Guest Column: Realizing the Potential of Physician Collaboration
By Dr. Brion Gardner
With our diverse geographic footprint, the First Annual Meeting, held during the last weekend of October, provided a great opportunity for physicians and staff to connect in a variety of ways – from intensive leadership meetings to fun evening events that certainly helped foster a feeling of camaraderie and unity. One key program from the daylong educational sessions, which represents an important first step for our budding organization, was the specialty breakout sessions that included foot and ankle, joints, hand and upper extremity, spine and sports medicine. I want to thank Drs. Buchanan, Sydney, Solomon and Lotfi for leading the various groups.
Our unique size affords us many competitive advantages, one being the ability to collaborate on patient care amongst such a varied and distinguished group of physicians, which will help us eventually establish industry-leading best practices. These breakout sessions were a critical foundation step for reaching that overarching goal.
Having led the sports medicine group, which included 12-15 doctors, I wanted to summarize our experience and findings. I think this will help give the organization a glimpse into how productive these types of collaborative meetings can be, and will hopefully spark interest in attending similar sessions moving forward.
After spending time introducing the various physicians and discussing areas of expertise, we endeavored to familiarize ourselves better with each division, touching on who has physician assistants, reviewing university relationships and discussing insurance issues at the local level.
From that point, we set out to determine four major diagnoses to focus on for developing clinical practice guidelines. Based on prevalence, we landed upon ACL injuries, meniscus tears, labrum issues and shoulder instability and rotator cuff tears. Rather than reinvent the wheel, there was a general consensus to research first existing guidelines developed by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) to see how we can tailor and adapt these protocols for integration into The Centers. A CAO subcommittee dedicated to this initiative was discussed as a good next step. In addition, there was support for having a representative of The Centers, not necessarily someone with a sports medicine background, work closer with AAOS to build relationships and start shaping that conversation.
Additional topics covered included orthopaedic urgent care centers and fast-track medicine clinics, with the goal of taking a purposeful approach to developing strong patient pipelines for our divisions. As a compliment to this initiative, we conversed on the potential of developing a global call center for CAO, a number where any patient could call to find the nearest division with the appropriate expertise. These kinds of innovative steps are beneficial for patients as they can forgo enduring painfully long waits in the ER, and are well-received by insurers as they keep the cost of care more affordable.
Referrals were another topic of conversation, with word of mouth – friends, family, etc. – still the primary sources. Interestingly, it appears, at least anecdotally, primary physicians are becoming less of a referral base while patient recruitment through online sources is seeing increased activity.
The breakout session concluded with debate around how we can best distinguish The Centers’ surgeons from our peers in the region. Among the varying viewpoints, one theme became very clear: Data collection and analysis will be a crucial element and must be prioritized moving forward. There are certainly obstacles, namely the variety of EMRs (over 20!) utilized across our divisions and their widespread differences in terms of capabilities. Some practices have robust EMRs that are already very good at collecting data, others are not quite as effective. Data will be the biggest driver in proving the quality of our care to the communities we serve and the insurance carriers. This will greatly help in creating leverage when negotiating with insurers, and will be a strong tool for patient recruitment as we continue to brand The Centers as the best in personalized orthopaedic care.
In the evolving landscape of healthcare, there are currently very few, if any, established benchmarks for orthopaedic care. While all this change can seem daunting, it presents an incredible opportunity for The Centers to seize the moment and drive the defining of these clinical pathways. Once we determine the quality measures, we can show the world how we meet and regularly exceed these requirements, positioning CAO as healthcare leaders in 2015 and beyond. This type of data-driven medicine is the future of healthcare, and we can be pioneers in our industry, improving the delivery of orthopaedic care for our patients.
Now, please enjoy some well-deserved relaxation time during the holiday season. I look forward to working closely with all of you in the New Year!