Business

Michigan IPA sends chronic care teams to primary care practices

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted March 12, 2007

Print  |   Email  |   Respond  |   Reprints  |   Like Facebook  |   Share Twitter  |   Tweet Linkedin

A Detroit-area independent practice association, with a financial commitment from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, is creating a so-called travel team that it hopes will help the IPA's primary care physicians in managing and treating chronic care patients.

Medical Network One's Chronic Care Travel Team is an 18-member staff of registered nurses, registered dieticians, exercise physiologists, diabetes educators, and mental health specialists who visit the offices of primary care physicians.

The travel team staff provide one-on-one consultations to patients with chronic diseases such as asthma, depression, heart disease and diabetes.

Most disease management programs paid for by health plans are not set up to offer services within the primary care physician's office setting, meaning patients must often travel to multiple sites to receive treatments for chronic illness.

Rochester, Mich.-based Medical Network One said it set up the program to make it easier for patients to receive care, and for physicians to coordinate it.

Under the program, the physician is paid for the primary care office visit, and then the travel team is paid for the services it renders to the patient while in the primary care physician's office.

Thomas Simmer, MD, senior vice president and chief medical office of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, said the plan committed $1.5 million to Medical Network One's program because it was searching for ways to bolster primary care, while at the same time trying to reduce the costs of treating patients with chronic illnesses.

The program is available only to the 200 physicians within the Medical Network One IPA, located in suburban Detroit.

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/03/12/bibf0312.htm.

Back to top


ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISE HERE


Featured
Read story

Confronting bias against obese patients

Medical educators are starting to raise awareness about how weight-related stigma can impair patient-physician communication and the treatment of obesity. Read story


Read story

Goodbye

American Medical News is ceasing publication after 55 years of serving physicians by keeping them informed of their rapidly changing profession. Read story


Read story

Policing medical practice employees after work

Doctors can try to regulate staff actions outside the office, but they must watch what they try to stamp out and how they do it. Read story


Read story

Diabetes prevention: Set on a course for lifestyle change

The YMCA's evidence-based program is helping prediabetic patients eat right, get active and lose weight. Read story


Read story

Medicaid's muddled preventive care picture

The health system reform law promises no-cost coverage of a lengthy list of screenings and other prevention services, but some beneficiaries still might miss out. Read story


Read story

How to get tax breaks for your medical practice

Federal, state and local governments offer doctors incentives because practices are recognized as economic engines. But physicians must know how and where to find them. Read story


Read story

Advance pay ACOs: A down payment on Medicare's future

Accountable care organizations that pay doctors up-front bring practice improvements, but it's unclear yet if program actuaries will see a return on investment. Read story


Read story

Physician liability: Your team, your legal risk

When health care team members drop the ball, it's often doctors who end up in court. How can physicians improve such care and avoid risks? Read story

  • Stay informed
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • LinkedIn