Guest guest Posted December 29, 2009 Report Share Posted December 29, 2009 I had a patient ask me yesterday if the Health Care Bill would lead to the end of solo practices. I knew about the ACO discussion, but I didn’t know it had been flushed out like this. We really need to start working to prove our worth and really begin to market our good results or we will be run over. This piece of the legislation is written specifically for hospitals and large organizations, but as written does not seem to affect small offices (except we will never get another pay raise). There has been a discussion for a while as to whether bigger is better with many of the proponents of this idea looking at data from the 90s which did indeed show solo independent docs were less likely to engage in quality initiatives. We have changed the paradigm, but we are still generally unknown. Perhaps we need to let Sec. Sebelius and others know of our existence. From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of Locke Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 3:51 AM To: Practice Management Issues; practiceimprovement1 Subject: ACO's --> end of solo? --> Re: Anyone Following This? Some wondered if the new health bill would be the end of solo practices. =============================== I think the concern is that the bill may favor larger practices - at least in the sharing of cost savings w/ Medicare. It would seem to exclude solo practices since ACO's appear to be large practices and systems -- although there is the interesting option for " networks of practices " I suppose IMPs or solo docs could come together somehow to meet the criteria for an ACO - although it sounds like it would be complicated. Also, you would have to have at least 5,000 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries in the overall networks of practices. I'm not even sure we have 5,000 Medicare patients in the valley we live in. http://stabenow.senate.gov/healthcare/100209_Americas_Healthy_Future_Act_AMENDED.pdf Page 110 PART III—ENCOURAGING DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW PATIENT CARE MODELS Accountable Care Organizations Chairman’s Mark The Medicare program would allow groups of providers who voluntarily meet certain statutory criteria, including quality measurements, to be recognized as ACOs and be eligible to share in the cost-savings they achieve for the Medicare program. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2012, eligible ACOs would have the opportunity to qualify for an incentive bonus. Eligible ACOs would be defined as groups of providers and suppliers who have an established mechanism for joint decision making, such as for capital purchases. The following groups of providers and suppliers would be eligible for participation: practitioners in group practice arrangements; networks of practices; partnerships or joint-venture arrangements between hospitals and practitioners; hospitals employing practitioners; and such other groups of providers of services and suppliers as the Secretary determines appropriate. Practitioners would be defined as physicians, regardless of specialty, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, clinical nurse specialists, and other practitioners or suppliers as the Secretary determines appropriate. To qualify as an ACO, an organization would have to meet at least the following criteria: (1) agree to become accountable for the overall care of their Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries; (2) agree to a minimum three-year participation; (3) have a formal legal structure that would allow the organization to receive and distribute bonuses to participating providers; (4) include the primary care physicians for at least 5,000 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries; (5) provide CMS with information regarding primary care and specialist physicians participating in the ACO as the Secretary deems appropriate; (6) have arrangements in place with a core group of specialist physicians; (7) have in place a leadership and management structure, including with regard to clinical and administrative systems; (8) define processes to promote evidence-based medicine, report on quality and costs measure, and coordinate care such as through the use of telehealth, remote patient monitoring, and other such enabling technologies; and (9) demonstrate to the Secretary that it meets patient-centeredness criteria determined by the Secretary, such as use of patient and caregiver assessments or the use of individualized care plans. To earn the incentive payment the organization would have to meet certain quality thresholds. In determining the quality of care furnished by an ACO, the Secretary would be required to use measures such as: (1) clinical processes and outcomes; (2) patient and caregiver perspectives on care; and (3) utilization and costs (such as rates of ambulatory-sensitive admissions and readmissions). ACOs would be required to submit data, at the group and individual provider level, on measures the Secretary determines necessary to evaluate the quality of care furnished by the ACO. The Secretary would be required to establish performance standards for measures of the quality of care furnished by ACOs. The Secretary would be required to seek to improve the quality of care furnished by ACOs over time by specifying higher standards for purposes of assessing quality of care. The Secretary would be authorized to incorporate reporting requirements and incentive payments and penalties related to the physician quality reporting initiative (PQRI), electronic prescribing, electronic health records, and other similar initiatives into the reporting requirements for ACOs. CMS would assign Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries to ACOs based on their use of Medicare items and services in preceding periods. The achievement thresholds and rewards for the ACO would be as follows. The spending baseline would be determined on an organizational level by using the most recent three years of total per beneficiary spending for those beneficiaries assigned to the ACO. The target would be set by the baseline amount plus a flat-dollar amount that is equal to the risk-adjusted average expenditure growth per beneficiary nationally. Baselines would be re-set at end of the three-year period. ACOs with three-year average Medicare expenditures that are determined by CMS to be below their benchmark for the corresponding period would be eligible for shared savings at a rate determined appropriate by the Secretary. The Secretary would be required to set a minimum threshold of savings that would need to be achieved by an ACO before savings would be shared. The Secretary would have the authority to adjust the savings thresholds to account for the varying sizes of participating ACOs. If the Secretary determines that an ACO has taken steps to avoid at-risk patients in order to reduce the likelihood of increasing costs, the Secretary would be authorized to impose an appropriate sanction, including terminating agreements with participating ACOs. Locke, MD > Which parts suggest that solo will phased out? I can't follow all of the details enough to see what is really being said. > > Lowell Kleinman, MD > Family Practice of San Clemente > 1300 Avenida Vista Hermosa > Suite 150 > San Clemente, CA 92673 > (949) - 361-6623 office > (949) - 361-8163 fax > www.DrKleinman.com > > Re: [practicemgt] Anyone Following This? > > Once again Glenn, you've expressed my thoughts better than I could. > > As an independent small group owner, I don't think that AAFP supports > us in this fight. > > R. Pierce MD > Rockport, Maine > www.midcoastmedicine.com > > > > > >> But my AAFP leadership assured me that this legislation was good >> overall, though admittedly imperfect! How could it be so flawed? >> >> The truth is, for various reasons, I suspect our leadership would have >> swallowed ANY bill, as long as it had healthcare reform in the title. >> Honestly, it seemed that no matter what got crammed into this bill, no >> matter how much good stuff got taken out, we kept modifying our degree >> of support, but never withdrew it. Our Board of Directors sees some >> significant difference between saying " support " and " endorse " , but in >> the end, laws either pass or fail, regardless of whether the legislators >> can claim 100%, 90%, or 65% support from the doctors. >> >> Guaranteed, all they heard in Congress was that the AAFP was on board. >> Qualifying our support is of what meaninful consequence after this bill >> is signed into law? >> >> Will we be allowed to obey only 80% of its provisions because the AAFP >> was only 80% satisfied with it? >> >> As to the provisions that effectively aim for the extinction of >> solo/small groups, it is clear that our leadership sold us out. >> When confronted with this, I can already tell you what we will hear: >> 1) Silence. Hope the questioner goes away. >> 2) " Oh, no. " " You're reading this all wrong. It won't be that bad. " >> 3) " This was a necessary compromise to ensure the overall position of >> primary care in HCR. Better to have large groups of primary care than >> multiple solo specialists as the future of healthcare in the U.S. " >> >> I've refused to give a dime to our PAC as I feel it is advancing the >> cause of Corporate, Top-heavy Family Medicine (at best), and Corporate, >> Top-heavy Primary Care (with the FP gradually being phased out to the >> NP/PA model) at worst. I've listened to Board members within our own >> specialty say that they think this is the future of primary care and >> that we should be preparing to be managers rather than face-to-face >> clinicians. They may be right (I pray not), but I'm not going to fund a >> lobbyist to facilitate that process. My money will go to oppose such >> trends. >> >> The AAFP claims to be strong medicine for America. Our support for this >> so-called HCR looks more like a placebo with nauseating side-effects. >> >> Glenn Wheet, MD >> South Bend, MD >> >> >> >> >> On Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:04:19 -0500, " Pennie Marchetti " >> said: >> >>> Just to scare you some more, here are some details about the bill that >>> just >>> passed that make me want to weep. >>> >>> >>> From the Wall Street Journal >>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254604574613992408387548.html >>> : >>> >>> >>> Primary-care doctors who refer patients to specialists will face >>> financial >>> penalties under the plan. Doctors will see 5% of their Medicare pay cut >>> when their " aggregated " use of resources is " at or above the 90th >>> percentile of national utilization, " according to the chairman's mark of >>> Section 3003 of the bill. Doctors will feel financial pressure to limit >>> referrals to costly specialists like surgeons, since these penalties will >>> put the referring physician on the hook for the cost of the referral and >>> perhaps any resulting procedures. >>> >>> Next, the plan creates financial incentives for doctors to consolidate >>> their practices. The idea here is that Medicare can more easily apply its >>> regulations to institutions that manage large groups of doctors than it >>> can >>> to individual physicians. So the Obama plan imposes new costs on doctors >>> who remain solo, mostly by increasing their overhead requirementssuch as >>> requiring three years of medical records every time a doctor orders >>> routine >>> medical equipment like wheelchairs. >>> >>> The plan also offers doctors financial carrots if they give up their >>> small >>> practices and consolidate into larger medical groups, or become salaried >>> employees of large institutions such as hospitals or " staff model " >>> medical >>> plans like Kaiser Permanente. One provision, laid out in Section 3022, >>> allows doctors to share with the government any savings to the government >>> they achieve by delivering less carebut only if physicians are part of >>> groups caring for more than 5,000 Medicare patients and " have in place a >>> leadership and management structure, including with regard to clinical >>> and >>> administrative systems. " >>> >>> While these payment reforms are structured as pilot programs in the >>> legislation, this distinction has little practical meaning. Medicare is >>> being given broad authority, for the first time, to roll these >>> demonstration programs out nationally without the need for a second >>> authorization by Congress. >>> >>> >>> And then there's this proof of what we've all felt intuitively - that >>> government intrusion in our business is already unbearable: >>> >>> http://healthcare.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjZhZGE1ODZhOGJlMDY0OTU3ZDBjYjdjZmRlYWJlZmM= >>> >>> The Public Welfare Code contains 109 pages of rules governing providers. >>> This includes rules governing the National Practitioners Database, HIPAA, >>> as well as other administrative regulations. A mere ten years earlier, >>> the >>> number of pages was only seven! >>> >>> That's an increase of 1,457% over ten years. Ouch! Don't expect that to >>> go down. >>> >>> Merry Christmas, here's hoping we all survive the New Year. >>> >>> Pennie Marchetti, MD >>> Stow, Ohio >>> solo practice >>> >>> At 10:27 PM 12/22/2009, you wrote: >>> >>>> " Why else would they pursue healthcare bills that their own party's left >>>> wing detests, unless they are doing so with a wink and a nod indicating >>>> that the liberals will eventually get everything they want & #8211; a >>>> single-payer system? " >>>> >>> --- >>> You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: gswheet@... >>> To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to >>> http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists >>> > > --- > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: drk@... > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists > > --- > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: lockecolorado@... > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 29, 2009 Report Share Posted December 29, 2009 , I believe it depends what you consider a solo practitioner, a person reinventing the wheel every day or can it be one clog in a bigger gear. In my neck of The Barrio we have an IPA that is actively transforming itself into a ACO, with the aim of keeping all practices independent and striving. The only impact to my practice is for the good, for example better insurance contracts, EMR support (for the practices using eClinical so far), billing support, visiting nurse support and other services. So far the IPA as helped several practices stay in business because several hundred physicians become a force that needs to be listen to and these practices had considerable increase in reimbursement. Health Affairs had an article (October) where they showed that practices that behaved this way had better outcomes and were more cost effective than traditional ones. Personally I believe that ACO’s are the way to go in a version that allows several independent, small, efficient and high quality practices interact with each other and provide better care. For example refer to a cardiologist that would only do what is needed for the patient and send the patient back to the PCP, a gastroenterologist that would only scope send the patient back to continue management of PPI also comes to mind. Use one radiologist that you can believe in and talk to, and other services, sharing a visiting nurse and dietitian is another example. Personally I can’t afford to have someone come in to provide these services for my patients but if we share cost between a group it can happen. Right now I am streamlining communications with several partners to make information exchange and scheduling a breeze, that way there is less duplicity and patients get the care they need quickly. From that point of view it may benefit us. If they try to come and recreate inefficient hospital structures for outpatient care, well, we have been down that path and would not work. Just a thought, José from The Barrio. From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of Locke Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 3:51 AM To: Practice Management Issues; practiceimprovement1 Subject: ACO's --> end of solo? --> Re: Anyone Following This? Some wondered if the new health bill would be the end of solo practices. =============================== I think the concern is that the bill may favor larger practices - at least in the sharing of cost savings w/ Medicare. It would seem to exclude solo practices since ACO's appear to be large practices and systems -- although there is the interesting option for " networks of practices " I suppose IMPs or solo docs could come together somehow to meet the criteria for an ACO - although it sounds like it would be complicated. Also, you would have to have at least 5,000 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries in the overall networks of practices. I'm not even sure we have 5,000 Medicare patients in the valley we live in. http://stabenow.senate.gov/healthcare/100209_Americas_Healthy_Future_Act_AMENDED.pdf Page 110 PART III—ENCOURAGING DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW PATIENT CARE MODELS Accountable Care Organizations Chairman’s Mark The Medicare program would allow groups of providers who voluntarily meet certain statutory criteria, including quality measurements, to be recognized as ACOs and be eligible to share in the cost-savings they achieve for the Medicare program. