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Greetings!
In this issue we will give you an update on what is happening with the creation of the new national association for worksite clinics, update you on some vendor info, and point you to a conference which is scheduled for September of this year which may have some sessions of benefit to you. Also, check our banner for information regarding the Global Media conference in Chicago this summer. |
Entrepreneurs and Innovation Needed in Healthcare?
| | Lisa Suennen, of the Psilos Group (an investment business which focuses on healthcare business opportunities) attended a meeting of the AHRQ (see our Web site for info about this organization, or their's) regarding its Innovation Exchange. Ideas developed by Innovation Exchange participants were to be reviewed by a group of peers in healthcare to critique them and help figure out whether any of the ideas could be used in a practical and widespread way.
In an article on the Web site, Xconomy.com , Ms. Suennen was struck by the fact that the three presenters of ideas really couldn't relate to how to truly develop their ideas so that they could be used en mass. The problem seemed to be that they were altruistic, but not opportunistic, in nature. A good healthy dose of entrepreneurial spirit was needed if these ideas were ever going to take off and really benefit millions of people (and make money for their "inventors"). In the not-for-profit world of medicine and healthcare, these two things don't always go hand-in-hand (innovation and capitalization).
Her conclusions seemed to include that in spite of the fact that many healthcare systems/organizations have "Innovation Officers," they lack the real ability to innovate because they are stuck in their not-for-profit, altruistic mode.
The vendors out there who manage on-site clinics, and the employers who have them, have somehow pushed past that barrier and are well on their way to making innovation successful financially (which, if you buy in to Ms. Suennen's train of thought, is the surest way to have the ideas spread quickly and be adopted widely).
The National Worksite Healthcare Association (NWHCA) will hopefully spur on growth in the industry and innovation that impacts all levels of on-site care. The good news is that this isn't being driven (the growth in the number of on-site clinics) by healthcare not-for-profits, but by business people who see that the time has come.
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Conference Agenda Beyond Just On-Site
| | The Forum 11 is a conference which will be held this September in San Francisco, sponsored by the Care Continuum Alliance.
This is their annual meeting and will feature sessions on Emerging Models of Care, Innovations (what did we tell you?), Outcomes Measurement, and of all things, Worksite Solutions. Look over the offerings to see if there is something you feel would be of value to you and your organization. We all have a tendency to be insular and the best mix of conferences will put your team in contact with other disciplines in health care beyond the occasional "on-site conference." Look for innovations, integration, care management, population management, etc. We frequently attend the HBCE to get a read on what is happening in HR. Look also for the speaker complement to determine if there is someone that you haven't seen or heard before. I speak enough to tell you that I get more out of conference contacts and exposure than the people in the audience. It is all about networking in the right crowd. |
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For more on-site clinic news, and to blog about your ideas - visit the FORUM Web site at www.onsiteclinics.org . |
| Restating the Obvious - Value and Quality are Elusive | | |
Reuters is reporting on a widely read article in the Annals of Surgery that claims that hospital rating systems are "imperfect." This gives some comfort to the hospitals who are not listed as "best in class" by sources like U.S. News and World Report and by HealthGrades. Any institution which places in the top of the heap will certainly be buying poster board displays of the US News & World Report cover art. Those that do not will be excusing the process of selection as incomplete.
This points to the obvious need for patient and consumer access to sources that are trusted. What if my colon cancer is discovered in a city where there are many hospitals all equally graded, or worse, judged as mediocre? As a consumer, I don't have time and money to explore options. The article concludes with a quote that reflects on the fact that the best source for this information might simply be a trusted insider who knows the local system. To this point, one might respond, "Ya think?".
Care management at the local level is the answer. Embedded care management within a primary care setting is the best answer. Informed channels of referral supporting the care management along with continuous quality oversight is the way to establish a value track for each and every patient cohort of need. This is the proven way to save money and improve care. A few programs have figured this out and have gone beyond checking magazines and Web sites for rankings that may or may not be indicative of value. As the debate continues, the answer is already being applied in a handful of firms who already truly understand this.
Actually, the author spent some time discussing rankings and the procedure used to score hospitals with USN&WR staffers. Their process is very analytical, and it includes a lot of data that is critical to an understanding of health care comparative analysis. However, in the end, the most important data point is the one that you are able to use at the exact point of need in your own community. This is elusive and it must come from a trusted source. Most primary care physicians have impressions but not facts. When a care management team combines their impressions and ideas with hard evidence and makes it available to a consumer population in a timely fashion, quality and value emerge as a result.
Employees/patients won't be able to figure this out independently. If you (and U.S. News and World Reports) have a tough time doing it, how can we think they will be able to? Identifying quality providers and negotiating lower rates is a part of care management. Once you do that, you can use communication tools to make employees aware and other incentives to steer utilization. We point you back to the Serigraph model.
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We are getting a lot of interest in the announcement that we made in conjunction with the Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH) concerning the newly formed association, NWHCA, The National Worksite Healthcare Association. Details will follow in a series of announcements, but each and every reader of this newsletter will be getting direct information soliciting your input and inviting your involvement. Some key national groups have already subscribed (all of whom are employers who have made the commitment to the provision of primary care on-site, at work), and we are going to have a terrific board to guide this organization.
We have a lot of ideas (more are welcome!), but this is not about us and what we think. We want to have the charter board weigh in to set the agenda for the first year. I can almost guarantee, from initial discussions, this will include a focus on membership, clinic categorization, and program resources. We are now working to open up some privileged access points for members so that we can begin to share information and assist in the identification of common issues.
Your ideas, as always, are key to this process. Sincerely,
Mike La Penna
The La Penna Group, Inc.
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ON-SITE CLINIC NEWSLETTER
