Clinical Practice Champion Quarterly Learning Session

Rhode Island has been leading the way in strengthening primary care and the health care delivery system.   The December Breakfast of Champion Learning Collaborative provided an opportunity for primary care practices to learn about successful innovative approaches that have been implemented to improve patient care.    Cory King, with the Rhode Island Office of the Health Insurance Commission, provided an overview of the OHIC  Affordability Standards Initiative, the initial results of Year 1 patient centered medical home  practice submissions (quality and cost containment strategies) and discussed opportunities for collaboration in 2017 “Implementation Update on OHIC Affordability Standards".  Ed McGookin MD FAAP, Chief Medical Officer with Coastal Medical discussed delivery system innovation and how Coastal approaches the process of identifying program needs through data analysis and gathering feedback from staff on what they identify as “pressure points” and program needs.  Using this approach, Coastal has invested in clinical programs for transitions of care and diabetes management and centralized functions for documentation management, prior authorization, and prescription refills  “Delivery System Innovation”.  Jessica Devine RN, BSN, CDOE and Kelly Sanzen Pharm D., PAHM from University Medicine described their approach to implementing a medical neighborhood model by integrating specialists into patient centered care.  Their work with the Chronic Kidney Disease Program has helped to standardize medication management through use of an anemia management protocol and population health surveillance systems to identify the need for nursing consults, e-consults and drug therapy programs.  The nurse care manager and pharmacist have been working jointly with specialists, primary care providers and patients and successes include use of shared care plans, shared decision aids and a home visiting policy  “Chronic Kidney Disease Project”.  J Russ Corcoran MD, VP of Medical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer at South County Health, presented on the work that South County Health has done to implement an inpatient palliative care program.  The process included using a planning team to identify and implement clinical resources, screening tools, dashboard metrics and a process to obtain feedback from patients and providers “Palliative Care at South County Health".  If you were unable to attend, you can watch the learning session here. (email ctcri@umassmed.edu for the password).

Plan to attend the 2017 Breakfast of Champion learning programs offered the second Friday: March, June and December 7:30 to 9:30 at the Shriners.