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2012, eligible ACOs would have the opportunity to qualify for an incentive bonus. Eligible ACOs would be defined as groups of providers and suppliers who have an established mechanism for joint decision making, such as for capital purchases. The following groups of providers and suppliers would be eligible for participation: practitioners in group practice arrangements; networks of practices; partnerships or joint-venture arrangements between hospitals and practitioners; hospitals employing practitioners; and such other groups of providers of services and suppliers as the Secretary determines appropriate. Practitioners would be defined as physicians, regardless of specialty, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, clinical nurse specialists, and other practitioners or suppliers as the Secretary determines appropriate. To qualify as an ACO, an organization would have to meet at least the following criteria: (1) agree to become accountable for the overall care of their Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries; (2) agree to a minimum three-year participation; (3) have a formal legal structure that would allow the organization to receive and distribute bonuses to participating providers; (4) include the primary care physicians for at least 5,000 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries; (5) provide CMS with information regarding primary care and specialist physicians participating in the ACO as the Secretary deems appropriate; (6) have arrangements in place with a core group of specialist physicians; (7) have in place a leadership and management structure, including with regard to clinical and administrative systems; (8) define processes to promote evidence-based medicine, report on quality and costs measure, and coordinate care such as through the use of telehealth, remote patient monitoring, and other such enabling technologies; and (9) demonstrate to the Secretary that it meets patient-centeredness criteria determined by the Secretary, such as use of patient and caregiver assessments or the use of individualized care plans. To earn the incentive payment the organization would have to meet certain quality thresholds. In determining the quality of care furnished by an ACO, the Secretary would be required to use measures such as: (1) clinical processes and outcomes; (2) patient and caregiver perspectives on care; and (3) utilization and costs (such as rates of ambulatory-sensitive admissions and readmissions). ACOs would be required to submit data, at the group and individual provider level, on measures the Secretary determines necessary to evaluate the quality of care furnished by the ACO. The Secretary would be required to establish performance standards for measures of the quality of care furnished by ACOs. The Secretary would be required to seek to improve the quality of care furnished by ACOs over time by specifying higher standards for purposes of assessing quality of care. The Secretary would be authorized to incorporate reporting requirements and incentive payments and penalties related to the physician quality reporting initiative (PQRI), electronic prescribing, electronic health records, and other similar initiatives into the reporting requirements for ACOs. CMS would assign Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries to ACOs based on their use of Medicare items and services in preceding periods. The achievement thresholds and rewards for the ACO would be as follows. The spending baseline would be determined on an organizational level by using the most recent three years of total per beneficiary spending for those beneficiaries assigned to the ACO. The target would be set by the baseline amount plus a flat-dollar amount that is equal to the risk-adjusted average expenditure growth per beneficiary nationally. Baselines would be re-set at end of the three-year period. ACOs with three-year average Medicare expenditures that are determined by CMS to be below their benchmark for the corresponding period would be eligible for shared savings at a rate determined appropriate by the Secretary. The Secretary would be required to set a minimum threshold of savings that would need to be achieved by an ACO before savings would be shared. The Secretary would have the authority to adjust the savings thresholds to account for the varying sizes of participating ACOs. If the Secretary determines that an ACO has taken steps to avoid at-risk patients in order to reduce the likelihood of increasing costs, the Secretary would be authorized to impose an appropriate sanction, including terminating agreements with participating ACOs. Locke, MD > Which parts suggest that solo will phased out? I can't follow all of the details enough to see what is really being said. > > Lowell Kleinman, MD > Family Practice of San Clemente > 1300 Avenida Vista Hermosa > Suite 150 > San Clemente, CA 92673 > (949) - 361-6623 office > (949) - 361-8163 fax > www.DrKleinman.com > > Re: [practicemgt] Anyone Following This? > > Once again Glenn, you've expressed my thoughts better than I could. > > As an independent small group owner, I don't think that AAFP supports > us in this fight. > > R. Pierce MD > Rockport, Maine > www.midcoastmedicine.com > > > > > >> But my AAFP leadership assured me that this legislation was good >> overall, though admittedly imperfect! How could it be so flawed? >> >> The truth is, for various reasons, I suspect our leadership would have >> swallowed ANY bill, as long as it had healthcare reform in the title. >> Honestly, it seemed that no matter what got crammed into this bill, no >> matter how much good stuff got taken out, we kept modifying our degree >> of support, but never withdrew it. Our Board of Directors sees some >> significant difference between saying " support " and " endorse " , but in >> the end, laws either pass or fail, regardless of whether the legislators >> can claim 100%, 90%, or 65% support from the doctors. >> >> Guaranteed, all they heard in Congress was that the AAFP was on board. >> Qualifying our support is of what meaninful consequence after this bill >> is signed into law? >> >> Will we be allowed to obey only 80% of its provisions because the AAFP >> was only 80% satisfied with it? >> >> As to the provisions that effectively aim for the extinction of >> solo/small groups, it is clear that our leadership sold us out. >> When confronted with this, I can already tell you what we will hear: >> 1) Silence. Hope the questioner goes away. >> 2) " Oh, no. " " You're reading this all wrong. It won't be that bad. " >> 3) " This was a necessary compromise to ensure the overall position of >> primary care in HCR. Better to have large groups of primary care than >> multiple solo specialists as the future of healthcare in the U.S. " >> >> I've refused to give a dime to our PAC as I feel it is advancing the >> cause of Corporate, Top-heavy Family Medicine (at best), and Corporate, >> Top-heavy Primary Care (with the FP gradually being phased out to the >> NP/PA model) at worst. I've listened to Board members within our own >> specialty say that they think this is the future of primary care and >> that we should be preparing to be managers rather than face-to-face >> clinicians. They may be right (I pray not), but I'm not going to fund a >> lobbyist to facilitate that process. My money will go to oppose such >> trends. >> >> The AAFP claims to be strong medicine for America. Our support for this >> so-called HCR looks more like a placebo with nauseating side-effects. >> >> Glenn Wheet, MD >> South Bend, MD >> >> >> >> >> On Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:04:19 -0500, " Pennie Marchetti " >> said: >> >>> Just to scare you some more, here are some details about the bill that >>> just >>> passed that make me want to weep. >>> >>> >>> From the Wall Street Journal >>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254604574613992408387548.html >>> : >>> >>> >>> Primary-care doctors who refer patients to specialists will face >>> financial >>> penalties under the plan. Doctors will see 5% of their Medicare pay cut >>> when their " aggregated " use of resources is " at or above the 90th >>> percentile of national utilization, " according to the chairman's mark of >>> Section 3003 of the bill. Doctors will feel financial pressure to limit >>> referrals to costly specialists like surgeons, since these penalties will >>> put the referring physician on the hook for the cost of the referral and >>> perhaps any resulting procedures. >>> >>> Next, the plan creates financial incentives for doctors to consolidate >>> their practices. The idea here is that Medicare can more easily apply its >>> regulations to institutions that manage large groups of doctors than it >>> can >>> to individual physicians. So the Obama plan imposes new costs on doctors >>> who remain solo, mostly by increasing their overhead requirementssuch as >>> requiring three years of medical records every time a doctor orders >>> routine >>> medical equipment like wheelchairs. >>> >>> The plan also offers doctors financial carrots if they give up their >>> small >>> practices and consolidate into larger medical groups, or become salaried >>> employees of large institutions such as hospitals or " staff model " >>> medical >>> plans like Kaiser Permanente. One provision, laid out in Section 3022, >>> allows doctors to share with the government any savings to the government >>> they achieve by delivering less carebut only if physicians are part of >>> groups caring for more than 5,000 Medicare patients and " have in place a >>> leadership and management structure, including with regard to clinical >>> and >>> administrative systems. " >>> >>> While these payment reforms are structured as pilot programs in the >>> legislation, this distinction has little practical meaning. Medicare is >>> being given broad authority, for the first time, to roll these >>> demonstration programs out nationally without the need for a second >>> authorization by Congress. >>> >>> >>> And then there's this proof of what we've all felt intuitively - that >>> government intrusion in our business is already unbearable: >>> >>> http://healthcare.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjZhZGE1ODZhOGJlMDY0OTU3ZDBjYjdjZmRlYWJlZmM= >>> >>> The Public Welfare Code contains 109 pages of rules governing providers. >>> This includes rules governing the National Practitioners Database, HIPAA, >>> as well as other administrative regulations. A mere ten years earlier, >>> the >>> number of pages was only seven! >>> >>> That's an increase of 1,457% over ten years. Ouch! Don't expect that to >>> go down. >>> >>> Merry Christmas, here's hoping we all survive the New Year. >>> >>> Pennie Marchetti, MD >>> Stow, Ohio >>> solo practice >>> >>> At 10:27 PM 12/22/2009, you wrote: >>> >>>> " Why else would they pursue healthcare bills that their own party's left >>>> wing detests, unless they are doing so with a wink and a nod indicating >>>> that the liberals will eventually get everything they want & #8211; a >>>> single-payer system? " >>>> >>> --- >>> You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: gswheet@... >>> To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to >>> http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists >>> > > --- > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: drk@... > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists > > --- > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: lockecolorado@... > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 29, 2009 Report Share Posted December 29, 2009 , I believe it depends what you consider a solo practitioner, a person reinventing the wheel every day or can it be one clog in a bigger gear. In my neck of The Barrio we have an IPA that is actively transforming itself into a ACO, with the aim of keeping all practices independent and striving. The only impact to my practice is for the good, for example better insurance contracts, EMR support (for the practices using eClinical so far), billing support, visiting nurse support and other services. So far the IPA as helped several practices stay in business because several hundred physicians become a force that needs to be listen to and these practices had considerable increase in reimbursement. Health Affairs had an article (October) where they showed that practices that behaved this way had better outcomes and were more cost effective than traditional ones. Personally I believe that ACO’s are the way to go in a version that allows several independent, small, efficient and high quality practices interact with each other and provide better care. For example refer to a cardiologist that would only do what is needed for the patient and send the patient back to the PCP, a gastroenterologist that would only scope send the patient back to continue management of PPI also comes to mind. Use one radiologist that you can believe in and talk to, and other services, sharing a visiting nurse and dietitian is another example. Personally I can’t afford to have someone come in to provide these services for my patients but if we share cost between a group it can happen. Right now I am streamlining communications with several partners to make information exchange and scheduling a breeze, that way there is less duplicity and patients get the care they need quickly. From that point of view it may benefit us. If they try to come and recreate inefficient hospital structures for outpatient care, well, we have been down that path and would not work. Just a thought, José from The Barrio. From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of Locke Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 3:51 AM To: Practice Management Issues; practiceimprovement1 Subject: ACO's --> end of solo? --> Re: Anyone Following This? Some wondered if the new health bill would be the end of solo practices. =============================== I think the concern is that the bill may favor larger practices - at least in the sharing of cost savings w/ Medicare. It would seem to exclude solo practices since ACO's appear to be large practices and systems -- although there is the interesting option for " networks of practices " I suppose IMPs or solo docs could come together somehow to meet the criteria for an ACO - although it sounds like it would be complicated. Also, you would have to have at least 5,000 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries in the overall networks of practices. I'm not even sure we have 5,000 Medicare patients in the valley we live in. http://stabenow.senate.gov/healthcare/100209_Americas_Healthy_Future_Act_AMENDED.pdf Page 110 PART III—ENCOURAGING DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW PATIENT CARE MODELS Accountable Care Organizations Chairman’s Mark The Medicare program would allow groups of providers who voluntarily meet certain statutory criteria, including quality measurements, to be recognized as ACOs and be eligible to share in the cost-savings they achieve for the Medicare program. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2012, eligible ACOs would have the opportunity to qualify for an incentive bonus. Eligible ACOs would be defined as groups of providers and suppliers who have an established mechanism for joint decision making, such as for capital purchases. The following groups of providers and suppliers would be eligible for participation: practitioners in group practice arrangements; networks of practices; partnerships or joint-venture arrangements between hospitals and practitioners; hospitals employing practitioners; and such other groups of providers of services and suppliers as the Secretary determines appropriate. Practitioners would be defined as physicians, regardless of specialty, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, clinical nurse specialists, and other practitioners or suppliers as the Secretary determines appropriate. To qualify as an ACO, an organization would have to meet at least the following criteria: (1) agree to become accountable for the overall care of their Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries; (2) agree to a minimum three-year participation; (3) have a formal legal structure that would allow the organization to receive and distribute bonuses to participating providers; (4) include the primary care physicians for at least 5,000 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries; (5) provide CMS with information regarding primary care and specialist physicians participating in the ACO as the Secretary deems appropriate; (6) have arrangements in place with a core group of specialist physicians; (7) have in place a leadership and management structure, including with regard to clinical and administrative systems; (8) define processes to promote evidence-based medicine, report on quality and costs measure, and coordinate care such as through the use of telehealth, remote patient monitoring, and other such enabling technologies; and (9) demonstrate to the Secretary that it meets patient-centeredness criteria determined by the Secretary, such as use of patient and caregiver assessments or the use of individualized care plans. To earn the incentive payment the organization would have to meet certain quality thresholds. In determining the quality of care furnished by an ACO, the Secretary would be required to use measures such as: (1) clinical processes and outcomes; (2) patient and caregiver perspectives on care; and (3) utilization and costs (such as rates of ambulatory-sensitive admissions and readmissions). ACOs would be required to submit data, at the group and individual provider level, on measures the Secretary determines necessary to evaluate the quality of care furnished by the ACO. The Secretary would be required to establish performance standards for measures of the quality of care furnished by ACOs. The Secretary would be required to seek to improve the quality of care furnished by ACOs over time by specifying higher standards for purposes of assessing quality of care. The Secretary would be authorized to incorporate reporting requirements and incentive payments and penalties related to the physician quality reporting initiative (PQRI), electronic prescribing, electronic health records, and other similar initiatives into the reporting requirements for ACOs. CMS would assign Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries to ACOs based on their use of Medicare items and services in preceding periods. The achievement thresholds and rewards for the ACO would be as follows. The spending baseline would be determined on an organizational level by using the most recent three years of total per beneficiary spending for those beneficiaries assigned to the ACO. The target would be set by the baseline amount plus a flat-dollar amount that is equal to the risk-adjusted average expenditure growth per beneficiary nationally. Baselines