Focusing on Population Health

This month’s SHA Newsbyte focuses on population health and the market’s current focus on episodes of care, bundled payments, and new payment structures. You may have wondered how you can continue to practice medicine in this challenging market. Where are the opportunities, or risks? With whom might you partner, and how? Select Health Alliance was formed to help member physicians stand strong by standing together in these challenging times.

With the market focused on episodes of care, bundled payments, and new payment structures, you may have wondered how you can continue to practice medicine in this challenging environment. Where are the opportunities, or risks? With whom might you partner, and how?

Fortunately, the founding members of SHA who formed our original steering committee anticipated the changing market and shaped our alliance to help member physicians stand strong by standing together. Through our mutual engagement, SHA members are better positioned to:

• Avoid the fragmentation and divisive maneuvering that can come from attempting to independently negotiate bundled payments and episodes of care.
• Reduce threats to services when disease-specific management crosses over several service lines and points of care.
• Reduce the threat to cognitive care, and meet the quality and efficiency demands that these new contracts require.
• Support and engage one another in a solutions-oriented manner that will enable us to produce the highest level of care imaginable.

News

Our journey to population health management has begun. SHA population health teams are developing care management models in four areas: hypertension; diabetes; COPD and lower back pain. Future models will be designed to meet the specific needs our current population based on their utilization history.

Special Thanks

SHA recognizes those doctors who are serving on our Population Health Committees: Greg Jenkins, MD; Ralph Taylor, MD; Jay Cohen, MD; Jay Smith, MD; Jeff Wright MD; Cary Finn MD; Arie Szatkowski, MD; Michelle Allmon, MD; Bill Light, MD; Charles Woodall, MD; Moacir Schnapp, MD; and Jason Weaver, MD.

Join the Conversation

This month you will notice SHA discussion boards in the physician lounges at Baptist Memphis, Baptist Collierville, Baptist DeSoto, and Baptist Women’s. Please use these boards to join the conversation.