Happy 2020 everyone!
The new year brings new challenges and in this edition of our newsletter, you will find information supporting many of our key endeavors—chief among them our work to diligently curb medical costs in three arenas: inpatient utilization, emergency department utilization and pharmacy.
Our Pharmacy Integration content explores in-depth the advantages of improving our rate of prescribing generic alternatives to trade name drugs when clinically appropriate. Because pharmacy costs are rising more rapidly than any of the other cost drivers, the impact of this effort can lead to significant contributions to a shared savings pool. Even though it may seem insignificant at the time of the clinical encounter, every appropriate generic prescription counts!
Effective management of the care transition from inpatient admission to the return to the primary care provider will be essential to efficient use of hospital care. Within Clinical Programs, you will find further discussion of our evolving transitions of care program in the form of Frequently Asked Questions.
A huge thank you to all who are working to reduce unnecessary emergency department utilization. If you haven’t yet attempted to tackle this problem, we encourage you to test one of the strategies some of our providers have already implemented:
- Some of our clinics have improved patient access to care by making changes to their scheduling template and/or adding office hours.
- Other clinics have utilized our patient education materials, customized to their practice, to make patients aware of alternatives to the ED.
- Still other clinics have created their own materials supporting this initiative.
Within Value-Based Contracts, you will find reviews of the new programs coming to our network from Anthem. Cooperative Care will replace Enhanced Personal Health Care (EPHC) on the commercial side and a new population of patients is being added to our Medicare Advantage program.
As always, the overall success of the network is dependent on the excellent work you do every day in your practices. We applaud your continued efforts toward improvement.
Austin Bailey, MD
Medical Director, Population Health
Coordinated Care