would be re-set at end of the three-year period. ACOs with three-year average Medicare expenditures that are determined by CMS to be below their benchmark for the corresponding period would be eligible for shared savings at a rate determined appropriate by the Secretary. The Secretary would be required to set a minimum threshold of savings that would need to be achieved by an ACO before savings would be shared. The Secretary would have the authority to adjust the savings thresholds to account for the varying sizes of participating ACOs. If the Secretary determines that an ACO has taken steps to avoid at-risk patients in order to reduce the likelihood of increasing costs, the Secretary would be authorized to impose an appropriate sanction, including terminating agreements with participating ACOs. Locke, MD > Which parts suggest that solo will phased out? I can't follow all of the details enough to see what is really being said. > > Lowell Kleinman, MD > Family Practice of San Clemente > 1300 Avenida Vista Hermosa > Suite 150 > San Clemente, CA 92673 > (949) - 361-6623 office > (949) - 361-8163 fax > www.DrKleinman.com > > Re: [practicemgt] Anyone Following This? > > Once again Glenn, you've expressed my thoughts better than I could. > > As an independent small group owner, I don't think that AAFP supports > us in this fight. > > R. Pierce MD > Rockport, Maine > www.midcoastmedicine.com > > > > > >> But my AAFP leadership assured me that this legislation was good >> overall, though admittedly imperfect! How could it be so flawed? >> >> The truth is, for various reasons, I suspect our leadership would have >> swallowed ANY bill, as long as it had healthcare reform in the title. >> Honestly, it seemed that no matter what got crammed into this bill, no >> matter how much good stuff got taken out, we kept modifying our degree >> of support, but never withdrew it. Our Board of Directors sees some >> significant difference between saying " support " and " endorse " , but in >> the end, laws either pass or fail, regardless of whether the legislators >> can claim 100%, 90%, or 65% support from the doctors. >> >> Guaranteed, all they heard in Congress was that the AAFP was on board. >> Qualifying our support is of what meaninful consequence after this bill >> is signed into law? >> >> Will we be allowed to obey only 80% of its provisions because the AAFP >> was only 80% satisfied with it? >> >> As to the provisions that effectively aim for the extinction of >> solo/small groups, it is clear that our leadership sold us out. >> When confronted with this, I can already tell you what we will hear: >> 1) Silence. Hope the questioner goes away. >> 2) " Oh, no. " " You're reading this all wrong. It won't be that bad. " >> 3) " This was a necessary compromise to ensure the overall position of >> primary care in HCR. Better to have large groups of primary care than >> multiple solo specialists as the future of healthcare in the U.S. " >> >> I've refused to give a dime to our PAC as I feel it is advancing the >> cause of Corporate, Top-heavy Family Medicine (at best), and Corporate, >> Top-heavy Primary Care (with the FP gradually being phased out to the >> NP/PA model) at worst. I've listened to Board members within our own >> specialty say that they think this is the future of primary care and >> that we should be preparing to be managers rather than face-to-face >> clinicians. They may be right (I pray not), but I'm not going to fund a >> lobbyist to facilitate that process. My money will go to oppose such >> trends. >> >> The AAFP claims to be strong medicine for America. Our support for this >> so-called HCR looks more like a placebo with nauseating side-effects. >> >> Glenn Wheet, MD >> South Bend, MD >> >> >> >> >> On Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:04:19 -0500, " Pennie Marchetti " >> said: >> >>> Just to scare you some more, here are some details about the bill that >>> just >>> passed that make me want to weep. >>> >>> >>> From the Wall Street Journal >>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254604574613992408387548.html >>> : >>> >>> >>> Primary-care doctors who refer patients to specialists will face >>> financial >>> penalties under the plan. Doctors will see 5% of their Medicare pay cut >>> when their " aggregated " use of resources is " at or above the 90th >>> percentile of national utilization, " according to the chairman's mark of >>> Section 3003 of the bill. Doctors will feel financial pressure to limit >>> referrals to costly specialists like surgeons, since these penalties will >>> put the referring physician on the hook for the cost of the referral and >>> perhaps any resulting procedures. >>> >>> Next, the plan creates financial incentives for doctors to consolidate >>> their practices. The idea here is that Medicare can more easily apply its >>> regulations to institutions that manage large groups of doctors than it >>> can >>> to individual physicians. So the Obama plan imposes new costs on doctors >>> who remain solo, mostly by increasing their overhead requirementssuch as >>> requiring three years of medical records every time a doctor orders >>> routine >>> medical equipment like wheelchairs. >>> >>> The plan also offers doctors financial carrots if they give up their >>> small >>> practices and consolidate into larger medical groups, or become salaried >>> employees of large institutions such as hospitals or " staff model " >>> medical >>> plans like Kaiser Permanente. One provision, laid out in Section 3022, >>> allows doctors to share with the government any savings to the government >>> they achieve by delivering less carebut only if physicians are part of >>> groups caring for more than 5,000 Medicare patients and " have in place a >>> leadership and management structure, including with regard to clinical >>> and >>> administrative systems. " >>> >>> While these payment reforms are structured as pilot programs in the >>> legislation, this distinction has little practical meaning. Medicare is >>> being given broad authority, for the first time, to roll these >>> demonstration programs out nationally without the need for a second >>> authorization by Congress. >>> >>> >>> And then there's this proof of what we've all felt intuitively - that >>> government intrusion in our business is already unbearable: >>> >>> http://healthcare.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjZhZGE1ODZhOGJlMDY0OTU3ZDBjYjdjZmRlYWJlZmM= >>> >>> The Public Welfare Code contains 109 pages of rules governing providers. >>> This includes rules governing the National Practitioners Database, HIPAA, >>> as well as other administrative regulations. A mere ten years earlier, >>> the >>> number of pages was only seven! >>> >>> That's an increase of 1,457% over ten years. Ouch! Don't expect that to >>> go down. >>> >>> Merry Christmas, here's hoping we all survive the New Year. >>> >>> Pennie Marchetti, MD >>> Stow, Ohio >>> solo practice >>> >>> At 10:27 PM 12/22/2009, you wrote: >>> >>>> " Why else would they pursue healthcare bills that their own party's left >>>> wing detests, unless they are doing so with a wink and a nod indicating >>>> that the liberals will eventually get everything they want & #8211; a >>>> single-payer system? " >>>> >>> --- >>> You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: gswheet@... >>> To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to >>> http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists >>> > > --- > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: drk@... > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists > > --- > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: lockecolorado@... > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 29, 2009 Report Share Posted December 29, 2009 Craig, Second type, the IPA assumes “risk contracts” with several Insurance plans. There is a lot of room for improvement but so far it has been evolving towards the goal of becoming a full ACO. The important factor about the success of the IPA is that it has been managed by a group of solo practitioner that has kept the goals of the IPA aligned with our types of practices. Our IPA is 95% compose by solo practices in all fields and has been fighting tooth and nail against the big hospital based practices. So far they are closing doors and we are still here. José from The Barrio. From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of Craig Ross Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 1:44 PM To: Subject: ACO's --> end of solo? --> Re: Anyone Following This? , Is your IPA the " traditional " type in which it acts as a centralized collection of practices or the " second generation " type in which the IPA assumes the financial risk for its members? Craig > > >>> > > >>>> " Why else would they pursue healthcare bills that their own party's > left > > >>>> wing detests, unless they are doing so with a wink and a nod indicating > > >>>> that the liberals will eventually get everything they want & #8211; a > > >>>> single-payer system? " > > >>>> > > >>> --- > > >>> You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: gswheet@... > > >>> To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to > > >>> http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions > <http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lis > ts> & type=lists > > >>> > > > > > > --- > > > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: drk@... > > > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to > http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions > <http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lis > ts> & type=lists > > > > > > --- > > > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: lockecolorado@... > > > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to > http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions > <http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lis > ts> & type=lists > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 29, 2009 Report Share Posted December 29, 2009 Craig, Second type, the IPA assumes “risk contracts” with several Insurance plans. There is a lot of room for improvement but so far it has been evolving towards the goal of becoming a full ACO. The important factor about the success of the IPA is that it has been managed by a group of solo practitioner that has kept the goals of the IPA aligned with our types of practices. Our IPA is 95% compose by solo practices in all fields and has been fighting tooth and nail against the big hospital based practices. So far they are closing doors and we are still here. José from The Barrio. From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of Craig Ross Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 1:44 PM To: Subject: ACO's --> end of solo? --> Re: Anyone Following This? , Is your IPA the " traditional " type in which it acts as a centralized collection of practices or the " second generation " type in which the IPA assumes the financial risk for its members? Craig > > >>> > > >>>> " Why else would they pursue healthcare bills that their own party's > left > > >>>> wing detests, unless they are doing so with a wink and a nod indicating > > >>>> that the liberals will eventually get everything they want & #8211; a > > >>>> single-payer system? " > > >>>> > > >>> --- > > >>> You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: gswheet@... > > >>> To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to > > >>> http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions > <http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lis > ts> & type=lists > > >>> > > > > > > --- > > > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: drk@... > > > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to > http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions > <http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lis > ts> & type=lists > > > > > > --- > > > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: lockecolorado@... > > > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to > http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions > <http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lis > ts> & type=lists > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 29, 2009 Report Share Posted December 29, 2009 I doubt it will be the end of solo practicesThats just more fear mongering and it is exhaustingeven family farms didn;t die when agro industry came around Even solo practitionar hardware stores di not die when home depot came to town, even... and so on Now this is also fascinating Are we now COMPLAINING that we do not have enough medicare lives? previously there were complaints that docs could not live on medicare rates and have had too much medicare well; which is it ?/ NO wonder we are seen as complainers YeeshBesides that, more folks may, who knows , be buying into medicare...AN ACO is a great idea and this is the time to go after it and make your own or indeed someone will make you join up with the docs who have the other 4,997 medicare lives since you may have like 3. so before things go much further talk to your IPA or form one. Grand Junction CO and the head of the COLORADO MEdical Society DR Mike pramenko knows alot about this stuffBut maybe it does not have to be an IPA... What an A CO looks like is not clear and all talk The article recently in JAMA said we would dbe better off anyway if we aggregrate lots of data NOT just medicare for this very reason that some practices have too little medicare to measure improvement well enough. IMPS are well situated to be in an ACO We are going to be seen as incredibly valuable WE keep people out of hospitals we reduce med errors we get RHM done ..etc FIND docs to join up with now. NONE of this is in stone -no one knows what structures will look like SO make you r own now. I bet there iwll be pilots projects and opportunities umproving for those of us interested to get more involved than we were able to before.Jean Some wondered if the new health bill would be the end of solo practices. =============================== I think the concern is that the bill may favor larger practices - at least in the sharing of cost savings w/ Medicare. It would seem to exclude solo practices since ACO's appear to be large practices and systems -- although there is the interesting option for " networks of practices " I suppose IMPs or solo docs could come together somehow to meet the criteria for an ACO - although it sounds like it would be complicated. Also, you would have to have at least 5,000 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries in the overall networks of practices. I'm not even sure we have 5,000 Medicare patients in the valley we live in. http://stabenow.senate.gov/healthcare/100209_Americas_Healthy_Future_Act_AMENDED.pdfPage 110 PART III—ENCOURAGING DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW PATIENT CARE MODELS Accountable Care Organizations Chairman’s Mark The Medicare program would allow groups of providers who voluntarily meet certain statutory criteria, including quality measurements, to be recognized as ACOs and be eligible to share in the cost-savings they achieve for the Medicare program. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2012, eligible ACOs would have the opportunity to qualify for an incentive bonus. Eligible ACOs would be defined as groups of providers and suppliers who have an established mechanism for joint decision making, such as for capital purchases. The following groups of providers and suppliers would be eligible for participation: practitioners in group practice arrangements; networks of practices; partnerships or joint-venture arrangements between hospitals and practitioners; hospitals employing practitioners; and such other groups of providers of services and suppliers as the Secretary determines appropriate. Practitioners would be defined as physicians, regardless of specialty, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, clinical nurse specialists, and other practitioners or suppliers as the Secretary determines appropriate. To qualify as an ACO, an organization would have to meet at least the following criteria: (1) agree to become accountable for the overall care of their Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries; (2) agree to a minimum three-year participation; (3) have a formal legal structure that would allow the organization to receive and distribute bonuses to participating providers; (4) include the primary care physicians for at least 5,000 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries; (5) provide CMS with information regarding primary care and specialist physicians participating in the ACO as the Secretary deems appropriate; (6) have arrangements in place with a core group of specialist physicians; (7) have in place a leadership and management structure, including with regard to clinical and administrative systems; (8) define processes to promote evidence-based medicine, report on quality and costs measure, and coordinate care such as through the use of telehealth, remote patient monitoring, and other such enabling technologies; and (9) demonstrate to the Secretary that it meets patient-centeredness criteria determined by the Secretary, such as use of patient and caregiver assessments or the use of individualized care plans. To earn the incentive payment the organization would have to meet certain quality thresholds. In determining the quality of care furnished by an ACO, the Secretary would be required to use measures such as: (1) clinical processes and outcomes; (2) patient and caregiver perspectives on care; and (3) utilization and costs (such as rates of ambulatory-sensitive admissions and readmissions). ACOs would be required to submit data, at the group and individual provider level, on measures the Secretary determines necessary to evaluate the quality of care furnished by the ACO. The Secretary would be required to establish performance standards for measures of the quality of care furnished by ACOs. The Secretary would be required to seek to improve the quality of care furnished by ACOs over time by specifying higher standards for purposes of assessing quality of care. The