Westshore Family Medicine Participates in National Program

April 20, 2006- Mercy Health Partners (MHP) Westshore Family Medicine office is one of 36 Family Medicine Offices in the nation that are preparing to participate in TransforMED, transforming the way care is delivered in the physician office.

TransforMED was established in 2005 and is an $8 million practice initiative of the American Academy of Family Physicians that will test a new patient care model. Physician practices will receive a prepackaged and fully integrated product and services for the office to implement this model of care.

TransforMED is designed to provide a higher quality of care, save money for patients, and improve health outcomes by transforming the way medicine is delivered in this country.

“Westshore Family Medicine is very excited about this opportunity to be a pioneer for changing the way medicine is delivered in the United States, says Dr. Joel Jarvis of Westshore Family Medicine. I feel very fortunate to be among an elite group of practices participating in this process. I truly believe that this will improve how healthcare is delivered to our patients.”

This model of care, has both a patient focus and a system focus and has eight key elements:

• Patient Centered Care
• Whole-person orientation
• Team approach to care
• Elimination of barriers to access: open access by patient
• Advanced information systems, including electronic health records
• Redesigned, more functional offices
• Focus on quality and safety
• Sustainable reimbursement

Innovations that will determine much of the success of this program will include open access to scheduling, making online appointments, patient electronic medical records, group visits, electronic visits, chronic disease management, Web-based information, engaging clinical staff, clinical practice guideline software, outcomes analysis and alternative reimbursement models.

Offices that are part of this transformation will participate in a two-year National Demonstration Project that reflects a variety of family medicine practices across the country. The practices involved with the project vary in terms of location, diversity of patients, office size revenue and ownership.

Key learning and insights from participating offices will be ongoing during the tenure of this project. The final report is scheduled for publication in early 2009.

Westshore Family Medicine is one of seven physician offices of Mercy Health Partners Primary Care Network (PCN). Other offices include Harbour Point, Kinney and Parrett, Mercy Geriatric Care, Mercy Westshore Internal Medicine, Northshore Family Medicine and White Lake Family Practice. For the second year in a row, the MHP PCN has received the Governor’s Award of Excellence for Improving Care in the Ambulatory Care Setting.