CAPP Physician Group: HENRY FORD MEDICAL GROUP
Project: Auto Manufacturer Care Innovation Collaborative: E-PRESCRIBING

Summary: Another initiative that emerged from the Auto Manufacturer Care Innovation Collaborative between Henry Ford Health System and the Big Three is the process of tracking and monitoring prescriptions to ensure that drug prescribing was safe and correct, as well as to increase the use of generic drugs. The program resulted in $4 million in annual savings by reducing adverse drug interaction and administrative costs, and increasing the use of generics.

In February 2005, Henry Ford Medical Group and Health Alliance Plan (HAP) piloted an electronic prescribing initiative at the request of General Motors, Ford Motor, and DaimlerChrysler, with the objective of cutting prescription costs and improving quality. After implementing a computerize prescription system called e-Prescribing, Henry Ford Medical Group clinicians, for both auto and non-auto company patients, have changed or cancelled more than:

• 200,000 prescriptions based on drug-to-drug interaction warnings
• 15,000 prescriptions due to drug/allergy warnings
• 80,000 prescriptions due to formulary warnings

In addition, the generic use rate improved from 56.7% to 71% for HAP patients. In the first full year, the program resulted in $4 million in savings for HFMG and HAP because of reduced adverse events and administrative costs and increased generic use.

The 60-physician pilot was so successful e-Prescribing quickly became a Henry Ford Health System-wide initiative. Currently, more than 800 medical group primary and specialty care physicians use the program across 26 medical sites as a supplement to their electronic medical records, which Henry Ford has been using for nearly 20 years. Virtually all pharmacies in southeastern Michigan are now networked to this system. On average, 31,000 prescriptions are written through the program each week. To date, more than 2.6 million prescriptions have been ordered through e-Prescribing by physicians.

The automakers are using the success of the project to jump-start e-Prescribing in southeast Michigan, working with other physician groups to adopt e-prescribing.

For more information about this project, contact Dr. Bruce Muma, Henry Ford Medical Group, (586) 247-2670 ; Matt Walsh, Health Alliance Plan, (313) 664-8103.

Integrating Services for Low-Income Seniors Shows Health Care Benefit, by Claire Sowerbutt, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today, December 11, 2007.

INDIANAPOLIS, Dec. 11 -- For low-income seniors, the likelihood of providing the recommended standard of health care services could be enhanced by integrating home-based and institutional services, found researchers here.

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“From High Tech to Soft Touch: The Everett Clinic uses innovative ways to control health care costs,” by Bryan Corliss, Washington CEO, November 26, 2007.

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“CAPP’s 35 MSMGs [multispecialty medical groups] share a common vision as learning organizations dedicated to the improvement of clinical care. Their features include physician leadership and governance; commitment to evidence-based care management processes; well-developed quality improvement systems; team-based care; the use of advance clinical information technology; and the collection, analysis, and distribution of clinical performance information. These features are congruent with the [Institute of Medicine’s] recommendations on key elements needed to redesign delivery systems.”

From Chapter 5, “Developing the Test Bed—Linking Integrated Service Delivery Systems: Council of Accountable Physician Practices,” by Michael A. Mustile, MD. The Learning Healthcare System: Workshop Summary (IOM Roundtable on Evidence-Based Medicine), edited by LeighAnne Olsen, Dara Aisner, and J. Michael McGinnis, National Academies Press, 2007.

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“A shift from the current care model to a more coordinated care model centered on primary care is one potential way to help stave off the healthcare dilemma.”

“It's too expensive to be a primary-care doctor,” by Debra A. Geihsler, president and CEO of Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates & Atrius Health. Boston Globe, July 25, 2007.

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