Healthfirst 2011 Spring Symposium
Making Care Accountable: Innovative Best Practices in Ambulatory Care - May 12, 2011
On Thursday, May 12, Healthfirst hosted the 2011 Spring Provider Symposium, Making Care Accountable: Innovative Best Practices in Ambulatory Care, at the NYU Wasserman Center for Career Development in New York City. The symposium was the second event of its kind.
Healthfirst providers highlighted new and innovative practices that have helped improve quality of care and service to patients. Healthfirst Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Dan McCarthy and Healthfirst Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jay Schechtman opened the event with introductory remarks and speaker introductions. Dr. Susan Beane, the event’s organizer and Healthfirst’s Vice President and Medical Director, served as emcee. Rebecca Schwietz, Healthfirst Vice President of Clinical Performance Management, led a breakout session over lunch to further discuss quality-centered practices.
| Symposium Agenda |
 |
Alan L. Silver, M.D., M.P.H.
Dr. Silver defined a “medical home” as a health care delivery system that, while overseen by a physician who directs a medical team for care coordination, encourages the patient to be an active participant in their own health and wellbeing. The research is somewhat limited, but the benefits thus far are clear: By approaching patient care in a way that includes the patient and their family as part of the solution, there is reduced mortality, fewer preventable hospital admissions, better outcomes overall, and improved patient experience.
| The Evolving Medical Home: Description, Measurement and Facilitation |
|
Adam Aponte, M.D. M.Sc. F.A.A.P.
Dr. Aponte and his colleagues began noticing a critical lack of self-care knowledge among their patients. They realized a typical doctor’s visit did not allow for the in-depth instruction and education some of their patients required. In response, they developed a pilot program for shared medical appointments that gathers together patients with similar conditions and issues once per month to drill down on important self-care habits. The shared appointments feature cooking demos and tips, lectures, mini-visits with the attending physician, and a group sharing activity.
| Shared Medical Appointments |
|
Samuel DeLeon, M.D.
Dr. DeLeon spoke about a patient-centered model of care. This model of care is made possible with the adoption of a new model of quality improvement, the importance of data collection, distribution, and dissemination of quality information.
| Synergistic Approaches to Achieve Best Practice Models |
|
Yosef D. Dlugacz, Ph.D., Catherine M. Besthoff, R.N., M.H.A., C.P.H.Q. and Laurie Ward, M.D., F.A.C.P.
Dr. Dlugacz’s presentation touched on the importance of collecting data, communicating quality information, building a culture of quality, and evaluating services.
| Quality Across the Continuum: A New Frontier |
|
Patricia Belair, B.S.N., M.A. and Jitendra Barmecha, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.P.
Ms. Belair’s presentation hit home with the hard fact that 17.6 percent of Medicare hospital admissions are readmissions—with 33 percent of those occurring within 90 days of being discharged. St. Barnabas Hospital is looking at the readmission data and overhauling their discharge process by revising forms, implementing white board rounds, scheduling follow-up visits and phone calls, etc.
| Innovations in Ambulatory Care and Care Coordination Reducing Hospital Readmissions |
|
Ronnie Moore, B.A., Pharm.D
Dr. Moore addressed medication errors—the 2.7 million that occur each year in hospitals and the 28 percent of those that are preventable. A way to combat these staggering statistics is with collaborative drug therapy management, which is a team approach to pharmacology with the patient, pharmacist, and physician. The benefits of CDTM include improved patient outcomes and decreased adverse drug reactions, hospitalizations and readmissions, and health care expenditures. With pharmacist involvement, there are improved disease management outcomes.
| Disease State Management Clinics: A Pharmacist Perspective |
|
If you have questions or would like more information about Healthfirst’s Provider Symposium Series, please contact Dr. Susan Beane at sbeane@healthfirst.org or (212) 823-2437.