Secretary would be authorized to incorporate reporting requirements and incentive payments and penalties related to the physician quality reporting initiative (PQRI), electronic prescribing, electronic health records, and other similar initiatives into the reporting requirements for ACOs. CMS would assign Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries to ACOs based on their use of Medicare items and services in preceding periods. The achievement thresholds and rewards for the ACO would be as follows. The spending baseline would be determined on an organizational level by using the most recent three years of total per beneficiary spending for those beneficiaries assigned to the ACO. The target would be set by the baseline amount plus a flat-dollar amount that is equal to the risk-adjusted average expenditure growth per beneficiary nationally. Baselines would be re-set at end of the three-year period. ACOs with three-year average Medicare expenditures that are determined by CMS to be below their benchmark for the corresponding period would be eligible for shared savings at a rate determined appropriate by the Secretary. The Secretary would be required to set a minimum threshold of savings that would need to be achieved by an ACO before savings would be shared. The Secretary would have the authority to adjust the savings thresholds to account for the varying sizes of participating ACOs. If the Secretary determines that an ACO has taken steps to avoid at-risk patients in order to reduce the likelihood of increasing costs, the Secretary would be authorized to impose an appropriate sanction, including terminating agreements with participating ACOs. Locke, MD > Which parts suggest that solo will phased out? I can't follow all of the details enough to see what is really being said. > > Lowell Kleinman, MD > Family Practice of San Clemente > 1300 Avenida Vista Hermosa > Suite 150 > San Clemente, CA 92673 > (949) - 361-6623 office > (949) - 361-8163 fax > www.DrKleinman.com > > Re: [practicemgt] Anyone Following This? > > Once again Glenn, you've expressed my thoughts better than I could. > > As an independent small group owner, I don't think that AAFP supports > us in this fight. > > R. Pierce MD > Rockport, Maine > www.midcoastmedicine.com > > > > > >> But my AAFP leadership assured me that this legislation was good >> overall, though admittedly imperfect! How could it be so flawed? >> >> The truth is, for various reasons, I suspect our leadership would have >> swallowed ANY bill, as long as it had healthcare reform in the title. >> Honestly, it seemed that no matter what got crammed into this bill, no >> matter how much good stuff got taken out, we kept modifying our degree >> of support, but never withdrew it. Our Board of Directors sees some >> significant difference between saying " support " and " endorse " , but in >> the end, laws either pass or fail, regardless of whether the legislators >> can claim 100%, 90%, or 65% support from the doctors. >> >> Guaranteed, all they heard in Congress was that the AAFP was on board. >> Qualifying our support is of what meaninful consequence after this bill >> is signed into law? >> >> Will we be allowed to obey only 80% of its provisions because the AAFP >> was only 80% satisfied with it? >> >> As to the provisions that effectively aim for the extinction of >> solo/small groups, it is clear that our leadership sold us out. >> When confronted with this, I can already tell you what we will hear: >> 1) Silence. Hope the questioner goes away. >> 2) " Oh, no. " " You're reading this all wrong. It won't be that bad. " >> 3) " This was a necessary compromise to ensure the overall position of >> primary care in HCR. Better to have large groups of primary care than >> multiple solo specialists as the future of healthcare in the U.S. " >> >> I've refused to give a dime to our PAC as I feel it is advancing the >> cause of Corporate, Top-heavy Family Medicine (at best), and Corporate, >> Top-heavy Primary Care (with the FP gradually being phased out to the >> NP/PA model) at worst. I've listened to Board members within our own >> specialty say that they think this is the future of primary care and >> that we should be preparing to be managers rather than face-to-face >> clinicians. They may be right (I pray not), but I'm not going to fund a >> lobbyist to facilitate that process. My money will go to oppose such >> trends. >> >> The AAFP claims to be strong medicine for America. Our support for this >> so-called HCR looks more like a placebo with nauseating side-effects. >> >> Glenn Wheet, MD >> South Bend, MD >> >> >> >> >> On Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:04:19 -0500, " Pennie Marchetti " >> said: >> >>> Just to scare you some more, here are some details about the bill that >>> just >>> passed that make me want to weep. >>> >>> >>> From the Wall Street Journal >>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254604574613992408387548.html >>> : >>> >>> >>> Primary-care doctors who refer patients to specialists will face >>> financial >>> penalties under the plan. Doctors will see 5% of their Medicare pay cut >>> when their " aggregated " use of resources is " at or above the 90th >>> percentile of national utilization, " according to the chairman's mark of >>> Section 3003 of the bill. Doctors will feel financial pressure to limit >>> referrals to costly specialists like surgeons, since these penalties will >>> put the referring physician on the hook for the cost of the referral and >>> perhaps any resulting procedures. >>> >>> Next, the plan creates financial incentives for doctors to consolidate >>> their practices. The idea here is that Medicare can more easily apply its >>> regulations to institutions that manage large groups of doctors than it >>> can >>> to individual physicians. So the Obama plan imposes new costs on doctors >>> who remain solo, mostly by increasing their overhead requirementssuch as >>> requiring three years of medical records every time a doctor orders >>> routine >>> medical equipment like wheelchairs. >>> >>> The plan also offers doctors financial carrots if they give up their >>> small >>> practices and consolidate into larger medical groups, or become salaried >>> employees of large institutions such as hospitals or " staff model " >>> medical >>> plans like Kaiser Permanente. One provision, laid out in Section 3022, >>> allows doctors to share with the government any savings to the government >>> they achieve by delivering less carebut only if physicians are part of >>> groups caring for more than 5,000 Medicare patients and " have in place a >>> leadership and management structure, including with regard to clinical >>> and >>> administrative systems. " >>> >>> While these payment reforms are structured as pilot programs in the >>> legislation, this distinction has little practical meaning. Medicare is >>> being given broad authority, for the first time, to roll these >>> demonstration programs out nationally without the need for a second >>> authorization by Congress. >>> >>> >>> And then there's this proof of what we've all felt intuitively - that >>> government intrusion in our business is already unbearable: >>> >>> http://healthcare.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjZhZGE1ODZhOGJlMDY0OTU3ZDBjYjdjZmRlYWJlZmM= >>> >>> The Public Welfare Code contains 109 pages of rules governing providers. >>> This includes rules governing the National Practitioners Database, HIPAA, >>> as well as other administrative regulations. A mere ten years earlier, >>> the >>> number of pages was only seven! >>> >>> That's an increase of 1,457% over ten years. Ouch! Don't expect that to >>> go down. >>> >>> Merry Christmas, here's hoping we all survive the New Year. >>> >>> Pennie Marchetti, MD >>> Stow, Ohio >>> solo practice >>> >>> At 10:27 PM 12/22/2009, you wrote: >>> >>>> " Why else would they pursue healthcare bills that their own party's left >>>> wing detests, unless they are doing so with a wink and a nod indicating >>>> that the liberals will eventually get everything they want & #8211; a >>>> single-payer system? " >>>> >>> --- >>> You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: gswheet@... >>> To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to >>> http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists >>> > > --- > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: drk@... > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists > > --- > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: lockecolorado@... > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists > -- PATIENTS,please remember email may not be entirely secure and that Email is part of the medical record and is placed into the chart ( be careful what you say!)Email is best used for appointment making and brief questions Email replies can be expected within 24 hours-Please CALL if the matter is more urgent . MD ph fax impcenter.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 29, 2009 Report Share Posted December 29, 2009 I doubt it will be the end of solo practicesThats just more fear mongering and it is exhaustingeven family farms didn;t die when agro industry came around Even solo practitionar hardware stores di not die when home depot came to town, even... and so on Now this is also fascinating Are we now COMPLAINING that we do not have enough medicare lives? previously there were complaints that docs could not live on medicare rates and have had too much medicare well; which is it ?/ NO wonder we are seen as complainers YeeshBesides that, more folks may, who knows , be buying into medicare...AN ACO is a great idea and this is the time to go after it and make your own or indeed someone will make you join up with the docs who have the other 4,997 medicare lives since you may have like 3. so before things go much further talk to your IPA or form one. Grand Junction CO and the head of the COLORADO MEdical Society DR Mike pramenko knows alot about this stuffBut maybe it does not have to be an IPA... What an A CO looks like is not clear and all talk The article recently in JAMA said we would dbe better off anyway if we aggregrate lots of data NOT just medicare for this very reason that some practices have too little medicare to measure improvement well enough. IMPS are well situated to be in an ACO We are going to be seen as incredibly valuable WE keep people out of hospitals we reduce med errors we get RHM done ..etc FIND docs to join up with now. NONE of this is in stone -no one knows what structures will look like SO make you r own now. I bet there iwll be pilots projects and opportunities umproving for those of us interested to get more involved than we were able to before.Jean Some wondered if the new health bill would be the end of solo practices. =============================== I think the concern is that the bill may favor larger practices - at least in the sharing of cost savings w/ Medicare. It would seem to exclude solo practices since ACO's appear to be large practices and systems -- although there is the interesting option for " networks of practices " I suppose IMPs or solo docs could come together somehow to meet the criteria for an ACO - although it sounds like it would be complicated. Also, you would have to have at least 5,000 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries in the overall networks of practices. I'm not even sure we have 5,000 Medicare patients in the valley we live in. http://stabenow.senate.gov/healthcare/100209_Americas_Healthy_Future_Act_AMENDED.pdfPage 110 PART III—ENCOURAGING DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW PATIENT CARE MODELS Accountable Care Organizations Chairman’s Mark The Medicare program would allow groups of providers who voluntarily meet certain statutory criteria, including quality measurements, to be recognized as ACOs and be eligible to share in the cost-savings they achieve for the Medicare program. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2012, eligible ACOs would have the opportunity to qualify for an incentive bonus. Eligible ACOs would be defined as groups of providers and suppliers who have an established mechanism for joint decision making, such as for capital purchases. The following groups of providers and suppliers would be eligible for participation: practitioners in group practice arrangements; networks of practices; partnerships or joint-venture arrangements between hospitals and practitioners; hospitals employing practitioners; and such other groups of providers of services and suppliers as the Secretary determines appropriate. Practitioners would be defined as physicians, regardless of specialty, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, clinical nurse specialists, and other practitioners or suppliers as the Secretary determines appropriate. To qualify as an ACO, an organization would have to meet at least the following criteria: (1) agree to become accountable for the overall care of their Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries; (2) agree to a minimum three-year participation; (3) have a formal legal structure that would allow the organization to receive and distribute bonuses to participating providers; (4) include the primary care physicians for at least 5,000 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries; (5) provide CMS with information regarding primary care and specialist physicians participating in the ACO as the Secretary deems appropriate; (6) have arrangements in place with a core group of specialist physicians; (7) have in place a leadership and management structure, including with regard to clinical and administrative systems; (8) define processes to promote evidence-based medicine, report on quality and costs measure, and coordinate care such as through the use of telehealth, remote patient monitoring, and other such enabling technologies; and (9) demonstrate to the Secretary that it meets patient-centeredness criteria determined by the Secretary, such as use of patient and caregiver assessments or the use of individualized care plans. To earn the incentive payment the organization would have to meet certain quality thresholds. In determining the quality of care furnished by an ACO, the Secretary would be required to use measures such as: (1) clinical processes and outcomes; (2) patient and caregiver perspectives on care; and (3) utilization and costs (such as rates of ambulatory-sensitive admissions and readmissions). ACOs would be required to submit data, at the group and individual provider level, on measures the Secretary determines necessary to evaluate the quality of care furnished by the ACO. The Secretary would be required to establish performance standards for measures of the quality of care furnished by ACOs. The Secretary would be required to seek to improve the quality of care furnished by ACOs over time by specifying higher standards for purposes of assessing quality of care. The Secretary would be authorized to incorporate reporting requirements and incentive payments and penalties related to the physician quality reporting initiative (PQRI), electronic prescribing, electronic health records, and other similar initiatives into the reporting requirements for ACOs. CMS would assign Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries to ACOs based on their use of Medicare items and services in preceding periods. The achievement thresholds and rewards for the ACO would be as follows. The spending baseline would be determined on an organizational level by using the most recent three years of total per beneficiary spending for those beneficiaries assigned to the ACO. The target would be set by the baseline amount plus a flat-dollar amount that is equal to the risk-adjusted average expenditure growth per beneficiary nationally. Baselines would be re-set at end of the three-year period. ACOs with three-year average Medicare expenditures that are determined by CMS to be below their benchmark for the corresponding period would be eligible for shared savings at a rate determined appropriate by the Secretary. The Secretary would be required to set a minimum threshold of savings that would need to be achieved by an ACO before savings would be shared. The Secretary would have the authority to adjust the savings thresholds to account for the varying sizes of participating ACOs. If the Secretary determines that an ACO has taken steps to avoid at-risk patients in order to reduce the likelihood of increasing costs, the Secretary would be authorized to impose an appropriate sanction, including terminating agreements with participating ACOs. Locke, MD > Which parts suggest that solo will phased out? I can't follow all of the details enough to see what is really being said. > > Lowell Kleinman, MD > Family Practice of San Clemente > 1300 Avenida Vista Hermosa > Suite 150 > San Clemente, CA 92673 > (949) - 361-6623 office > (949) - 361-8163 fax > www.DrKleinman.com > > Re: [practicemgt] Anyone Following This? > > Once again Glenn, you've expressed my thoughts better than I could. > > As an independent small group owner, I don't think that AAFP supports > us in this fight. > > R. Pierce MD > Rockport, Maine > www.midcoastmedicine.com > > > > > >> But my AAFP leadership assured me that this legislation was good >> overall, though admittedly imperfect! How could it be so flawed? >> >> The truth is, for various reasons, I suspect our leadership would have >> swallowed ANY bill, as long as it had healthcare reform in the title. >> Honestly, it seemed that no matter what got crammed into this bill, no >> matter how much good stuff got taken out, we kept modifying our degree >> of support, but never withdrew it. Our Board of Directors sees some >> significant difference between saying " support " and " endorse " , but in >> the end, laws either pass or fail, regardless of whether the legislators >> can claim 100%, 90%, or 65% support from the doctors. >> >> Guaranteed, all they heard in Congress was that the AAFP was on board. >> Qualifying our support is of what meaninful consequence after this bill >> is signed into law? >> >> Will we be allowed to obey only 80% of its provisions because the AAFP >> was only 80% satisfied with it? >> >> As to the provisions