Starting next week, discussions about the ideal state of access for specialty care services will begin. As we think about the needs of our communities and of the patient care advantages we bring as a unified medical group, it is time to put pen to paper and map out the next three years for specialty care. It may or may not surprise you to know that just over half of the providers in PHMG are specialists; that's 460 providers representing upwards of 40 specialties (more than 50 if we count all subspecialties).

We take a lot of pride in our specialty teams. While our vision is not necessarily to be the only provider of specialty care in our communities, we will be looking to grow these services. As we do this, there is a need to strike a balance between meeting the needs of the patients, keeping access timely, being good stewards of our financial resources, and making sure providers have enough worthwhile work to feel valued.

The assessment will include a lot of data-such as referral volumes, community need surveys, and wait time. But we also need to hear about your lived experience - where do you think there is a need to grow specialty services? Where do we struggle with timely access for our patients, and where do community providers fall short of your expectations in access to quality care?

All these questions are yours to answer and will help inform this process.

Our goal is to have an initial three-year plan by the end of February and a prioritized plan by the end of March. So don't hang on to your ideas!

Please reach out to your local physician leaders (Larry Neville, Maryanne Scott and Doug Carr) or me and we'll make sure your views are included.

Best wishes,