Does physician satisfaction lead to patient satisfaction? Can physicians
learn to be leaders? How can residents learn useful approaches
to succeed in managed care?
When group practices, physician- hospital organizations or
large delivery systems assess their training needs, these topics regularly
emerge. During the past year, Tufts Health Care Institute provided the
necessary knowledge and tools, from custom-designed seminars to a full
faculty development curriculum, for clients
in a variety of markets.
Advocate Health Care
Advocate Health Care, a health system in Chicago with
approximately 4,000 affiliated physicians, trains more than 400
residents annually in 20 different residency programs. According to
Teresa Power Silverman, MEd, THCI senior director, learning design and
development, Advocate sought a practical, comprehensive solution to the
new curriculum requirements. "They conducted a comprehensive
needs analysis, which convinced them it was time to identify curriculum
material for managed care," she says.
"We determined that Tufts Health Care Institute's program had
everything we were looking for," says Elizabeth Gordon, PhD, vice
president for research and education and chief academic officer at Advocate
at the time, noting that a home-grown approach would have taken too
long and posed a development challenge.
The program that THCI defined and implemented at Advocate included
faculty development components from THCI's Preparing Residents
to Succeed in Managed Care curriculum (PRS). According to Gordon, residents are using
the introductory CD-ROM, which is one of the components of
PRS, and the hands-on experience will follow.
"Next on the agenda would be the managed care
rotations, also part of PRS, which will bring Advocate's residents
to community practices that have significant managed
care experience, as well as to managed care organizations,"
says Gordon, who oversaw a board-approved strategic plan
at Advocate to cover all the bases required by the
Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education. "We're very high
on the THCI program."
Primary Care, LLC
Primary Care, LLC, a Massachusetts physician-run
organization, is paying considerable attention to the needs of
practicing physicians and case managers. "The relationship
with Primary Care, LLC is a real partnership, where we
develop programs together," says
Jennifer Coplon, PhD, director of managed care programs
at THCI.
Recent programs have focused on physician satisfaction and
the role of communication, according to Robert LoNigro,
MD, medical director. "The quality of the programs that
THCI delivers is superb, and they help us with our managed
care strategy," he says. "For example, you can't have enough
education on physician-patient communication. It is absolutely
key to patient satisfaction."
The Provider Service Network
The Provider Service Network (PSN) of CareGroup and
Lahey Clinic, a Boston-area delivery system, includes 2,000
physicians who are geographically dispersed.
An important focus of The PSN is creating cohesive physician
leadership. THCI has worked with The PSN to create training
programs aimed at strengthening physician leadership across The
PSN's multiple sites.
"If a physician is going to manage other physicians, he or she
needs to believe that managed care can lead to better medical care,"
says James Selevan, MD, executive vice president and chief
information officer at Vectis/Monarch Health Care, a large IPA in
California, who served as one of
the THCI faculty. "It requires extraordinary leadership
and vision to manage physicians," says Selevan. "It is easy to be led
astray by political pressures. But there are core business objectives
and medical objectives to consider - and you need both."
Children's National
At Children's National Medical Center in Washington,
D.C., where 74 residents are trained annually, the five-year
academic strategic plan includes the development of a new curriculum.
According to Bud Wiedermann, MD, director of residency
programs, THCI staff designed and presented a faculty retreat that was
needed and well received. "The most useful component was the session
that introduced learning courses, particularly for
patient-centered care," he says. "Not only was
the material itself informative, but many faculty left with new ideas
on how to structure learning courses that incorporate their
own material."
Successful programs result from building ongoing client
relationships, notes Rosalie Phillips, THCI executive director. "Our very
best programs are those where we bring expertise and
knowledge from the field that is customized to the specific needs and
challenges of our clients."
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