Group Medical Appointments

Group Medical Appointments PDF Author: DeeAnn Schmucker
Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Learning
ISBN: 9780763739317
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
Practice Management

Running Group Visits in Your Practice

Running Group Visits in Your Practice PDF Author: Edward B. Noffsinger
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0387686800
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 544

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Book Description
A Fateful Meeting A year and a half ago, I was sitting at a conference listening to Ed Noffsinger speak, and suddenly had the most profound ‘‘Aha’’ moment of my professional career. Here was someone presenting a practical and tested solution to some of the most challenging problems currently plaguing the US healthcare system, problems such as poor access to primary and specialty care; the uncontainable and rising costs of healthcare; our nation’s relatively poor quality outcomes; and finally, the sense of frustration, disempowerment, loneliness, and disenfranchisement that patients and their families too often experience. Dr. Noffsinger’s solution seemed deceptively simple—shared medical appointments (SMAs) that afford the highest quality healthcare to be delivered in the highest quality care experience—a group setting. Experience collected over a decade and involving more than 100,000 patient visits throughout the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe has demonstrated that SMAs, when used in primary care as well as in the medical and surgical subspecialties, lead to increased access to care, enhanced quality of care, and improved patient satisfaction. For physicians, the efficiency gains and team support from their participation in SMAs translate into much needed relief and improved career satisfaction.

The ABCs of Group Visits

The ABCs of Group Visits PDF Author: Edward B. Noffsinger
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461435269
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
The US healthcare system faces numerous difficulties: uncontrolled increases in costs; major access problems; doctor shortages; closing practices; inefficiencies; decreasing revenues; shrinking bottom lines; large numbers of uninsured and underinsured patients; and the upcoming increased demands in service posed by the Affordable Care Act. As a result, many physicians and health care organications are turning to group visits to address these problems. While Dr. Noffsinger's textbook Running Group Visits In Your Practice is the cornerstone reference on designing, implementing and running shared medical appointments (SMAs) in one's practice, it lacks the simplicity and practicality that clinicians are looking for to start their own SMA programs. The ABCs of Group Visits is a practical, streamlined and step-by-step guide focused on the implementation aspects of group visits.Healthcare professionals at every level are looking for alternate ways to deliver high quality care at lower cost, and it is clear to many that group visits provide a care delivery model that will address many of today's critical challenges. The ABCs of Group Visits quickly provides a solution for your busy practice.

Group Medical Appointments

Group Medical Appointments PDF Author: DeeAnn Schmucker
Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Learning
ISBN: 9780763739317
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
Practice Management

Transforming Health Care Scheduling and Access

Transforming Health Care Scheduling and Access PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309339227
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
According to Transforming Health Care Scheduling and Access, long waits for treatment are a function of the disjointed manner in which most health systems have evolved to accommodate the needs and the desires of doctors and administrators, rather than those of patients. The result is a health care system that deploys its most valuable resource-highly trained personnel-inefficiently, leading to an unnecessary imbalance between the demand for appointments and the supply of open appointments. This study makes the case that by using the techniques of systems engineering, new approaches to management, and increased patient and family involvement, the current health care system can move forward to one with greater focus on the preferences of patients to provide convenient, efficient, and excellent health care without the need for costly investment. Transforming Health Care Scheduling and Access identifies best practices for making significant improvements in access and system-level change. This report makes recommendations for principles and practices to improve access by promoting efficient scheduling. This study will be a valuable resource for practitioners to progress toward a more patient-focused "How can we help you today?" culture.

Integrative Pain Management

Integrative Pain Management PDF Author: Robert Alan Bonakdar
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199315248
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 929

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Book Description
Integrative Pain Management is a comprehensive guide written by experts in the field that provides case examples of pain conditions, reviews common integrative treatments including physical therapy, behavioral strategies, and advanced procedures to maximize function and reduce pain; and with extensive resources.

Shared Medical Appointments for Chronic Medical Conditions

Shared Medical Appointments for Chronic Medical Conditions PDF Author: U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Publisher: Createspace Independent Pub
ISBN: 9781489553249
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 78

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Book Description
Optimal care of chronic illness requires both high-quality care (i.e., excellent clinical outcomes) and ready access to care. However, health care systems struggle with providing access and quality simultaneously—and to achieve both these objectives while simultaneously maintaining staff job satisfaction is a formidable undertaking. Although Veterans Affairs (VA) has made large strides in delivering quality care over the past two decades, quality gaps remain, both gaps in technical quality (e.g., still only 70 to 75% of patients have appropriate blood pressure control) and gaps in timeliness of services. Group medical visits offer the promise of improving the effectiveness, timeliness, and efficiency of health care. Additionally, because clinicians may prefer to work in collaborative, multidisciplinary settings, group medical visits also have the potential to improve staff satisfaction. Group medical visits are defined as multiple patients seen together while in the same clinical setting. A subset of group clinics—referred to as shared medical appointments (SMAs)—is defined by groups of patients meeting over time for comprehensive care, usually involving a practitioner with prescribing privileges, for a defining chronic condition or health care state. SMAs often use educational and/or self-management enhancement strategies, paired with medication management, in an effort to achieve improved disease outcomes. SMAs have been scientifically studied in an array of primary care settings over the last 10 to 15 years. However, there has been great variability among these studies. In particular, the settings of these studies have been heterogeneous; different chronic health care states have been assessed; and the impact on clinical, cost, and utilization outcomes has been variable. Most important, there has been significant variation in the SMA intervention itself—in particular, which types of clinical, educational, and self-efficacy approaches are included in the specific SMA under evaluation. This uncertainty regarding the optimal design and impact of SMAs led the VA to commission this evidence synthesis report. Our objective in this evidence synthesis was to summarize the results of the diverse studies of SMAs in an effort to understand their impact on staff satisfaction, patient experience, and clinical outcomes along with effects on health care utilization. A second objective was to determine whether the impact of SMA visits varies by clinical condition or specific components of the intervention. This review was commissioned by the VA Evidence-based Synthesis Program. The topic was nominated after a topic refinement process that included a preliminary review of published peer reviewed literature, consultation with internal partners and investigators, and consultation with key stakeholders. We further developed and refined the key questions based on a preliminary review of published peer-reviewed literature in consultation with VA experts. The final key questions were: Key Question 1. For adults with chronic medical conditions, do shared medical appointments (SMAs) compared with usual care improve the following: Patient and staff experience?; Treatment adherence?; Quality measures such as (a) process of care measures utilized by VA, National Quality Forum, or National Committee for Quality Assurance and (b) biophysical markers (laboratory or physiological markers of health status such as HbA1c and blood pressure)?; Symptom severity and functional status?; Utilization of medical resources or health care costs? Key Question 2. For adults with chronic medical conditions, do the effects of SMAs vary by patient characteristics such as specific chronic medical conditions and severity of disease? Key Question 3. Is the intensity of the intervention or the components used by SMAs associated with intervention effects?