that effectively aim for the extinction of >> solo/small groups, it is clear that our leadership sold us out. >> When confronted with this, I can already tell you what we will hear: >> 1) Silence. Hope the questioner goes away. >> 2) " Oh, no. " " You're reading this all wrong. It won't be that bad. " >> 3) " This was a necessary compromise to ensure the overall position of >> primary care in HCR. Better to have large groups of primary care than >> multiple solo specialists as the future of healthcare in the U.S. " >> >> I've refused to give a dime to our PAC as I feel it is advancing the >> cause of Corporate, Top-heavy Family Medicine (at best), and Corporate, >> Top-heavy Primary Care (with the FP gradually being phased out to the >> NP/PA model) at worst. I've listened to Board members within our own >> specialty say that they think this is the future of primary care and >> that we should be preparing to be managers rather than face-to-face >> clinicians. They may be right (I pray not), but I'm not going to fund a >> lobbyist to facilitate that process. My money will go to oppose such >> trends. >> >> The AAFP claims to be strong medicine for America. Our support for this >> so-called HCR looks more like a placebo with nauseating side-effects. >> >> Glenn Wheet, MD >> South Bend, MD >> >> >> >> >> On Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:04:19 -0500, " Pennie Marchetti " >> said: >> >>> Just to scare you some more, here are some details about the bill that >>> just >>> passed that make me want to weep. >>> >>> >>> From the Wall Street Journal >>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254604574613992408387548.html >>> : >>> >>> >>> Primary-care doctors who refer patients to specialists will face >>> financial >>> penalties under the plan. Doctors will see 5% of their Medicare pay cut >>> when their " aggregated " use of resources is " at or above the 90th >>> percentile of national utilization, " according to the chairman's mark of >>> Section 3003 of the bill. Doctors will feel financial pressure to limit >>> referrals to costly specialists like surgeons, since these penalties will >>> put the referring physician on the hook for the cost of the referral and >>> perhaps any resulting procedures. >>> >>> Next, the plan creates financial incentives for doctors to consolidate >>> their practices. The idea here is that Medicare can more easily apply its >>> regulations to institutions that manage large groups of doctors than it >>> can >>> to individual physicians. So the Obama plan imposes new costs on doctors >>> who remain solo, mostly by increasing their overhead requirementssuch as >>> requiring three years of medical records every time a doctor orders >>> routine >>> medical equipment like wheelchairs. >>> >>> The plan also offers doctors financial carrots if they give up their >>> small >>> practices and consolidate into larger medical groups, or become salaried >>> employees of large institutions such as hospitals or " staff model " >>> medical >>> plans like Kaiser Permanente. One provision, laid out in Section 3022, >>> allows doctors to share with the government any savings to the government >>> they achieve by delivering less carebut only if physicians are part of >>> groups caring for more than 5,000 Medicare patients and " have in place a >>> leadership and management structure, including with regard to clinical >>> and >>> administrative systems. " >>> >>> While these payment reforms are structured as pilot programs in the >>> legislation, this distinction has little practical meaning. Medicare is >>> being given broad authority, for the first time, to roll these >>> demonstration programs out nationally without the need for a second >>> authorization by Congress. >>> >>> >>> And then there's this proof of what we've all felt intuitively - that >>> government intrusion in our business is already unbearable: >>> >>> http://healthcare.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjZhZGE1ODZhOGJlMDY0OTU3ZDBjYjdjZmRlYWJlZmM= >>> >>> The Public Welfare Code contains 109 pages of rules governing providers. >>> This includes rules governing the National Practitioners Database, HIPAA, >>> as well as other administrative regulations. A mere ten years earlier, >>> the >>> number of pages was only seven! >>> >>> That's an increase of 1,457% over ten years. Ouch! Don't expect that to >>> go down. >>> >>> Merry Christmas, here's hoping we all survive the New Year. >>> >>> Pennie Marchetti, MD >>> Stow, Ohio >>> solo practice >>> >>> At 10:27 PM 12/22/2009, you wrote: >>> >>>> " Why else would they pursue healthcare bills that their own party's left >>>> wing detests, unless they are doing so with a wink and a nod indicating >>>> that the liberals will eventually get everything they want & #8211; a >>>> single-payer system? " >>>> >>> --- >>> You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: gswheet@... >>> To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to >>> http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists >>> > > --- > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: drk@... > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists > > --- > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: lockecolorado@... > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists > -- PATIENTS,please remember email may not be entirely secure and that Email is part of the medical record and is placed into the chart ( be careful what you say!)Email is best used for appointment making and brief questions Email replies can be expected within 24 hours-Please CALL if the matter is more urgent . MD ph fax impcenter.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 29, 2009 Report Share Posted December 29, 2009 If we don't form our own IPAs or ACOs, it is very likely the ones we'll be dealing with will be dominated by specialists (who are a majority of docs and control the most group revenue) or hospitals. An ACO won't necessarily be helpful to quality primary care, it'll depend on the rules set by the feds and who runs your local ACO. , what's the name of your local IPA? R. Pierce MD Rockport, Maine www.midcoastmedicine.com I doubt it will be the end of solo practices Thats just more fear mongering and it is exhausting even family farms didn;t die when agro industry came around Even solo practitionar hardware stores di not die when home depot came to town, even... and so on Now this is also fascinating Are we now COMPLAINING that we do not have enough medicare lives? previously there were complaints that docs could not live on medicare rates and have had too much medicare well; which is it ?/ NO wonder we are seen as complainers Yeesh Besides that, more folks may, who knows , be buying into medicare... AN ACO is a great idea and this is the time to go after it and make your own or indeed someone will make you join up with the docs who have the other 4,997 medicare lives since you may have like 3. so before things go much further talk to your IPA or form one. Grand Junction CO and the head of the COLORADO MEdical Society DR Mike pramenko knows alot about this stuff But maybe it does not have to be an IPA... What an A CO looks like is not clear and all talk The article recently in JAMA said we would dbe better off anyway if we aggregrate lots of data NOT just medicare for this very reason that some practices have too little medicare to measure improvement well enough. IMPS are well situated to be in an ACO We are going to be seen as incredibly valuable WE keep people out of hospitals we reduce med errors we get RHM done ..etc FIND docs to join up with now. NONE of this is in stone -no one knows what structures will look like SO make you r own now. I bet there iwll be pilots projects and opportunities umproving for those of us interested to get more involved than we were able to before. Jean On Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 3:51 AM, Locke <lockecoloradogmail> wrote: Some wondered if the new health bill would be the end of solo practices. =============================== I think the concern is that the bill may favor larger practices - at least in the sharing of cost savings w/ Medicare. It would seem to exclude solo practices since ACO's appear to be large practices and systems -- although there is the interesting option for "networks of practices" I suppose IMPs or solo docs could come together somehow to meet the criteria for an ACO - although it sounds like it would be complicated. Also, you would have to have at least 5,000 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries in the overall networks of practices. I'm not even sure we have 5,000 Medicare patients in the valley we live in. http://stabenow.senate.gov/healthcare/100209_Americas_Healthy_Future_Act_AMENDED.pdf Page 110 PART III—ENCOURAGING DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW PATIENT CARE MODELS Accountable Care Organizations Chairman’s Mark The Medicare program would allow groups of providers who voluntarily meet certain statutory criteria, including quality measurements, to be recognized as ACOs and be eligible to share in the cost-savings they achieve for the Medicare program. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2012, eligible ACOs would have the opportunity to qualify for an incentive bonus. Eligible ACOs would be defined as groups of providers and suppliers who have an established mechanism for joint decision making, such as for capital purchases. The following groups of providers and suppliers would be eligible for participation: practitioners in group practice arrangements; networks of practices; partnerships or joint-venture arrangements between hospitals and practitioners; hospitals employing practitioners; and such other groups of providers of services and suppliers as the Secretary determines appropriate. Practitioners would be defined as physicians, regardless of specialty, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, clinical nurse specialists, and other practitioners or suppliers as the Secretary determines appropriate. To qualify as an ACO, an organization would have to meet at least the following criteria: (1) agree to become accountable for the overall care of their Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries; (2) agree to a minimum three-year participation; (3) have a formal legal structure that would allow the organization to receive and distribute bonuses to participating providers; (4) include the primary care physicians for at least 5,000 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries; (5) provide CMS with information regarding primary care and specialist physicians participating in the ACO as the Secretary deems appropriate; (6) have arrangements in place with a core group of specialist physicians; (7) have in place a leadership and management structure, including with regard to clinical and administrative systems; (8) define processes to promote evidence-based medicine, report on quality and costs measure, and coordinate care such as through the use of telehealth, remote patient monitoring, and other such enabling technologies; and (9) demonstrate to the Secretary that it meets patient-centeredness criteria determined by the Secretary, such as use of patient and caregiver assessments or the use of individualized care plans. To earn the incentive payment the organization would have to meet certain quality thresholds. In determining the quality of care furnished by an ACO, the Secretary would be required to use measures such as: (1) clinical processes and outcomes; (2) patient and caregiver perspectives on care; and (3) utilization and costs (such as rates of ambulatory-sensitive admissions and readmissions). ACOs would be required to submit data, at the group and individual provider level, on measures the Secretary determines necessary to evaluate the quality of care furnished by the ACO. The Secretary would be required to establish performance standards for measures of the quality of care furnished by ACOs. The Secretary would be required to seek to improve the quality of care furnished by ACOs over time by specifying higher standards for purposes of assessing quality of care. The Secretary would be authorized to incorporate reporting requirements and incentive payments and penalties related to the physician quality reporting initiative (PQRI), electronic prescribing, electronic health records, and other similar initiatives into the reporting requirements for ACOs. CMS would assign Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries to ACOs based on their use of Medicare items and services in preceding periods. The achievement thresholds and rewards for the ACO would be as follows. The spending baseline would be determined on an organizational level by using the most recent three years of total per beneficiary spending for those beneficiaries assigned to the ACO. The target would be set by the baseline amount plus a flat-dollar amount that is equal to the risk-adjusted average expenditure growth per beneficiary nationally. Baselines would be re-set at end of the three-year period. ACOs with three-year average Medicare expenditures that are determined by CMS to be below their benchmark for the corresponding period would be eligible for shared savings at a rate determined appropriate by the Secretary. The Secretary would be required to set a minimum threshold of savings that would need to be achieved by an ACO before savings would be shared. The Secretary would have the authority to adjust the savings thresholds to account for the varying sizes of participating ACOs. If the Secretary determines that an ACO has taken steps to avoid at-risk patients in order to reduce the likelihood of increasing costs, the Secretary would be authorized to impose an appropriate sanction, including terminating agreements with participating ACOs. Locke, MD On Mon, Dec 28, 2009 at 11:12 AM, DRK <DRKdrkleinman> wrote: > Which parts suggest that solo will phased out? I can't follow all of the details enough to see what is really being said. > > Lowell Kleinman, MD > Family Practice of San Clemente > 1300 Avenida Vista Hermosa > Suite 150 > San Clemente, CA 92673 > (949) - 361-6623 office > (949) - 361-8163 fax > www.DrKleinman.com > > Re: [practicemgt] Anyone Following This? > > Once again Glenn, you've expressed my thoughts better than I could. > > As an independent small group owner, I don't think that AAFP supports > us in this fight. > > R. Pierce MD > Rockport, Maine > www.midcoastmedicine.com > > > > > On 12/28/2009 12:13 PM, gswheetfastmail (DOT) us wrote: >> But my AAFP leadership assured me that this legislation was good >> overall, though admittedly imperfect! How could it be so flawed? >> >> The truth is, for various reasons, I suspect our leadership would have >> swallowed ANY bill, as long as it had healthcare reform in the title. >> Honestly, it seemed that no matter what got crammed into this bill, no >> matter how much good stuff got taken out, we kept modifying our degree >> of support, but never withdrew it. Our Board of Directors sees some >> significant difference between saying "support" and "endorse", but in >> the end, laws either pass or fail, regardless of whether the legislators >> can claim 100%, 90%, or 65% support from the doctors. >> >> Guaranteed, all they heard in Congress was that the AAFP was on board. >> Qualifying our support is of what meaninful consequence after this bill >> is signed into law? >> >> Will we be allowed to obey only 80% of its provisions because the AAFP >> was only 80% satisfied with it? >> >> As to the provisions that effectively aim for the extinction of >> solo/small groups, it is clear that our leadership sold us out. >> When confronted with this, I can already tell you what we will hear: >> 1) Silence. Hope the questioner goes away. >> 2) "Oh, no." "You're reading this all wrong. It won't be that bad." >> 3) "This was a necessary compromise to ensure the overall position of >> primary care in HCR. Better to have large groups of primary care than >> multiple solo specialists as the future of healthcare in the U.S." >> >> I've refused to give a dime to our PAC as I feel it is advancing the >> cause of Corporate, Top-heavy Family Medicine (at best), and Corporate, >> Top-heavy Primary Care (with the FP gradually being phased out to the >> NP/PA model) at worst. I've listened to Board members within our own >> specialty say that they think this is the future of primary care and >> that we should be preparing to be managers rather than face-to-face >> clinicians. They may be right (I pray not), but I'm not going to fund a >> lobbyist to facilitate that process. My money will go to oppose such >> trends. >> >> The AAFP claims to be strong medicine for America. Our support for this >> so-called HCR looks more like a placebo with nauseating side-effects. >> >> Glenn Wheet, MD >> South Bend, MD >> >> >> >> >> On Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:04:19 -0500, "Pennie Marchetti" >> <pmarchettiameritech (DOT) net> said: >> >>> Just to scare you some more, here are some details about the bill that >>> just >>> passed that make me want to weep. >>> >>> >>> From the Wall Street Journal >>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254604574613992408387548.html >>> : >>> >>> >>> Primary-care doctors who refer patients to specialists will face >>> financial >>> penalties under the plan. Doctors will see 5% of their Medicare pay cut >>> when their "aggregated" use of resources is "at or above the 90th >>> percentile of national utilization," according to the chairman's mark of >>> Section 3003 of the bill. Doctors will feel financial pressure to limit >>> referrals to costly specialists like surgeons, since these penalties will >>> put the referring physician on the hook for the cost of the referral and >>> perhaps any resulting procedures. >>> >>> Next, the plan creates financial incentives for doctors to consolidate >>> their practices. The idea here is that Medicare can more easily apply its >>> regulations to institutions that manage large groups of doctors than it >>> can >>> to individual physicians. So the Obama plan imposes new costs on doctors >>> who remain solo, mostly by increasing their overhead requirementssuch as >>> requiring three years of medical records every time a doctor orders >>> routine >>> medical equipment like wheelchairs. >>> >>> The plan also offers doctors financial carrots if they give up their >>> small >>> practices and consolidate into larger medical groups, or become salaried >>> employees of large institutions such as hospitals or "staff model" >>> medical >>> plans like Kaiser Permanente. One provision, laid out in Section 3022, >>> allows doctors to share with the government any savings to the government >>> they achieve by delivering less carebut only if physicians are part of >>> groups caring for more than 5,000 Medicare patients and "have in place a >>> leadership and management structure, including with regard to clinical >>> and >>> administrative systems." >>> >>> While these payment reforms are structured as pilot programs in the >>> legislation, this distinction has little practical meaning. Medicare is >>> being given broad authority, for the first time, to roll these >>> demonstration programs out nationally without the need for a second >>> authorization by Congress. >>> >>> >>> And then there's this proof of what we've all felt intuitively - that >>> government intrusion in our business is already unbearable: >>> >>> http://healthcare.