Lindsay Conway on January 5, 2012 |
Permalink
Topics: Multidisciplinary Care, Methodologies, Performance Improvement, Oncology, Service Lines
We recently received a question from a member looking for guidance about how to set up billing for multidisciplinary clinics. My colleague Allison Shimooka formulated the following response, and given the broad interest in the topic, I wanted to share it here:
Continue reading:
Billing for multidisciplinary clinics
Lindsay Conway on December 16, 2011 |
Permalink
Topics: Oncology, Service Lines, Multidisciplinary Care, Methodologies, Performance Improvement
Multidisciplinary care increases breast cancer patient satisfaction
Adding to the growing list of benefits associated with multidisciplinary care, a new study from Health Services Research reports that breast cancer patients reported higher levels of satisfaction when their medical oncologists co-managed their care with other physician specialists.
Continue reading:
Multidisciplinary care increases breast cancer patient satisfaction
on January 24, 2011 |
Permalink
Topics: Patient-Focused Care, Methodologies, Performance Improvement, Multidisciplinary Care
Increasingly, community-based cancer programs are seeking to provide a more coordinated, multidisciplinary care experience to their patients. There are a few factors driving this trend, both clinical and market-oriented, as clinics provide the opportunity to improve outcomes and provide a more patient-centered experience, as well as serve as potential mechanism to achieve market differentiation. Multidisciplinary clinics have long been at the core of academic cancer care, but we've been receiving a lot of questions about executing on the concept at community hospitals. Those programs working with multiple groups of private practice physicians, or a mix of employed and private practices physicians often encounter a number of obstacles when seeking to implement multidisciplinary clinics. Below I've listed out the most common issues. At the end of this post I've included links to our most recent research which addresses many of these issues.
Addressing economic inefficiency - or making it worth their while
Private practice physicians are already incredibly busy, never more so than now as they are under increasing financial pressure, and quite frankly, these clinics are often not that efficient - often there is a lot of down time. During the time it takes for one clinic in which they might see 3 patients, they can often see twice as many in their office. There are ways to address this issue. First, is to guarantee payment for their time to ensure they don't lose out financially. Another option is to try to optimize efficiency via the "virtual clinic" concept in which the patient might see all of the relevant physicians in their own office in a short period of time (a week for instance) and then they'd discuss the patient at a weekly conference. In these sorts of models a care coordinator or patient navigator is essential to make sure all of the moving parts come together as planned.
Continue reading:
The challenge of establishing multidisciplinary clinics in a "mixed" environment
