{"id":502,"date":"2017-02-23T15:29:05","date_gmt":"2017-02-23T15:29:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cooperhealth.org\/ctd\/?p=502"},"modified":"2017-02-23T15:29:05","modified_gmt":"2017-02-23T15:29:05","slug":"accountable-care-organization-announcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cooperhealth.org\/ctd\/2017\/02\/accountable-care-organization-announcement\/","title":{"rendered":"Accountable Care Organization Announcement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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Accountable Care Organization Announcement<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Dear Cooper Practitioners,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As many of you know, Cooper has now launched our Accountable Care Organization (ACO) known as AllCare Health Alliance.\u00a0 For those of you who are unfamiliar with an ACO, please click here<\/a> to link to an educational post about what is an ACO and how it is important to our strategy at Cooper.\u00a0 For the first year of the program, the ACO will encompass our primary care physicians in internal and family medicine as well as our hospitalists.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For your information, we also submit to you the following email communication, which we sent to our ACO participant physicians.<\/p>\n

———————————-<\/p>\n

Dear Primary Care Practitioner:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We are embarking on exciting times here at Cooper with the start of the\u00a0AllCare Health Alliance Accountable Care Organization (ACO)<\/strong>\u00a0and we are seeing what will be the beginning of value-based reimbursement in favor of the historical model of fee-for-service.\u00a0 Our primary care physicians need to be ready for the changes that will essentially accompany that switch.\u00a0 Some of the changes you will see include:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is a focus on\u00a0quality performance<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 We have been using the diabetes composite as a paradigm for primary care quality as all of you have seen in this monthly report by now.\u00a0 We have tried to be completely transparent about these results and will continue in that effort.\u00a0 Diabetes management is integral to what we do, and we in primary care are experts in this field.\u00a0 We need to get this right to prove that we can get other processes right in the areas of chronic disease management.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A new\u00a0organizational structure<\/strong>\u00a0has arisen with the ACO.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0Many of you have been asked or will be asked to participate in the ACO governance structure.\u00a0 This is an excellent way to affect change for the organization and to bring our collective minds together to deliver the best product around.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Practitioner decision support<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0is essential to strong performance<\/em>.\u00a0 Through EPIC we are able to use best practices that are employed throughout the country to facilitate the care being delivered directly to our patients.\u00a0 All best practice alerts (BPAs) are evidence based and are only deployed in areas where strong impact is warranted.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Infrastructure enhancements<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0are taking place around you.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 We are working to standardize patient access through the exhaustive efforts of the Access Center.<\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 Now that the EPIC transition has taken place, we are able to move forward into new capabilities for our electronic health record.<\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 Advanced Practice Providers are playing a larger role in primary care.<\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 Voice recognition software is being installed for practitioners.<\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 Mechanisms to facilitate the EPIC in-basket work for refills, MyCooper communications, and other requests are being created to off-load the practitioner from some of the burdens that accompany a busy practice.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Care Coordination<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0is a big part of the new primary care model.<\/em>\u00a0 Care coordinators are used to outreach to patients who may be struggling with the management of chronic illness or may be impacted by emotional, social, or access problems that limit their ability to care for themselves. \u00a0Care coordination is deployed to those who have the highest level of need in the system.\u00a0 Care coordinators will be assisted in many cases by health coaches who are trained at following up on practitioner orders to ensure adherence for solid health care delivery.\u00a0 As our practices gain status as Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) practices, care coordination is an essential part of the mix along with additional supportive patient offerings which will be described in detail in a future communication.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Documentation of\u00a0disease severity<\/strong>\u00a0is essential.<\/em>\u00a0 Medicare uses a system called the Hierarchical Condition Codes (HCCs) to collect information about disease severity in an individual.\u00a0 HCCs reset each year, so documentation of a chronic condition in a given calendar year is crucial to demonstrate the depth of care being delivered by our practitioners.\u00a0 We are developing an HCC education program and incorporating an EPIC HCC module to facilitate our practitioners\u2019 documentation.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A new Medicare\u00a0physician reimbursement structure<\/strong>\u00a0is coming<\/em>.\u00a0 Through MACRA legislation in 2015, and the unknown to come in 2017, industry leaders from the American College of Physicians, American Academy of Family Medicine, American Medical Association, and others believe that change is warranted and WILL happen.\u00a0 Our ACO and MACRA preparedness team are working to have Cooper\u2019s strategy agile and ready to handle the challenges of the new landscape.\u00a0 The reimbursement structure for primary care at Cooper will eventually likely incorporate those elements that are essential to the restructured Medicare payment system.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Communication<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0is essential<\/em>.\u00a0 As you might expect, any journey on which we embark will likely need navigational corrections somewhere along the way.\u00a0 Please be aware that while it is impossible to predict all permutations of how the new system will work, your leadership team will be most satisfied if\u00a0all<\/strong>\u00a0of our practitioners thrive<\/strong>\u00a0in this new environment.\u00a0 We want to hear your questions and concerns as well as your suggestions to create a Cooper primary care that serves at the model for others to emulate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At Cooper, our goal is to use the right\u00a0people, processes, and technology\u00a0<\/em>to create a path for our practitioners to flourish.\u00a0 We remain dedicated to the \u201cquadruple aim\u201d as described in the primary care literature: exceptional health outcomes, improved patient experience of care, high value in the care delivered, and improved caregiver experience of care.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We welcome your input here and look forward to working with you.<\/p>\n

Mark Angelo<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniel Hyman<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eddie Mahamitra<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anthony Mazzarelli<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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