The Role of Telehealth in an Evolving Health Care Environment

The Role of Telehealth in an Evolving Health Care Environment PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309262011
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 159

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Book Description
In 1996, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its report Telemedicine: A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications for Health Care. In that report, the IOM Committee on Evaluating Clinical Applications of Telemedicine found telemedicine is similar in most respects to other technologies for which better evidence of effectiveness is also being demanded. Telemedicine, however, has some special characteristics-shared with information technologies generally-that warrant particular notice from evaluators and decision makers. Since that time, attention to telehealth has continued to grow in both the public and private sectors. Peer-reviewed journals and professional societies are devoted to telehealth, the federal government provides grant funding to promote the use of telehealth, and the private technology industry continues to develop new applications for telehealth. However, barriers remain to the use of telehealth modalities, including issues related to reimbursement, licensure, workforce, and costs. Also, some areas of telehealth have developed a stronger evidence base than others. The Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) sponsored the IOM in holding a workshop in Washington, DC, on August 8-9 2012, to examine how the use of telehealth technology can fit into the U.S. health care system. HRSA asked the IOM to focus on the potential for telehealth to serve geographically isolated individuals and extend the reach of scarce resources while also emphasizing the quality and value in the delivery of health care services. This workshop summary discusses the evolution of telehealth since 1996, including the increasing role of the private sector, policies that have promoted or delayed the use of telehealth, and consumer acceptance of telehealth. The Role of Telehealth in an Evolving Health Care Environment: Workshop Summary discusses the current evidence base for telehealth, including available data and gaps in data; discuss how technological developments, including mobile telehealth, electronic intensive care units, remote monitoring, social networking, and wearable devices, in conjunction with the push for electronic health records, is changing the delivery of health care in rural and urban environments. This report also summarizes actions that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) can undertake to further the use of telehealth to improve health care outcomes while controlling costs in the current health care environment.

The Community Cure

The Community Cure PDF Author: James Maskell
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781544506678
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


Shared Medical Appointments for Chronic Medical Conditions

Shared Medical Appointments for Chronic Medical Conditions PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description
The most successful health care systems offer ready access to high-quality primary care--an approach that is embedded in the fundamental design of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care and which is consistent with the Institute of Medicine's definition of high-quality care. This definition emphasizes safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable health care. Group medical visits are a method to deliver health care that offers the promise of improving these aspects for patients with chronic conditions. Group visits (or clinics) are a system redesign in which clinicians see multiple patients together in the same clinical setting. Shared medical appointments (SMAs) are a subset of such clinics and are defined by groups of patients meeting over time for comprehensive care for a defining chronic condition or health care state. SMAs usually involve both a person trained or skilled in delivering patient education or facilitating patient interaction and a practitioner with prescribing privileges. SMA sessions typically last 60 to 120 minutes, with time set aside for social integration, interactive education, and medication management, in an effort to achieve improved disease outcomes. SMAs have been scientifically tested in an array of primary care settings over the last 10 to 15 years. However, there has been great variability among these studies in relation to setting; components included in the intervention; and measurement of clinical, cost, and utilization outcomes. For example, the patient group may stay constant, in an attempt to provide group bonding, or the patients may be allowed to choose sessions from a schedule at their convenience to promote attendance. Like patients, provider teams can be constant or vary over time. This uncertainty regarding the optimal design and impact of SMAs led the VA to commission this evidence synthesis report. Our objective was to summarize the effects of SMA on staff, patient, and economic outcomes and to evaluate whether the impact varied by clinical condition or specific intervention components.

Unequal Treatment

Unequal Treatment PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 030908265X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 781

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Book Description
Racial and ethnic disparities in health care are known to reflect access to care and other issues that arise from differing socioeconomic conditions. There is, however, increasing evidence that even after such differences are accounted for, race and ethnicity remain significant predictors of the quality of health care received. In Unequal Treatment, a panel of experts documents this evidence and explores how persons of color experience the health care environment. The book examines how disparities in treatment may arise in health care systems and looks at aspects of the clinical encounter that may contribute to such disparities. Patients' and providers' attitudes, expectations, and behavior are analyzed. How to intervene? Unequal Treatment offers recommendations for improvements in medical care financing, allocation of care, availability of language translation, community-based care, and other arenas. The committee highlights the potential of cross-cultural education to improve provider-patient communication and offers a detailed look at how to integrate cross-cultural learning within the health professions. The book concludes with recommendations for data collection and research initiatives. Unequal Treatment will be vitally important to health care policymakers, administrators, providers, educators, and students as well as advocates for people of color.