AMGA presents 2011 Acclaim Award to Geisinger Health System

The American Medical Group Association (AMGA) today presented the 2011 AMGA Acclaim Award to Geisinger Health System for "Transforming Care Delivery: Patient-centric, Value-driven Innovation," a patient-centered system redesign focusing on quality and safety, cost, innovative care delivery, and interdisciplinary care coordination across the large healthcare organization. The award, granted through AMGA's philanthropic arm, the American Medical Group Foundation (AMGF), was presented at AMGA's Institute for Quality Leadership Annual Conference, being held September 19 - 21, 2010 at the Encore at Wynn Las Vegas.

Through the award-winning initiative, Geisinger Health System has been designing and implementing innovative value-driven approaches to improving health care. With strong commitment from leadership, which invested in superior infrastructure, Geisinger has focused on patient-centered primary care and redesign of inpatient and specialty care. In their move away from traditional fee-for-service, Geisinger's engaged physicians and stakeholders collected and assessed data to define quality and performance drivers that would result in a redesigned care delivery model. The new model integrates technology into clinical care, involves the patient and family, insures total accountability through aligned incentives, and reduces variability through care redesign and performance feedback to improve patient outcomes, thereby decreasing costs.

Three additional groups were announced as Acclaim Award Honorees:

• Carolinas Physicians Network, through its "Operational Innovation Drives Clinical Integration" initiative, successfully designed and executed a clinical integration strategy between the physician network and the larger health system, rooted in physician and administrative co-leadership and patient-centered care. With a focus on meeting the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Aims for the 21st Century by incorporating the six attributes of an ideal healthcare delivery system, the organization aligned all tactics through its established strategic priorities: EMR, Single Unified Enterprise, Quality, Patient Relationship Management, Efficiency and Productivity, and Physician Partnership. This resulted in the development and implementation of innovative, high-value tactics that measurably improved patient satisfaction, quality, system integration, and physician engagement-all while simultaneously expanding the size of the network through a disciplined and systematic, organic growth strategy. Carolinas Physicians Network is a division of Carolinas HealthCare System.

•Gould Medical Group, through its "Rediscovering Greatness: Using Our Founding Values to Guide Our Future" initiative, addressed serious competitive challenges by looking to their past and re-instilling their founders' values to achieve significant improvements in patient satisfaction and clinical quality in just three years. Through committed leadership, Gould developed a group compact and performance-bonus system based on their eight key values. The resulting cultural change improved leadership, emphasized quality and patient satisfaction, and engendered enthusiasm through team projects. Their experience demonstrates the power of clearly articulating and communicating the group's vision and values while aligning the organizational structure, leadership team, and bonus incentives.

•HealthTexas Provider Network's "Transforming Healthcare Delivery Through Patient-centered Care" initiative centers on their strategy of clinical transformation-a commitment to continually improve the quality of patient care through the redesign of key clinical processes. This strategy-centered on reducing unintended variation, cost, waste, and error-has enabled HealthTexas Provider Network to make remarkable progress in developing and implementing quality improvement initiatives. Through dedicated leadership and the development of an infrastructure committed to preventive health, disease management, and patient-centered medical home sustainability, HealthTexas Provider Network continues to improve outcomes, access, satisfaction, value, and coordinated care across the continuum. Patients and their communities drive HealthTexas Provider Network's dedication and commitment to quality. The implementation of initiatives that are safe, timely, efficient, effective, equitable, and patient-centered has produced significant improvements to the care HealthTexas Provider Network delivers to patients, giving them the means to better manage their overall health and quality of life.

"These organizations demonstrated a monumental leap forward in providing patients the health care they need, want, and deserve," said Donald W. Fisher, Ph.D., AMGA's president and chief executive officer and AMGF secretary/treasurer. "We salute the dedication of the organizations' leadership and healthcare providers in improving patient outcomes, efficiency, coordination, and organizational and clinical integration. Their ongoing efforts will ensure that their patients will receive quality, value-based care throughout their lives."

AMGA's prestigious Acclaim Award honors organizations that embrace the Institute of Medicine's aims by incorporating the six attributes of an ideal healthcare delivery system as identified by the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System. These organizations demonstrated that:

• Clinically relevant patient information can be available to all providers at the point of care and to patients, preferably through electronic health record systems.
•Patient care is coordinated among multiple providers, and transitions across care settings are actively managed.
• All members of the care team both within and across settings have accountability to each other, review each other's work, and collaborate to reliably deliver high-quality, high-value care.
• Patients have easy access to appropriate care, including after hours; there are multiple points of ntry to the system; and providers are culturally competent and responsive to patients' needs.
• There is clear accountability for the total care of patients.
• The system is continuously innovating and learning.

The award highlights the continued research and investigation toward finding the finest models of medical management, coordination of care delivery, and a systemic approach to improving the patient experience. The recipient of the award receives a Steuben Crystal, produced specifically for the award, as well as national recognition. Honorees also are recognized and receive crystal awards.

Applicant criteria, structured around the six IOM Aims for the 21st Century, place a heavy emphasis on leadership involvement. Applicants are asked to measurably demonstrate progress toward achieving the six aims (safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable) and transforming their organizations to provide health care that is consistent with the aims. AMGA looks for medical groups that have made and documented system-wide changes to improve medical care for large numbers of the patients they serve, and, through the process, consistently improve organizational performance. Applicants are evaluated in a blinded review process conducted by nationally recognized leaders in healthcare quality.

"The groups honored with this award exemplify the best quality health care in the United States, and the efforts of multispecialty medical groups and other organized systems of care to provide the right care at the right time in the most efficient manner," said Fisher. "Coordinated, value-based care has been the hallmark of AMGA member groups, and programs like the Acclaim Award help these groups continue their innovative work and communicate their successes to the healthcare community to better serve their patients. It is our hope that medical groups throughout the country will learn about the work of these innovators and be inspired to implement similar programs in their medical groups."

Source: American Medical Group Association