Help spread the word about the CSI-RI expansion (and deadlines)! 

CSI-RI is looking for applications from primary care practices interested in transforming into high-value patient-centered medical homes.  

The 2014 CSI-RI "Call for Applications" documents can be found at www.pcmhri.org. A non-binding "Letter of Intent" is due July 11, 2014 and can be sent electronically to: CSI-RI@massmed.edu. The Letter of Intent should include: practice name and address, physician champion, application key contact name, email address, and phone. If applicant represents a multi-site practice, the name of physician champion at each site is requested. Letters of Intent are not required from interested practices, but are strongly encouraged. 

Please pass this reminder along to any practices that may be potentially interested in applying to join CSI-RI. Full applications are due August 22, 2014.

Practice Spotlight: Tri-Town's Medical Assistant Boot Camp

The medical assistant role has been elevated to a higher level with the changes in the healthcare system. In the patient-centered medical home model, teamwork is essential. As we transition into more team based-care, standardization of data entry and strong clinical competency are the new essential skills for medical assistants. Aside from rooming patients and obtaining the vital signs, they are required to enter clinical data in EMRs.  Thus, Tri-Town created a curriculum for their medical assistants in order to standardize rooming patients and data entry. 

Tri-Town sponsored a Medical Assistant Boot Camp using the financial support from CSI-RI's Partners in Best Practice Program. We asked Tri-Town to share their great work - the following is a recap of their Boot Camp.

The MA Boot camp focuses on improving these core skills and providing a venue for them to raise their questions, clarify workflows and strengthen team dynamics. Tri-Town's medical assistants also felt that this learning activity should be set aside from the daily grind of the clinic, hence, they scheduled the Boot Camp on a Saturday and allotted four hours for the program.

The Boot Camp sessions included: pre-visit planning basics (types of visits, patient templates, orders and referrals follow-up, checking care guidelines); rooming patients (documentation requirements, medical reconciliation, health management protocols, vital signs); small group discussion (difficult patients, best practices in rooming patients); basic clinical procedures checklist (EKG, spirometry, hearing and vision testing, ear irrigation); managing the clinical environment (daily and weekly checklist, autoclaving, laboratory functions); and ethics, culture and expectations in the workplace.

Most of the materials used during the MA Boot Camp were obtained through the Safety Net website, and were edited and tailored to Tri-Town's practice. Their nursing supervisor, Suzanne Lowe, also came up with a checklist for rooming patients and it is available on Tri-Town's website.