Journey to the Future of Health

Published Dec 23, 2014

Screen shot 2014-12-19 at 11.49.00 AM The evolving meaning of “health care” requires that hospitals and health systems — including Beacon — stay nimble in how we serve our communities. A current challenge is to proactively manage the health of those in our communities — to not focus solely on their immediate “sick care” needs but address ways in which to promote health and well-being. This new health care landscape is known as population health.

“Population health is a completely different business model emerging for health care, one that most of us have had little exposure,” says Mike O’Neil, Beacon Chief Administrative Officer. “Historically, we’ve been very good at taking care of people, one person at a time. But now we’re going to need to broaden our scope.”

Beacon Health System is excited to partner with Healthways as we begin this important journey toward the future of health. Headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee, Healthways is the world’s largest independent provider of well-being improvement solutions.

Together, we’ll work proactively to:
• Keep healthy people healthy
• Eliminate or reduce health-related lifestyle risks
• Optimize care for those with persistent or chronic conditions

Consider, for example, helping adults in our community who have Type 2 diabetes. Using a combination of team-based care, proven treatment methods and support for lifestyle changes, it’s possible to dramatically improve the health of this particular population. Healthways has helped other health systems and health networks achieve such results, along with reduced health care utilization and cost, according to Mike.

BEGINNING THE JOURNEY

A hand-selected team of associates and physicians will be working with Healthways to plan and deploy five important initiatives across the system.

INITIATIVE 1: THE BEACON CARE MODEL
The Beacon Care Model initiative will help develop systems and programs to ensure that care is based on proven models and that standardized protocols are followed. Physician engagement and leadership of these efforts are foundational for success.

INITIATIVE 2: DEVELOP A CLINICALLY INTEGRATED NETWORK
Beacon is committed to establishing strong relationships with quality physicians in the community. This initiative will establish a physician-led organization comprised of employed and independent physicians who will develop a platform for working together to provide more coordinated and seamless care.

INITIATIVE 3: CREATE EASY CONSUMER ACCESS
Today’s consumer wants easy and prompt access to providers who can address their health concerns. Competitors to the traditional
primary care model are expanding rapidly (e.g., CVS Health). Beacon must ensure that it is responding to this consumer demand and is
able to provide easy and seamless access to access and care sites that are conveniently located throughout our service area. This initiative will increase our presence in select geographical markets.

INITIATIVE 4: COMMERCIALIZE COMPELLING PRODUCTS
As we refine the Beacon Care Model, build our clinically integrated network, create easy consumer access and develop awesome patient transitions, we will have created the “New Health Organization.” This organization will:
• Be driven by evidence-based medicine;
• Connect with a high percentage of the physicians in the community;
• Be easy and convenient for consumers and patients to access; and
• Make patient transitions “awesome.”

Beacon Health System will have developed a superior offering of coordinated and accessible high-quality services. This initiative will help shape and package this superior service offering for payers and employers throughout the region.

INITIATIVE 5: DEVELOP AWESOME PATIENT TRANSITIONS
Understanding options for needed care after the hospital stay and making sure appropriate follow-up occurs, can be a complicated and daunting task for patients and their families. Care transitions, when not done properly, are often the source of errors and less-than-optimal experiences for our patients. This initiative will develop systems and processes to ensure our patient transitions are as “awesome” as the care
patients received while at our hospitals. Through this initiative we will identify and build a network of “preferable” post-acute providers that offer only the highest quality and value for the patients we serve.

Look for more information about this topic in upcoming editions of The Beam!