A system that is centered around the patient’s needs.
Health care in America is less a system than a multitude of distinct specialties, processes, and financial interests. The result is confusing and ineffective: conflicting incentives, slow dissemination of knowledge, and a difficult trade-off between cost and quality.

• “About one-third of U.S. patients reported problems with the coordination of their care, such as test results not being available when they arrived at a doctor’s appointment or doctors ordering duplicate tests.”
—Source: “Primary Care and Health System Performance: Adults’ Experiences in Five Countries,” Health Affairs, October, 2004

There is a better way to put the pieces together. And it’s being done everyday at Accountable Physician Practices.
When teams of health professionals—nurses, nutritionists, care managers, health educators and more—collaborate in support of doctors, everything works better. Doctors of all kinds are working together to share expertise and do more of what they do best: take care of patients. Patients are literally surrounded with highly coordinated and well-timed care—care that boosts both their health and confidence. When test results and doctor’s orders are accurate, and available when and where they are needed, patients can be more confident in the availability and quality of their medical attention.

Performance and satisfaction are improved–everyone benefits.

• The nurses of the Patient Support Center at HealthCare Partners Medical Group in Southern California not only provide after-hours medical advice and coordinate hospital discharge orders, they also keep the patients’ primary care physicians informed. Patients who receive after-hours advice can rest assured that their doctors will be aware of their condition when the doctors’ offices open the next day.

• “This is a great place to work because of the people of Mayo Clinic— people who are committed to excellence, committed to our patients and committed to supporting each other.”
– Dr. Denis Cortese, Mayo Clinic President and CEO, January, 2005

We have the people. Together, we can make health care work better.

“Obama Visits Clinic Known for Quality Care, Controlling Costs,” by David Brown, The Washington Post, July 23, 2009

The Post takes a more in-depth look at The Cleveland Clinic, a CAPP medical group, that was touted by President Obama as a model of health care efficiency and quality.

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“Yes, models for cost-efficient health care do exist,” by Jim Landers, The Dallas Morning News, July 28, 2009

CAPP group Scott & White is featured in this article that reviews some of the Dartmouth findings on organizations that can curb health care costs.

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“Atul Gawande: The Cost Conundrum Redux,” by Atul Gawande, The New Yorker, June 23, 2009.

Gawande responds to the skeptics of his highly publicized New Yorker article.

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“The Cost Conundrum: What a Texas town can teach us about health care,” by Atul Gawande, The New Yorker, June 01, 2009

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