PRACTICE DIFFERENTLY

The Triple Aim of Healthcare- a lofty goal of better care for individuals, better health for populations, and at lower costs - is all well and good. But unless it takes into account the well-being of clinicians, it simply is not sustainable at the pace of change healthcare has been at for the past 15 years.

American Medial Association's StepsForward Modules

Take a look at the well-designed and researched CME modules that AMA offers for free on its website. Topics include:

• OpenNotes
• EHR In-Basket Restructuring
• Patient Pre-Registration Process
• Daily Team Huddles
• Team Based Care
• And much more.

Speaking of Daily Team Huddles, Verne Harnish is one author who reintroduced the daily huddle as a core Rockefeller Habit in his book by the same name. His clear and concise article is worth reading for a perspective outside of the clinical realm (as is the book)

Shared Medical Appointments

If you provide much of the same content and advise to multiple patients suffering from chronic diseases or ailments, your practice might lend itself to Shared Medical Appointments. A typical medical appointment might last 15 to 20 minutes and involve one patient and one doctor. Shared medical appointments turn it the other way around, often last around 90 minutes, and it’s not uncommon for 10 patients to see the doctor during that same appointment. These appointments are billable as individual appointment under Medicaid and other payers. Take a look at some of these resources if you're interested.

• Byron Haney, MD - Group Visits CME (Winter Clinics 2015)
• New York Times Article on Group Visits
• Coding for Group Visits

Courtesy Byron Haney, MD

Utilizing a Medical Scribe

If patient documentation is a bane of your existence, slows you down, and interferes with your relationship with patients, it might be time to seriously consider a medical scribe. You might think the cost of a scribe is too much for you, but several studies show that not only do scribes help save money over the long-term, but also reduce physician burnout. If having a third person in the room with you and your patient seems obtrusive, some have found a live feed to their scribe in another room to be an effective solution.

• Medical Scribe Cost Calculator
• Scribes in a Hospital Setting Save Money

• Scribes in Primary Care Setting Puts Dent in Physician EHR Pajama Time
• Best Practices for Working With a Scribe

Fixed Visit Minutes Solution

Dr. Michael Foutz of Advanced Family Medicine in Kuna, Idaho shares his "Fixed Minute Visits" innovation, helping him stop playing Tetris with his clinical schedule every day.