Author: trident500
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What Are Wait Times to See a Specialist? An Analysis of 26,942 Referrals in Southwestern Ontario
Background: Reducing wait times is a key goal of Canadian health planners and policy makers. Using data from the EMRs of 23 family physicians across southwestern Ontario, we present data on wait times to see a specialist, and evaluate these data for equity. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of EMR database of 29,303 patients and 544,398 encounters…
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Bending the Cost Curve with a Commercial Value-Based Payment Contract: A Case Study from Advocate Physician Partners
A value-based contract between Advocate Physician Partners (APP) and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL) has reduced inpatient admissions and emergency room visits and has bent the cost curve after its first year. In this interview, Dr. Carrie Nelson, APP’s medical director for special projects, describes how APP’s eight-year clinical integration of 4,000 physicians…
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Patient Engagement in the Patient-Centered Medical Home: A Continuum Approach
Although the healthcare industry is well-acquainted with the patient-centered medical home, the model is still quite new and novel to patients, notes, Jay Driggers, director of consumer engagement at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. In this interview, Driggers describes what’s at stake when moving from a reactive provider model to a proactive…
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Advanced Illness Care Coordination: A Case Study on Aetna’s Compassionate Care Program
Aetna’s Compassionate Care Program is a case management initiative that specifically targets health plan members with advanced illness, focusing on improving the quality of care they receive. As a result, explains Dr. Joseph Agostini, senior medical director of Aetna Medicare, these patients get more of the type of care that they want and spend less…
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Reducing Avoidable Medicaid ER Visits With a Community Partnership Approach
Anxiety caused by the wait for a non-urgent appointment or lack of awareness that they are assigned a primary care physician are just two barriers to appropriate ER utilization by a diverse Medicaid population, explains Laura Linebach, director of quality improvement at L.A. Care Health Plan. As part of a health plan-hospital collaboration with a…