Week in Review: In a New York Minute...
In a New York Minute...
Thursday, May 16th
 
Dear Members and Friends:

In this third week of PCPCC's eHealth month, we are delighted to share a story from Union Health Center; a community health center that provides comprehensive primary care services to diverse, low-income population in New York City.

The case study highlights UHC’s highly successful strategy that aligns a unique care team model with sophisticated chronic disease management through the use of patient registries. While incredibly challenging to implement, UHC’s approach has led to a deeper understanding of the value of population health management and the patient-centered medical home philosophy. This case study is the first in a series that we'll share over the next several months to highlight eHealth excellence, including topics such as population health management, health information exchange, and care coordination.
 
Later today at Noon ET, join us for our care coordination webinar, and on Thursday, May 30th at 11AM ET we'll wrap things up with our Monthly Briefing. RAND's Dr. Art Kellermann will share his thoughts on the success of health IT to date, and future implications for its widespread adoption and impact on quality and costs.
 
Sincerely,

Marci Nielsen, PhD, MPH
Chief Executive Officer 
 
Maximizing Care Teams and Technology to Improve Patient Care
 
Along with eHealth, UHC has truly embraced the patient-centered care team model. This model has helped ease the transition to new workflows, processes, and features that are critical to change management and quality improvement. UHC clinicians and staff are assigned to clinical care teams, comprised of physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, medical assistants, and administrative staff.

In 2005, UHC instituted the California Healthcare Foundation’s Ambulatory Intensive Caring Unit Model (AICU), which emphasizes intensive education and self-management strategies for chronic disease patients. The model relies heavily on the role of medical assistants (called “patient care assistants” or PCAs), and health coaches. Working closely with other members of the care team, PCAs and health coaches review and update patient information in the record, conduct outreach and self-management support, and certain clinical tasks.

Read Union Health Center's story.
 
Health IT Mythbusters: Health IT and Patient Experience
In response to recent articles in the popular press slamming electronic health records as costly, inneffective and unsafe, Doug Thompson, a health IT expert and patient, put together a few 'mythbusters' about the role of electronic health records in changing the patient experience.

The thoughtful article walks through Thompson's experience, touching on the use of key health IT innovations to enhance his experience, including online scheduling, patient portal, e-prescribing and labs, and communications with his provider.
Renowned Economist and
Arkansas Medicaid Director Join Fall Conference Lineup
We're gearing up for our 2013 Annual Fall Conference on October 13-15th in Bethesda! Our theme this year, "Community Connections in the Medical Neighborhood: The Future of the Primary Care Medical Home" will emphasize the medical home's role in strengthening ACOs, education and training, public health, patient experience, care transitions, and more.

Some highlights include: our Opening Keynote will feature renowned economist, Len Nichols, PhD, and his perspectives on payment reform... We're also delighted to be joined by Arkansas Medicaid Director, Andy Allison, PhD, and other state policy experts to discuss the primary care implications of health insurance exchanges

​Learn more about the conference and register online.
Upcoming Events
Webinars, Seminars, and Knowledge Sharing

 
Round Two: CMS Announces $1B in Innovation Awards 
On Wednesday nearly $1 billion in CMS Innovation Awards were announced. This second round of funding focuses on four areas of innovation, including reducing Medicare, Medicaid, and/or CHIP costs, improving care for populations with specialized needs, testing financial and clinical models, and improving the health of populations (geographic, clinical, or socioeconomic).

More information about the awards and awardees.

In other HHS news... on Wednesday, Marilyn Tavenner was confirmed as the head administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the first in nearly a decade, following a 91-7 Senate vote.
Medical Home Headlines
This month...
We're all about Health IT
 
Meeting Patients Where They Are: A Medical Home Model for High-Risk Patients
TODAY, May 16th, 12PM - 1:30 PM ET
This webinar will highlight a medical home model that uses advanced health IT to provide team-based primary care for over 3,000 high-risk, elderly patients in assisted living and group home facilities.

May National Briefing
Thursday, May 30th, 11AM - Noon ET
Dr. Art Kellermann of the RAND Corporation will discuss findings from his January 2013 Health Affairs article What It Will Take to Achieve the As-Yet-Unfulfilled Promises of Health  IT.
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