the best way to ensure a patient’s medication adherence as well as receive positive results on patient satisfaction surveys. The most important question for the practice is would my patient refer me to friends and family.
Value-Based Care Is Key for Future Success
When asked about their reasons for attending the live workshop, all of the participants agreed on this point: they believe that a solid understanding of value-based payment systems is the key to the long-term survival of their practice.
Participants at the workshop took full advantage of what Dr. Fabius referred to as “collective intelligence.” Everyone had a story to tell about ways they are implementing value-based solutions, including creating support groups for diabetic patients and using patient data to explain the reasons for certain treatment choices.
Workshop attendees learned how to use data and various analytic tools in order to improve on the three E’s–effectiveness, efficiency, and patient experience. During a series of group exercises, attendees were given detailed patient data and asked to analyze the health of a population using the skills and tools addressed during the morning session of the program. Attendees also developed an action plan and structured a cockpit, scorecard, and dashboards to track meaningful improvements.
Mona Engle, RN, CEO/Practice Administrator for Doctors May-Grant Associates in Lancaster, came away with an understanding of just how important it is for a practice to track its patient data. “We need to be prepared to take the practical informatics of our organizations and apply the Triple Aim of effectiveness, efficiency, and experience to present to payers to showcase our practices. Come armed with data from your system, don’t count on their data!” she said.
Learn more about the Triple Aim by registering for the online workshops and final live session held at PAMED in Harrisburg on Oct. 9. The first four online modules are available now, and the last two will be available early-mid September.
You Can Still Take Advantage of PAMED’s Volume to Value Education: Here’s How
There are plenty of opportunities for physicians, administrators, and providers to use PAMED’s suite of value-based care resources:
- Register for the first four online modules which cover topics including practical health informatics, using the data toolbox in your practice, quality management, and process improvement.
- Sign up for the final live workshop being held at PAMED in Harrisburg on Oct. 9.
- Keep an eye out for the last two online modules “What Was Learned during the Managed Care Era?” and “Population Health and the Four Levels of Prevention.” We’ll publish an update in the Daily Dose as soon as these modules are available online. Learn more about the entire course curriculum here.