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjZhZGE1ODZhOGJlMDY0OTU3ZDBjYjdjZmRlYWJlZmM= >>> >>> The Public Welfare Code contains 109 pages of rules governing providers. >>> This includes rules governing the National Practitioners Database, HIPAA, >>> as well as other administrative regulations. A mere ten years earlier, >>> the >>> number of pages was only seven! >>> >>> That's an increase of 1,457% over ten years. Ouch! Don't expect that to >>> go down. >>> >>> Merry Christmas, here's hoping we all survive the New Year. >>> >>> Pennie Marchetti, MD >>> Stow, Ohio >>> solo practice >>> >>> At 10:27 PM 12/22/2009, you wrote: >>> >>>> "Why else would they pursue healthcare bills that their own party's left >>>> wing detests, unless they are doing so with a wink and a nod indicating >>>> that the liberals will eventually get everything they want & #8211; a >>>> single-payer system?" >>>> >>> --- >>> You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: gswheetfastmail (DOT) us >>> To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to >>> http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists >>> > > --- > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: drkdrkleinman > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists > > --- > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: lockecoloradogmail > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists > -- PATIENTS,please remember email may not be entirely secure and that Email is part of the medical record and is placed into the chart ( be careful what you say!) Email is best used for appointment making and brief questions Email replies can be expected within 24 hours-Please CALL if the matter is more urgent . MD ph fax impcenter.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 29, 2009 Report Share Posted December 29, 2009 If we don't form our own IPAs or ACOs, it is very likely the ones we'll be dealing with will be dominated by specialists (who are a majority of docs and control the most group revenue) or hospitals. An ACO won't necessarily be helpful to quality primary care, it'll depend on the rules set by the feds and who runs your local ACO. , what's the name of your local IPA? R. Pierce MD Rockport, Maine www.midcoastmedicine.com I doubt it will be the end of solo practices Thats just more fear mongering and it is exhausting even family farms didn;t die when agro industry came around Even solo practitionar hardware stores di not die when home depot came to town, even... and so on Now this is also fascinating Are we now COMPLAINING that we do not have enough medicare lives? previously there were complaints that docs could not live on medicare rates and have had too much medicare well; which is it ?/ NO wonder we are seen as complainers Yeesh Besides that, more folks may, who knows , be buying into medicare... AN ACO is a great idea and this is the time to go after it and make your own or indeed someone will make you join up with the docs who have the other 4,997 medicare lives since you may have like 3. so before things go much further talk to your IPA or form one. Grand Junction CO and the head of the COLORADO MEdical Society DR Mike pramenko knows alot about this stuff But maybe it does not have to be an IPA... What an A CO looks like is not clear and all talk The article recently in JAMA said we would dbe better off anyway if we aggregrate lots of data NOT just medicare for this very reason that some practices have too little medicare to measure improvement well enough. IMPS are well situated to be in an ACO We are going to be seen as incredibly valuable WE keep people out of hospitals we reduce med errors we get RHM done ..etc FIND docs to join up with now. NONE of this is in stone -no one knows what structures will look like SO make you r own now. I bet there iwll be pilots projects and opportunities umproving for those of us interested to get more involved than we were able to before. Jean On Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 3:51 AM, Locke <lockecoloradogmail> wrote: Some wondered if the new health bill would be the end of solo practices. =============================== I think the concern is that the bill may favor larger practices - at least in the sharing of cost savings w/ Medicare. It would seem to exclude solo practices since ACO's appear to be large practices and systems -- although there is the interesting option for "networks of practices" I suppose IMPs or solo docs could come together somehow to meet the criteria for an ACO - although it sounds like it would be complicated. Also, you would have to have at least 5,000 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries in the overall networks of practices. I'm not even sure we have 5,000 Medicare patients in the valley we live in. http://stabenow.senate.gov/healthcare/100209_Americas_Healthy_Future_Act_AMENDED.pdf Page 110 PART III—ENCOURAGING DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW PATIENT CARE MODELS Accountable Care Organizations Chairman’s Mark The Medicare program would allow groups of providers who voluntarily meet certain statutory criteria, including quality measurements, to be recognized as ACOs and be eligible to share in the cost-savings they achieve for the Medicare program. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2012, eligible ACOs would have the opportunity to qualify for an incentive bonus. Eligible ACOs would be defined as groups of providers and suppliers who have an established mechanism for joint decision making, such as for capital purchases. The following groups of providers and suppliers would be eligible for participation: practitioners in group practice arrangements; networks of practices; partnerships or joint-venture arrangements between hospitals and practitioners; hospitals employing practitioners; and such other groups of providers of services and suppliers as the Secretary determines appropriate. Practitioners would be defined as physicians, regardless of specialty, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, clinical nurse specialists, and other practitioners or suppliers as the Secretary determines appropriate. To qualify as an ACO, an organization would have to meet at least the following criteria: (1) agree to become accountable for the overall care of their Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries; (2) agree to a minimum three-year participation; (3) have a formal legal structure that would allow the organization to receive and distribute bonuses to participating providers; (4) include the primary care physicians for at least 5,000 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries; (5) provide CMS with information regarding primary care and specialist physicians participating in the ACO as the Secretary deems appropriate; (6) have arrangements in place with a core group of specialist physicians; (7) have in place a leadership and management structure, including with regard to clinical and administrative systems; (8) define processes to promote evidence-based medicine, report on quality and costs measure, and coordinate care such as through the use of telehealth, remote patient monitoring, and other such enabling technologies; and (9) demonstrate to the Secretary that it meets patient-centeredness criteria determined by the Secretary, such as use of patient and caregiver assessments or the use of individualized care plans. To earn the incentive payment the organization would have to meet certain quality thresholds. In determining the quality of care furnished by an ACO, the Secretary would be required to use measures such as: (1) clinical processes and outcomes; (2) patient and caregiver perspectives on care; and (3) utilization and costs (such as rates of ambulatory-sensitive admissions and readmissions). ACOs would be required to submit data, at the group and individual provider level, on measures the Secretary determines necessary to evaluate the quality of care furnished by the ACO. The Secretary would be required to establish performance standards for measures of the quality of care furnished by ACOs. The Secretary would be required to seek to improve the quality of care furnished by ACOs over time by specifying higher standards for purposes of assessing quality of care. The Secretary would be authorized to incorporate reporting requirements and incentive payments and penalties related to the physician quality reporting initiative (PQRI), electronic prescribing, electronic health records, and other similar initiatives into the reporting requirements for ACOs. CMS would assign Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries to ACOs based on their use of Medicare items and services in preceding periods. The achievement thresholds and rewards for the ACO would be as follows. The spending baseline would be determined on an organizational level by using the most recent three years of total per beneficiary spending for those beneficiaries assigned to the ACO. The target would be set by the baseline amount plus a flat-dollar amount that is equal to the risk-adjusted average expenditure growth per beneficiary nationally. Baselines would be re-set at end of the three-year period. ACOs with three-year average Medicare expenditures that are determined by CMS to be below their benchmark for the corresponding period would be eligible for shared savings at a rate determined appropriate by the Secretary. The Secretary would be required to set a minimum threshold of savings that would need to be achieved by an ACO before savings would be shared. The Secretary would have the authority to adjust the savings thresholds to account for the varying sizes of participating ACOs. If the Secretary determines that an ACO has taken steps to avoid at-risk patients in order to reduce the likelihood of increasing costs, the Secretary would be authorized to impose an appropriate sanction, including terminating agreements with participating ACOs. Locke, MD On Mon, Dec 28, 2009 at 11:12 AM, DRK <DRKdrkleinman> wrote: > Which parts suggest that solo will phased out? I can't follow all of the details enough to see what is really being said. > > Lowell Kleinman, MD > Family Practice of San Clemente > 1300 Avenida Vista Hermosa > Suite 150 > San Clemente, CA 92673 > (949) - 361-6623 office > (949) - 361-8163 fax > www.DrKleinman.com > > Re: [practicemgt] Anyone Following This? > > Once again Glenn, you've expressed my thoughts better than I could. > > As an independent small group owner, I don't think that AAFP supports > us in this fight. > > R. Pierce MD > Rockport, Maine > www.midcoastmedicine.com > > > > > On 12/28/2009 12:13 PM, gswheetfastmail (DOT) us wrote: >> But my AAFP leadership assured me that this legislation was good >> overall, though admittedly imperfect! How could it be so flawed? >> >> The truth is, for various reasons, I suspect our leadership would have >> swallowed ANY bill, as long as it had healthcare reform in the title. >> Honestly, it seemed that no matter what got crammed into this bill, no >> matter how much good stuff got taken out, we kept modifying our degree >> of support, but never withdrew it. Our Board of Directors sees some >> significant difference between saying "support" and "endorse", but in >> the end, laws either pass or fail, regardless of whether the legislators >> can claim 100%, 90%, or 65% support from the doctors. >> >> Guaranteed, all they heard in Congress was that the AAFP was on board. >> Qualifying our support is of what meaninful consequence after this bill >> is signed into law? >> >> Will we be allowed to obey only 80% of its provisions because the AAFP >> was only 80% satisfied with it? >> >> As to the provisions that effectively aim for the extinction of >> solo/small groups, it is clear that our leadership sold us out. >> When confronted with this, I can already tell you what we will hear: >> 1) Silence. Hope the questioner goes away. >> 2) "Oh, no." "You're reading this all wrong. It won't be that bad." >> 3) "This was a necessary compromise to ensure the overall position of >> primary care in HCR. Better to have large groups of primary care than >> multiple solo specialists as the future of healthcare in the U.S." >> >> I've refused to give a dime to our PAC as I feel it is advancing the >> cause of Corporate, Top-heavy Family Medicine (at best), and Corporate, >> Top-heavy Primary Care (with the FP gradually being phased out to the >> NP/PA model) at worst. I've listened to Board members within our own >> specialty say that they think this is the future of primary care and >> that we should be preparing to be managers rather than face-to-face >> clinicians. They may be right (I pray not), but I'm not going to fund a >> lobbyist to facilitate that process. My money will go to oppose such >> trends. >> >> The AAFP claims to be strong medicine for America. Our support for this >> so-called HCR looks more like a placebo with nauseating side-effects. >> >> Glenn Wheet, MD >> South Bend, MD >> >> >> >> >> On Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:04:19 -0500, "Pennie Marchetti" >> <pmarchettiameritech (DOT) net> said: >> >>> Just to scare you some more, here are some details about the bill that >>> just >>> passed that make me want to weep. >>> >>> >>> From the Wall Street Journal >>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254604574613992408387548.html >>> : >>> >>> >>> Primary-care doctors who refer patients to specialists will face >>> financial >>> penalties under the plan. Doctors will see 5% of their Medicare pay cut >>> when their "aggregated" use of resources is "at or above the 90th >>> percentile of national utilization," according to the chairman's mark of >>> Section 3003 of the bill. Doctors will feel financial pressure to limit >>> referrals to costly specialists like surgeons, since these penalties will >>> put the referring physician on the hook for the cost of the referral and >>> perhaps any resulting procedures. >>> >>> Next, the plan creates financial incentives for doctors to consolidate >>> their practices. The idea here is that Medicare can more easily apply its >>> regulations to institutions that manage large groups of doctors than it >>> can >>> to individual physicians. So the Obama plan imposes new costs on doctors >>> who remain solo, mostly by increasing their overhead requirementssuch as >>> requiring three years of medical records every time a doctor orders >>> routine >>> medical equipment like wheelchairs. >>> >>> The plan also offers doctors financial carrots if they give up their >>> small >>> practices and consolidate into larger medical groups, or become salaried >>> employees of large institutions such as hospitals or "staff model" >>> medical >>> plans like Kaiser Permanente. One provision, laid out in Section 3022, >>> allows doctors to share with the government any savings to the government >>> they achieve by delivering less carebut only if physicians are part of >>> groups caring for more than 5,000 Medicare patients and "have in place a >>> leadership and management structure, including with regard to clinical >>> and >>> administrative systems." >>> >>> While these payment reforms are structured as pilot programs in the >>> legislation, this distinction has little practical meaning. Medicare is >>> being given broad authority, for the first time, to roll these >>> demonstration programs out nationally without the need for a second >>> authorization by Congress. >>> >>> >>> And then there's this proof of what we've all felt intuitively - that >>> government intrusion in our business is already unbearable: >>> >>> http://healthcare.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjZhZGE1ODZhOGJlMDY0OTU3ZDBjYjdjZmRlYWJlZmM= >>> >>> The Public Welfare Code contains 109 pages of rules governing providers. >>> This includes rules governing the National Practitioners Database, HIPAA, >>> as well as other administrative regulations. A mere ten years earlier, >>> the >>> number of pages was only seven! >>> >>> That's an increase of 1,457% over ten years. Ouch! Don't expect that to >>> go down. >>> >>> Merry Christmas, here's hoping we all survive the New Year. >>> >>> Pennie Marchetti, MD >>> Stow, Ohio >>> solo practice >>> >>> At 10:27 PM 12/22/2009, you wrote: >>> >>>> "Why else would they pursue healthcare bills that their own party's left >>>> wing detests, unless they are doing so with a wink and a nod indicating >>>> that the liberals will eventually get everything they want & #8211; a >>>> single-payer system?" >>>> >>> --- >>> You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: gswheetfastmail (DOT) us >>> To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to >>> http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists >>> > > --- > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: drkdrkleinman > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists > > --- > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: lockecoloradogmail > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists > -- PATIENTS,please remember email may not be entirely secure and that Email is part of the medical record and is placed into the chart ( be careful what you say!) Email is best used for appointment making and brief questions Email replies can be expected within 24 hours-Please CALL if the matter is more urgent . MD ph fax impcenter.