“I was looking at the Baldridge Award as a way to discipline the process we created,” said Mr. Bea. “We focused heavily on structural integration before instead of process integration. It’s the process that allow us to manage patients and take on risk for it.”
Mr. Bea gave a presentation at the 5th Annual Becker’s Hospital Review conference on Thursday, May 15 in Chicago. The presentation was titled “Winning a Baldridge Award Through Physician Integration Strategies,” and also included Vice President of Human Resources and Organizational Development of Mercy Health System Kathy Harris.
The key to Mercy Health System’s success in achieving population health and moving through healthcare reform has been aligning physicians and offering appropriate incentives. The health system shares physician data and relies on peer pressure to incite positive change. But, the data sharing is not punitive.
Mercy Health System is vertically integrated with the physicians. The physicians worked with them to build outpatient centers and a health insurance model so physicians could have control over their destiny. “We function as an integrated team, but we have a separate for-profit insurance company as well as big homecare companies, integrated into one management team,” said Mr. Bea. “The day of the physician being the keeper of all the clinical care is gone, but our pharmacists and nurses are highly educated and trained. We need to function as a coordinated team.”
In the future, Mr. Bea would like to see more coordinated care and thinking shift to the patient’s perspective. By looking at the processes through the eye of the patient–the way retail organizations do–the hospital can improve clinical protocol and prepare for the future impact of healthcare reform. The health system and physicians are working together to eliminate as much competition as possible and develop a model that works economically and culturally.
“If you even apply for the Baldridge Award, you will get better,” Mr. Bea said. “Whether it’s improving readmissions, patient satisfaction, core measures, customer feedback or patient-focused care, you’ll find a good measure for yourself. Additionally, each year, Baldridge sent seven or eight top, world-class quality organizational experts from practical fields to help us improve.”
More Articles on Hospitals:
5 Key Findings on Medicaid Expansion, Community Health Center Patients
The 22 States That Exceeded PPACA Exchange Enrollment Expectations
4 Key Findings on the PPACA and Medicaid Enrollment
