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Cambridge, MA -- (Sept. 27, 2002) -- Growing demand
for high quality and cost-effective health care is changing
the way doctors are trained and will transform the traditional
one-on-one doctor-patient relationship to a more collaborative
approach to care management.
While no one can predict what the U.S. health care system
will look like five or 10 years from now, physicians will
need new skills in order to deliver patient-centered, safe,
and effective care, according to Robert S. Galvin, MD, director
of global health care for General Electric, and Thomas H.
Lee, MD, SM, chief medical officer for Partners Community
HealthCare Inc.
In the future, physicians will complement and, in some instances,
substitute traditional one-on-one patient visits with new
approaches, including relying more on non-physician clinicians,
email, interactive Web pages, and drop-in group medical appointments.
The two made their remarks at the annual conference on best
practices for clinician training, sponsored by Tufts Health
Care Institute (THCI) and Partnerships for Quality Education
(PQE), which has attracted medical and nursing educators and
health care leaders from around the United States.
"Clinicians now being trained not only will have to
excel at diagnosis and treatment of individual patients, but
they also will have to be proficient at population management,
organizational effectiveness, and operational efficiency,"
said Galvin. "New tools are emerging to measure and report
the performance of physicians and practices, so they are held
accountable for achieving the desired outcomes in clinical
care and service to patients."
Galvin noted that the cost of health care insurance premiums
is expected to increase at four times the rate of general
inflation this year, which will cause employers to shift a
greater share of the health care cost burden to employees.
This, he said, ultimately will lead to greater efficiency
and higher quality as health care consumers demand the best
value for their money.
Lee said newly trained doctors and nurses will have to acquire
a range of skills related to practicing within systems of
care, monitoring and improving quality, and determining the
best treatment option. These competencies are now recommended
or required by organizations including the Accreditation Council
for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), the Association of
American Medical Colleges, the American Board of Medical Specialties,
and the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties.
"Quality care increasingly depends on physicians functioning
effectively within a complex health care delivery system to
improve health outcomes, enhance patient safety, and manage
costs," Lee said.
The conference, entitled "Are
You Ready? Practical Approaches for Achieving Required Competencies
in Systems-Based Practice and Practice-Based Learning and
Improvement," which runs through Sept. 28, is sponsored
by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and by unrestricted
educational grants from Schering-Plough, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca.
About Tufts Health Care Institute
Established in 1995, THCI (www.thci.org),
a not-for-profit, educational organization, is a leading independent
source of educational and training programs on systems-based
practice and care management for the health professions. THCI
provides practical teaching materials - including online learning
and assessment tools, and curriculum guides - and regularly
hosts faculty development conferences, summits, and workshops
to support the training of clinicians to better meet the goals
of professional groups, such as the ACGME, in a timely, cost-effective
manner.
About Partnerships for Quality Education
Partnerships for Quality Education (www.pqe.org)
is a national initiative of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Founded in 1996, it has supported over 100 primary care residency
and nurse practitioner programs in developing new models for
education in managing care. PQE programs include: the Partnerships
Program; the Collaborative Interprofessional Team Education
(CITE) initiative; Take Care to Learn: Teaching Clinical Care
Management; and Achieving Competence Today (ACT), a new program
focused on developing innovative curricula in systems-based
care and practice improvement.
Contact:
Peter Lowy
Business Communication Strategies
Tel: 781-326-9980
Email: lowy@bus-com.com
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