The Value of a Healthcare Community Network

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The Value of a Healthcare Community Network

• Early Implementation Experience
• Rick MacCornack, Ph.D.
• Director of Quality Improvement
• Northwest Physicians Network

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Northwest Physicians Network (NPN) an
Independent Physician Association

• OXYMORON
• Independent Association

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Background on NPN

• 10 years old
• 435 total providers (102 primary care)
• 248 owners
• 167 contracted providers
• 34 specialties
• Managed care / delegated services
• Hard but successful road
• Chronic Care Improvement Collaboratives since
  2001
• Health Improvement Foundation 2003
• Pay for Performance started 2004

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• Entrepreneurial / innovative
• Organized to achieve common goals
• Improve health of individual patients and
  healthcare in their community
• Demonstrate value
• Patient centered / physician directed care

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• Importance of NPNs efforts to connect
  physicians, patients, hospitals, labs, etc. in
  our community
• Patient centered / physician directed
• Independent physicians in small practices
  represent 80 of physicians in US

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Local Market

• Three highly competitive hospital systems
  currently buying up physicians (again)
• Electronic moats created by each
• Most area physicians admit patients to 2 hospital
  systems
• Patients use multiple systems (insurance driven)
• About 60 of the 1,200 physicians in the area are
  independent

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• E-connectivity important but independents face
  many barriers
• Cost
• Support infrastructure
• Partnership Siemens, ReachMyDoctor and WorldDoc
• Co-Sponsorship NPN with Pierce County Medical
  Society

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Elements of The Network

• Secure communication (administrative and
  clinical)
• Provider Provider
• Patient Provider
• Clinical data pushed to MDs PC from creation
  source (hospital, ER, labs, SNF, etc)
• Interactive educational content for patients

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Elements (continued)

• Cuts across electronic silos
• Develops appetite for EMR
• Partnership
• All parties pay to support the Network
• All parties build a reserve to support
  maintenance over the long term
• Governance
• Physician Advisory Committee
• reflects the provider community

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Basis of a community approach to connectivity

• Compete on
• coordination of care
• desired outcomes of care
• service excellence
• rather than
• institutional market share/control of patient
  information

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Implementation Chronology

• Decision to Implement July 2004
• Co-Sponsor agreement September 2004
• Implementation team formed September 2004
• Pilot team launch October 28, 2004
• Grant writing initiated December, 2004
• Postpilot Expansion January 2, 2005
• Physician Advisory Council February 1, 2005

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Network Activity

• Since October 28, 2004
• 150 providers have signed up
• 33 in pilot
• 120 since January 2
• half PCP, half specialty
• Half NPN members, half non-NPN
• 17,000 network communications have been
  generated
• 37 patients registered
• One communicating with her MD from western, rural
  China

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Development Challenges 2005-06

• System
• Hospital system participation
• Governance
• Reserves Theres no free lunch
• Practice
• Workflow integration
• Patient recruitment

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• Americans always do what is right, but only
  after trying everything else
• -Winston Churchill