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 29, 2009 Report Share Posted December 29, 2009 , that's great that it is working in your area. But in my area, there are very few of us solo's I would say less than 10 in the 2 competing hospitals overlapping areas. They each run their own primaray care outpatient clinics, with their own bevy of specialist. They make no bones about the fact the I am in direct competition to their primary care clinics, one next door, 2 less than 10 minutes away, and I am the only solo primary care in about a 15 min radius. What about solo's like me? Cote' Re: [practicemgt] Anyone Following This? > > Once again Glenn, you've expressed my thoughts better than I could. > > As an independent small group owner, I don't think that AAFP supports > us in this fight. > > R. Pierce MD > Rockport, Maine > www.midcoastmedicine.com > > > > > >> But my AAFP leadership assured me that this legislation was good >> overall, though admittedly imperfect! How could it be so flawed? >> >> The truth is, for various reasons, I suspect our leadership would have >> swallowed ANY bill, as long as it had healthcare reform in the title. >> Honestly, it seemed that no matter what got crammed into this bill, no >> matter how much good stuff got taken out, we kept modifying our degree >> of support, but never withdrew it. Our Board of Directors sees some >> significant difference between saying "support" and "endorse", but in >> the end, laws either pass or fail, regardless of whether the legislators >> can claim 100%, 90%, or 65% support from the doctors. >> >> Guaranteed, all they heard in Congress was that the AAFP was on board. >> Qualifying our support is of what meaninful consequence after this bill >> is signed into law? >> >> Will we be allowed to obey only 80% of its provisions because the AAFP >> was only 80% satisfied with it? >> >> As to the provisions that effectively aim for the extinction of >> solo/small groups, it is clear that our leadership sold us out. >> When confronted with this, I can already tell you what we will hear: >> 1) Silence. Hope the questioner goes away. >> 2) "Oh, no." "You're reading this all wrong. It won't be that bad." >> 3) "This was a necessary compromise to ensure the overall position of >> primary care in HCR. Better to have large groups of primary care than >> multiple solo specialists as the future of healthcare in the U.S." >> >> I've refused to give a dime to our PAC as I feel it is advancing the >> cause of Corporate, Top-heavy Family Medicine (at best), and Corporate, >> Top-heavy Primary Care (with the FP gradually being phased out to the >> NP/PA model) at worst. I've listened to Board members within our own >> specialty say that they think this is the future of primary care and >> that we should be preparing to be managers rather than face-to-face >> clinicians. They may be right (I pray not), but I'm not going to fund a >> lobbyist to facilitate that process. My money will go to oppose such >> trends. >> >> The AAFP claims to be strong medicine for America. Our support for this >> so-called HCR looks more like a placebo with nauseating side-effects. >> >> Glenn Wheet, MD >> South Bend, MD >> >> >> >> >> On Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:04:19 -0500, "Pennie Marchetti" >> said: >> >>> Just to scare you some more, here are some details about the bill that >>> just >>> passed that make me want to weep. >>> >>> >>> From the Wall Street Journal >>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254604574613992408387548.html >>> : >>> >>> >>> Primary-care doctors who refer patients to specialists will face >>> financial >>> penalties under the plan. Doctors will see 5% of their Medicare pay cut >>> when their "aggregated" use of resources is "at or above the 90th >>> percentile of national utilization," according to the chairman's mark of >>> Section 3003 of the bill. Doctors will feel financial pressure to limit >>> referrals to costly specialists like surgeons, since these penalties will >>> put the referring physician on the hook for the cost of the referral and >>> perhaps any resulting procedures. >>> >>> Next, the plan creates financial incentives for doctors to consolidate >>> their practices. The idea here is that Medicare can more easily apply its >>> regulations to institutions that manage large groups of doctors than it >>> can >>> to individual physicians. So the Obama plan imposes new costs on doctors >>> who remain solo, mostly by increasing their overhead requirementssuch as >>> requiring three years of medical records every time a doctor orders >>> routine >>> medical equipment like wheelchairs. >>> >>> The plan also offers doctors financial carrots if they give up their >>> small >>> practices and consolidate into larger medical groups, or become salaried >>> employees of large institutions such as hospitals or "staff model" >>> medical >>> plans like Kaiser Permanente. One provision, laid out in Section 3022, >>> allows doctors to share with the government any savings to the government >>> they achieve by delivering less carebut only if physicians are part of >>> groups caring for more than 5,000 Medicare patients and "have in place a >>> leadership and management structure, including with regard to clinical >>> and >>> administrative systems." >>> >>> While these payment reforms are structured as pilot programs in the >>> legislation, this distinction has little practical meaning. Medicare is >>> being given broad authority, for the first time, to roll these >>> demonstration programs out nationally without the need for a second >>> authorization by Congress. >>> >>> >>> And then there's this proof of what we've all felt intuitively - that >>> government intrusion in our business is already unbearable: >>> >>> http://healthcare.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjZhZGE1ODZhOGJlMDY0OTU3ZDBjYjdjZmRlYWJlZmM= >>> >>> The Public Welfare Code contains 109 pages of rules governing providers. >>> This includes rules governing the National Practitioners Database, HIPAA, >>> as well as other administrative regulations. A mere ten years earlier, >>> the >>> number of pages was only seven! >>> >>> That's an increase of 1,457% over ten years. Ouch! Don't expect that to >>> go down. >>> >>> Merry Christmas, here's hoping we all survive the New Year. >>> >>> Pennie Marchetti, MD >>> Stow, Ohio >>> solo practice >>> >>> At 10:27 PM 12/22/2009, you wrote: >>> >>>> "Why else would they pursue healthcare bills that their own party's left >>>> wing detests, unless they are doing so with a wink and a nod indicating >>>> that the liberals will eventually get everything they want & #8211; a >>>> single-payer system?" >>>> >>> --- >>> You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: gswheet@... >>> To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to >>> http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists >>> > > --- > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: drk@... > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists > > --- > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: lockecolorado@... > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 29, 2009 Report Share Posted December 29, 2009 You are in my same situation, believe it or not. We, the IPA, are competing with a 3 monsters the Columbia Presbyterian System, the St. Luke’s system and the Montefiore system. Allt hem are octopuses or hydras/gargoyles a you may prefer to consider them plus 3 other “private†IPA’s with the added disruption of the hospital based system going broke and trying to convince the government that their way is better; even so they are going broke, except Monty. Personally, I love the hospital based practices they are my best advertisement, the second best are 3 large group practices within 10 blocks (2 of them 3 blocks away) of me that keep NP’s and PA’s (don’t take it personally) as PCP’s under some badly trained general doctor (yes you are allow to practice with no training after med school in NYS) that believe that primary care means a referral machine to anything the specialist can bill for. I mean Calcium CT scans for everyone, sleep studies for everyone that snores, IV osteoporosis medications, vascular surgery for cirrhotic patients that had an incidental finding of a peripheral artery obstruction, asymptomatic by the way, allergy panel testing and lime testing of everyone with a rash and so and so. These practices make people wait for hours, the staff thinks that their job is to boss people around and if you are sick and call they tell you to go to the emergency room of their associate hospital. Had a lady walk in with bronchitis, yesterday, she had called one of the practice and was told: your provider is on vacation until January 15th, she asked to see someone else and was told next available February 8th. Seen by me and already scheduled her husband and next door friend to see me.  How can I ask for more help, I seriously considered sending their staff a card thanking them about the good work they put in for me, my staff talked me out of it. Our IPA is trying hard to compete in basis of better service at this point. Personally I know as a fact that if you expose patients to my open scheduled, awesome service that provides each patient that leaves my office with a plan, knowledge of their problem, follow up and an understanding that I would be here for you; the other models can’t compete. Now the tricky part is to get enough people, like me, and care for enough patients that you can push ahead my plan B. I just had the COO of one of the biggest insurers for Medicaid and Medicare in the area and demonstrated that if I can retrain 5 docs to work like me and just avoid 5 ED visits per head per month I can create 1 million dollars for them in profit without spending a penny; I demonstrated that with my practice as I am a fraction the expense of the other guys, remember I take care of almost everything I can and refer little out. I told him straight that with the proper incentives, aka sharing that money with the PCP, I can make it happen. He is coming back next week to discuss how to make it happen. At the end of the day is all about money, if you can get a group of true Primary practitioners that are willing to provide excellent care without dumping, I meant “referringâ€, everything they can to “specialist†and giving the patients availability to the office so they can prevent HEALTH CRISIS (ED / Hospital visits) these people would listen and groups, how’s model is bill as much as you can, basically can’t compete in this environment. That is the power of good Primary Care. That is the power of a group of solo’s against the big guys, cheaper, more efficient and accessible care; but you need a group to be able to be listen at and numbers to prove that it works. Remember each one of those providers trying to mill patients thru is your enemy: he, usually a he, or she is taking a bigger portion of the pie and providing worse services for a limited supply of money. , I know it is lonely out there but keep it up and try to join forces with like minded individuals and prove to the money people that you are worth it. José from The Barrio From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of magnetdoctor@... Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 3:43 PM To: Subject: Re: ACO's --> end of solo? --> Re: Anyone Following This? , that's great that it is working in your area. But in my area, there are very few of us solo's I would say less than 10 in the 2 competing hospitals overlapping areas. They each run their own primaray care outpatient clinics, with their own bevy of specialist. They make no bones about the fact the I am in direct competition to their primary care clinics, one next door, 2 less than 10 minutes away, and I am the only solo primary care in about a 15 min radius. What about solo's like me? Cote' Re: [practicemgt] Anyone Following This? > > Once again Glenn, you've expressed my thoughts better than I could. > > As an independent small group owner, I don't think that AAFP supports > us in this fight. > > R. Pierce MD > Rockport, Maine > www.midcoastmedicine.com > > > > > On 12/28/2009 12:13 PM, gswheet@... wrote: >> But my AAFP leadership assured me that this legislation was good >> overall, though admittedly imperfect! How could it be so flawed? >> >> The truth is, for various reasons, I suspect our leadership would have >> swallowed ANY bill, as long as it had healthcare reform in the title. >> Honestly, it seemed that no matter what got crammed into this bill, no >> matter how much good stuff got taken out, we kept modifying our degree >> of support, but never withdrew it. Our Board of Directors sees some >> significant difference between saying " support " and " endorse " , but in >> the end, laws either pass or fail, regardless of whether the legislators >> can claim 100%, 90%, or 65% support from the doctors. >> >> Guaranteed, all they heard in Congress was that the AAFP was on board. >> Qualifying our support is of what meaninful consequence after this bill >> is signed into law? >> >> Will we be allowed to obey only 80% of its provisions because the AAFP >> was only 80% satisfied with it? >> >> As to the provisions that effectively aim for the extinction of >> solo/small groups, it is clear that our leadership sold us out. >> When confronted with this, I can already tell you what we will hear: >> 1) Silence. Hope the questioner goes away. >> 2) " Oh, no. " " You're reading this all wrong. It won't be that bad. " >> 3) " This was a necessary compromise to ensure the overall position of >> primary care in HCR. Better to have large groups of primary care than >> multiple solo specialists as the future of healthcare in the U.S. " >> >> I've refused to give a dime to our PAC as I feel it is advancing the >> cause of Corporate, Top-heavy Family Medicine (at best), and Corporate, >> Top-heavy Primary Care (with the FP gradually being phased out to the >> NP/PA model) at worst. I've listened to Board members within our own >> specialty say that they think this is the future of primary care and >> that we should be preparing to be managers rather than face-to-face >> clinicians. They may be right (I pray not), but I'm not going to fund a >> lobbyist to facilitate that process. My money will go to oppose such >> trends. >> >> The AAFP claims to be strong medicine for America. Our support for this >> so-called HCR looks more like a placebo with nauseating side-effects. >> >> Glenn Wheet, MD >> South Bend, MD >> >> >> >> >> On Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:04:19 -0500, " Pennie Marchetti " >> said: >> >>> Just to scare you some more, here are some details about the bill that >>> just >>> passed that make me want to weep. >>> >>> >>> From the Wall Street Journal >>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254604574613992408387548.html >>> : >>> >>> >>> Primary-care doctors who refer patients to specialists will face >>> financial >>> penalties under the plan. Doctors will see 5% of their Medicare pay cut >>> when their " aggregated " use of resources is " at or above the 90th >>> percentile of national utilization, " according to the chairman's mark of >>> Section 3003 of the bill. Doctors will feel financial pressure to limit >>> referrals to costly specialists like surgeons, since these penalties will >>> put the referring physician on the hook for the cost of the referral and >>> perhaps any resulting procedures. >>> >>> Next, the plan creates financial incentives for doctors to consolidate >>> their practices. The idea here is that Medicare can more easily apply its >>> regulations to institutions that manage large groups of doctors than it >>> can >>> to individual physicians. So the Obama plan imposes new costs on doctors >>> who remain solo, mostly by increasing their overhead requirementssuch as >>> requiring three years of medical records every time a doctor orders >>> routine >>> medical equipment like wheelchairs. >>> >>> The plan also offers doctors financial carrots if they give up their >>> small >>> practices and consolidate into larger medical groups, or become salaried >>> employees of large institutions such as hospitals or " staff model " >>> medical >>> plans like Kaiser Permanente. One provision, laid out in Section 3022, >>> allows doctors to share with the government any savings to the government >>> they achieve by delivering less carebut only if physicians are part of >>> groups caring for more than 5,000 Medicare patients and " have in place a >>> leadership and management structure, including with regard to clinical >>> and >>> administrative systems. " >>> >>> While these payment reforms are structured as pilot programs in the >>> legislation, this distinction has little practical meaning. Medicare is >>> being given broad authority, for the first time, to roll these >>> demonstration programs out nationally without the need for a second >>> authorization by Congress. >>> >>> >>> And then there's this proof of what we've all felt intuitively - that >>> government intrusion in our business is already unbearable: >>> >>> http://healthcare.