Working Magic with Innovation

REPORT FROM THE 28th ACCC NATIONAL ONCOLOGY CONFERENCE

“Work some magic,” said Jeff Salz, keynote speaker at the ACCC 28th National Oncology Conference in Seattle.

“Magic is no more than following our dreams and wildest imagination. . . The world is only as large as our capacity to perceive it.”

Television adventure expert and global anthropologist Jeff Salz, PhD, helped meeting attendees discover how their own sense of adventure can bring new creativity and meaning to the workplace and to life.

“Insist on living an interesting life,” Salz said. For him, that interesting life included mountain climbing in Patagonia, sailing a reed boat on Lake Titicaca, and living as a gaucho in Argentina. For those in the audience who may not opt for such drama, Salz explained that an interesting life includes giving up what no longer works. “Be unafraid to fail. The very size of our dream determines the size of our lives.”

“Aim high. . .Success in the future depends on trying things we never tried before.”

The theme of transformation and aiming high carried through to a subsequent presentation. John D. Sprandio, MD, lead physician with Consultants in Medical Oncology and Hematology, PC, explored how his group practice dreamed big. It sought to re-engineer its processes of care and infrastructure to streamline and standardize care, reduce unnecessary resources, minimize clinically irrelevant physician activity, maintain a patient-centric approach, and fix accountability at the patient/physician locus.

How did his practice attempt to realize the dream? Through oncology patient-centered medical home (OPCMH), which involves partnership with primary care physicians to coordinate, integrate, and document care.

Although Dr. Sprandio calls OPCMH “the future of payment reform,” the idea and concept actually originated 40 years ago in primary care, he says. The goals, however, are the same then as they are now: facilitate physician accountability, encourage clinical integration, and enhance communication and coordination. Along the way OPCMH promotes collaboration with payers and focuses on evidence-based care.

Sprandio’s practice interfaces with the patients’ primary care providers to facilitate data sharing, which in turn allows enhanced management of the initial hematology/oncology evaluation, establishment of the point of first triage, identification of potentially avoidable complications, and the embedding of case management into processes of care. That interface with the primary care physician also avoids duplication of lab studies and improved transition of care from the inpatient setting.

Aiming high with OPCMH turned into a real savings of $9,468,787 in 2010 to payers in reduced hospital and ER admissions for the practice’s 792 chemotherapy patients.

Sprandio and his colleagues transformed their processes of care, including standardized patient assessment and documentation, telephone triage, patient portals, and much more

Maybe it wasn’t magic, but it surely serves his patients well.