We are in the middle of a challenging evolution in medicine that is intensely affecting primary care.
Simply put there are way too many expectations being placed on our old provider-based model, one that delivers care one visit at a time. The future lies in a team-based model, where care is delivered outside of the visit.
We have made some progress in this work already, but are embarking on a process to engage our providers in a different way to ensure we get input from those most affected by this evolution.
As Thomas Lee wrote "There is no longer any doubt about how to increase the value of care. The question is, which organizations will lead the way and how quickly can others follow? This transformation must come from within. Only physicians and provider organizations can put in place the set of interdependent steps needed to improve value, because ultimately value is determined by how medicine is practiced."
Our Practice Coaches and Process Design Team have just completed an assessment of our MyCare Team work at each of our six pilot sites. Based on this assessment, where we benchmarked ourselves against medical home best practice, we are developing a plan to reinforce and build upon this work in areas that include:
- Access
- Operations
- Care coordination
- Medication management
- Shared decision-making
Knowing that our ultimate goal is to spread this work to all of our primary care sites, we have enlisted physician leaders from across the system to oversee and lead these efforts that we are calling Primary Care Transformation.
Our physician leaders of the Core Team are Jill Chaplin, Marilyn Darr, Catherine Kordesch, Tim Randall, David Ruiz, Ron Shearer, Chris Webb, and Tricia Wooden. We are so grateful to them for devoting their precious time by taking a role in this all-important and necessary work.
Please join me in expressing sincere gratitude to the team for their leadership and feel free to reach out to any of them if you have ideas for how to accelerate this important work.