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjZhZGE1ODZhOGJlMDY0OTU3ZDBjYjdjZmRlYWJlZmM= >>> >>> The Public Welfare Code contains 109 pages of rules governing providers. >>> This includes rules governing the National Practitioners Database, HIPAA, >>> as well as other administrative regulations. A mere ten years earlier, >>> the >>> number of pages was only seven! >>> >>> That's an increase of 1,457% over ten years. Ouch! Don't expect that to >>> go down. >>> >>> Merry Christmas, here's hoping we all survive the New Year. >>> >>> Pennie Marchetti, MD >>> Stow, Ohio >>> solo practice >>> >>> At 10:27 PM 12/22/2009, you wrote: >>> >>>> " Why else would they pursue healthcare bills that their own party's left >>>> wing detests, unless they are doing so with a wink and a nod indicating >>>> that the liberals will eventually get everything they want & #8211; a >>>> single-payer system? " >>>> >>> --- >>> You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: gswheet@... >>> To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to >>> http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists >>> > > --- > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: drk@... > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists > > --- > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: lockecolorado@... > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 4, 2010 Report Share Posted January 4, 2010 Here's a well publicized example of an interdependent practice organization with several specialties working together (courtesy of the AAFP list server). This is one potential model for future ACOs: http://www.tafp.org/news/TFP/09No1/cover.asp Maybe a variation of this could be the foundation of what you'd like to create here. R. Pierce MD Rockport, Maine www.midcoastmedicine.com so cindy why not talk to the other 10 and also some of the hospital's docs about working with specialist and case managing and working on quality and access issues? EVERYONE is unhappy in medicien and you could get them talking ;who cares who they work for? ( we are beginning having all the private PCPs in MAine talk to each other Thanks to PIerce on this list serv a nd a way cool head of the MAine medical Association One needs someone on t heir side to facilitate) If you are competeing for patients well what if you joined up since you do need to use specialista and ERs and hospitals The best one wins and if pcps decide to work for patietns and for their own dr satisfaction and setup some rules then maybe( dunno if this happens) patients will not leave the two area hospitals an d go elsewhere I think you are VALubale to the hospitals in terms of your use of XR LAb specialist yes? DOEs the hospital not care about that ? 10 docs is alot of XR and labs coming into them... No? On Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 3:42 PM, <magnetdoctorcomcast (DOT) net> wrote: , that's great that it is working in your area. But in my area, there are very few of us solo's I would say less than 10 in the 2 competing hospitals overlapping areas. They each run their own primaray care outpatient clinics, with their own bevy of specialist. They make no bones about the fact the I am in direct competition to their primary care clinics, one next door, 2 less than 10 minutes away, and I am the only solo primary care in about a 15 min radius. What about solo's like me? Cote' Re: [practicemgt] Anyone Following This? > > Once again Glenn, you've expressed my thoughts better than I could. > > As an independent small group owner, I don't think that AAFP supports > us in this fight. > > R. Pierce MD > Rockport, Maine > www.midcoastmedicine.com > > > > > On 12/28/2009 12:13 PM, gswheetfastmail (DOT) us wrote: >> But my AAFP leadership assured me that this legislation was good >> overall, though admittedly imperfect! How could it be so flawed? >> >> The truth is, for various reasons, I suspect our leadership would have >> swallowed ANY bill, as long as it had healthcare reform in the title. >> Honestly, it seemed that no matter what got crammed into this bill, no >> matter how much good stuff got taken out, we kept modifying our degree >> of support, but never withdrew it. Our Board of Directors sees some >> significant difference between saying "support" and "endorse", but in >> the end, laws either pass or fail, regardless of whether the legislators >> can claim 100%, 90%, or 65% support from the doctors. >> >> Guaranteed, all they heard in Congress was that the AAFP was on board. >> Qualifying our support is of what meaninful consequence after this bill >> is signed into law? >> >> Will we be allowed to obey only 80% of its provisions because the AAFP >> was only 80% satisfied with it? >> >> As to the provisions that effectively aim for the extinction of >> solo/small groups, it is clear that our leadership sold us out. >> When confronted with this, I can already tell you what we will hear: >> 1) Silence. Hope the questioner goes away. >> 2) "Oh, no." "You're reading this all wrong. It won't be that bad." >> 3) "This was a necessary compromise to ensure the overall position of >> primary care in HCR. Better to have large groups of primary care than >> multiple solo specialists as the future of healthcare in the U.S." >> >> I've refused to give a dime to our PAC as I feel it is advancing the >> cause of Corporate, Top-heavy Family Medicine (at best), and Corporate, >> Top-heavy Primary Care (with the FP gradually being phased out to the >> NP/PA model) at worst. I've listened to Board members within our own >> specialty say that they think this is the future of primary care and >> that we should be preparing to be managers rather than face-to-face >> clinicians. They may be right (I pray not), but I'm not going to fund a >> lobbyist to facilitate that process. My money will go to oppose such >> trends. >> >> The AAFP claims to be strong medicine for America. Our support for this >> so-called HCR looks more like a placebo with nauseating side-effects. >> >> Glenn Wheet, MD >> South Bend, MD >> >> >> >> >> On Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:04:19 -0500, "Pennie Marchetti" >> <pmarchettiameritech (DOT) net> said: >> >>> Just to scare you some more, here are some details about the bill that >>> just >>> passed that make me want to weep. >>> >>> >>> From the Wall Street Journal >>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254604574613992408387548.html >>> : >>> >>> >>> Primary-care doctors who refer patients to specialists will face >>> financial >>> penalties under the plan. Doctors will see 5% of their Medicare pay cut >>> when their "aggregated" use of resources is "at or above the 90th >>> percentile of national utilization," according to the chairman's mark of >>> Section 3003 of the bill. Doctors will feel financial pressure to limit >>> referrals to costly specialists like surgeons, since these penalties will >>> put the referring physician on the hook for the cost of the referral and >>> perhaps any resulting procedures. >>> >>> Next, the plan creates financial incentives for doctors to consolidate >>> their practices. The idea here is that Medicare can more easily apply its >>> regulations to institutions that manage large groups of doctors than it >>> can >>> to individual physicians. So the Obama plan imposes new costs on doctors >>> who remain solo, mostly by increasing their overhead requirementssuch as >>> requiring three years of medical records every time a doctor orders >>> routine >>> medical equipment like wheelchairs. >>> >>> The plan also offers doctors financial carrots if they give up their >>> small >>> practices and consolidate into larger medical groups, or become salaried >>> employees of large institutions such as hospitals or "staff model" >>> medical >>> plans like Kaiser Permanente. One provision, laid out in Section 3022, >>> allows doctors to share with the government any savings to the government >>> they achieve by delivering less carebut only if physicians are part of >>> groups caring for more than 5,000 Medicare patients and "have in place a >>> leadership and management structure, including with regard to clinical >>> and >>> administrative systems." >>> >>> While these payment reforms are structured as pilot programs in the >>> legislation, this distinction has little practical meaning. Medicare is >>> being given broad authority, for the first time, to roll these >>> demonstration programs out nationally without the need for a second >>> authorization by Congress. >>> >>> >>> And then there's this proof of what we've all felt intuitively - that >>> government intrusion in our business is already unbearable: >>> >>> http://healthcare.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjZhZGE1ODZhOGJlMDY0OTU3ZDBjYjdjZmRlYWJlZmM= >>> >>> The Public Welfare Code contains 109 pages of rules governing providers. >>> This includes rules governing the National Practitioners Database, HIPAA, >>> as well as other administrative regulations. A mere ten years earlier, >>> the >>> number of pages was only seven! >>> >>> That's an increase of 1,457% over ten years. Ouch! Don't expect that to >>> go down. >>> >>> Merry Christmas, here's hoping we all survive the New Year. >>> >>> Pennie Marchetti, MD >>> Stow, Ohio >>> solo practice >>> >>> At 10:27 PM 12/22/2009, you wrote: >>> >>>> "Why else would they pursue healthcare bills that their own party's left >>>> wing detests, unless they are doing so with a wink and a nod indicating >>>> that the liberals will eventually get everything they want & #8211; a >>>> single-payer system?" >>>> >>> --- >>> You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: gswheetfastmail (DOT) us >>> To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to >>> http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists >>> > > --- > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: drkdrkleinman > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists > > --- > You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: lockecoloradogmail > To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists > -- PATIENTS,please remember email may not be entirely secure and that Email is part of the medical record and is placed into the chart ( be careful what you say!) Email is best used for appointment making and brief questions Email replies can be expected within 24 hours-Please CALL if the matter is more urgent . MD ph fax impcenter.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 4, 2010 Report Share Posted January 4, 2010 I think IMPs could circle in this way. Like honeycombs. The thing that troubles me so much about Accountable Care Organizations is that the underlying assumptions are:1. Doctors are responsible for rise in health care costs.2. Doctors can control the cost of healthcare3. Doctors should take on the actuarial risks of individuals' health.I don't know about you all but I just do not have that kind of power by myself. The questions then become: 1. Can a collection of docs have that kind of power to take that kind of risk? 2. So what is it that insurance companies do if they are not the ones taking on actuarial risk?3. Didn't we try this before?4. The last time we tried this, seems to be the time when patients' mistrust in their doctors, escalated? 4. Do we really think it will improve the therapeutic alliance if patients have it the backs of their minds that medical decisions will be made according to the needs of the doctors' wallet?Call me blind or not 'forward' thinking. I think we need to learn from history.Kathleen (who is grumbling about a spot heard on NPR about some ACO in California.) Here's a well publicized example of an interdependent practice organization with several specialties working together (courtesy of the AAFP list server). This is one potential model for future ACOs:http://www.tafp.org/news/TFP/09No1/cover.aspMaybe a variation of this could be the foundation of what you'd like to create here. R. Pierce MD Rockport, Maine www.midcoastmedicine.com so cindy why not talk to the other 10 and also some of the hospital's docs about working with specialist and case managing and working on quality and access issues? EVERYONE is unhappy in medicien and you could get them talking ;who cares who they work for?( we are beginning having all the private PCPs in MAine talk to each other Thanks to PIerce on this list serv a nd a way cool head of the MAine medical Association One needs someone on t heir side to facilitate) If you are competeing for patients well what if you joined up since you do need to use specialista and ERs and hospitals The best one wins and if pcps decide to work for patietns and for their own dr satisfaction and setup some rules then maybe( dunno if this happens) patients will not leave the two area hospitals an d go elsewhere I think you are VALubale to the hospitals in terms of your use of XR LAb specialist yes? DOEs the hospital not care about that ? 10 docs is alot of XR and labs coming into them... No?On Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 3:42 PM, <magnetdoctorcomcast (DOT) net> wrote: , that's great that it is working in your area. But in my area, there are very few of us solo's I would say less than 10 in the 2 competing hospitals overlapping areas. They each run their own primaray care outpatient clinics, with their own bevy of specialist. They make no bones about the fact the I am in direct competition to their primary care clinics, one next door, 2 less than 10 minutes away, and I am the only solo primary care in about a 15 min radius. What about solo's like me? Cote' Re: [practicemgt] Anyone Following This?> > Once again Glenn, you've expressed my thoughts better than I could.> > As an independent small group owner, I don't think that AAFP supports> us in this fight.> > R. Pierce MD> Rockport, Maine> www.midcoastmedicine.com> > > > > On 12/28/2009 12:13 PM, gswheetfastmail (DOT) us wrote:>> But my AAFP leadership assured me that this legislation was good>> overall, though admittedly imperfect! How could it be so flawed?>> >> The truth is, for various reasons, I suspect our leadership would have>> swallowed ANY bill, as long as it had healthcare reform in the title.>> Honestly, it seemed that no matter what got crammed into this bill, no>> matter how much good stuff got taken out, we kept modifying our degree>> of support, but never withdrew it. Our Board of Directors sees some>> significant difference between saying "support" and "endorse", but in>> the end, laws either pass or fail, regardless of whether the legislators>> can claim 100%, 90%, or 65% support from the doctors.>> >> Guaranteed, all they heard in Congress was that the AAFP was on board.>> Qualifying our support is of what meaninful consequence after this bill>> is signed into law?>> >> Will we be allowed to obey only 80% of its provisions because the AAFP>> was only 80% satisfied with it?>> >> As to the provisions that effectively aim for the extinction of>> solo/small groups, it is clear that our leadership sold us out.>> When confronted with this, I can already tell you what we will hear:>> 1) Silence. Hope the questioner goes away.>> 2) "Oh, no." "You're reading this all wrong. It won't be that bad.">> 3) "This was a necessary compromise to ensure the overall position of>> primary care in HCR. Better to have large groups of primary care than>> multiple solo specialists as the future of healthcare in the U.S.">> >> I've refused to give a dime to our PAC as I feel it is advancing the>> cause of Corporate, Top-heavy Family Medicine (at best), and Corporate,>> Top-heavy Primary Care (with the FP gradually being phased out to the>> NP/PA model) at worst. I've listened to Board members within our own>> specialty say that they think this is the future of primary care and>> that we should be preparing to be managers rather than face-to-face>> clinicians. They may be right (I pray not), but I'm not going to fund a>> lobbyist to facilitate that process. My money will go to oppose such>> trends.>> >> The AAFP claims to be strong medicine for America. Our support for this>> so-called HCR looks more like a placebo with nauseating side-effects.>> >> Glenn Wheet, MD>> South Bend, MD>> >> >> >> >> On Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:04:19 -0500, "Pennie Marchetti">> <pmarchettiameritech (DOT) net> said:>> >>> Just to scare you some more, here are some details about the bill that>>> just>>> passed that make me want to weep.>>> >>> >>> From the Wall Street Journal>>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254604574613992408387548.html>>> :>>> >>> >>> Primary-care doctors who refer patients to specialists will face>>> financial>>> penalties under the plan. Doctors will see 5% of their Medicare pay cut>>> when their "aggregated" use of resources is "at or above the 90th>>> percentile of national utilization," according to the chairman's mark of>>> Section 3003 of the bill. Doctors will feel financial pressure to limit>>> referrals to costly specialists like surgeons, since these penalties will>>> put the referring physician on the hook for the cost of the referral and>>> perhaps any resulting procedures.>>> >>> Next, the plan creates financial incentives for doctors to consolidate>>> their practices. The idea here is that Medicare can more easily apply its>>> regulations to institutions that manage large groups of doctors than it>>> can>>> to individual physicians. So the Obama plan imposes new costs on doctors>>> who remain solo, mostly by increasing their overhead requirementssuch as>>> requiring three years of medical records every time a doctor orders>>> routine>>> medical equipment like wheelchairs.>>> >>> The plan also offers doctors financial carrots if they give up their>>> small>>> practices and consolidate into larger medical groups, or become salaried>>> employees of large institutions such as hospitals or "staff model">>> medical>>> plans like Kaiser Permanente. One provision, laid out in Section 3022,>>> allows doctors to share with the government any savings to the government>>> they achieve by delivering less carebut only if physicians are part of>>> groups caring for more than 5,000 Medicare patients and "have in place a>>> leadership and management structure, including with regard to clinical>>> and>>> administrative systems.">>> >>> While these payment reforms are structured as pilot programs in the>>> legislation, this distinction has little practical meaning. Medicare is>>> being given broad authority, for the first time, to roll these>>> demonstration programs out nationally without the need for a second>>> authorization by Congress.>>> >>> >>> And then there's this proof of what we've all felt intuitively - that>>> government intrusion in our business is already unbearable:>>> >>> http://healthcare.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjZhZGE1ODZhOGJlMDY0OTU3ZDBjYjdjZmRlYWJlZmM=>>> >>> The Public Welfare Code contains 109 pages of rules governing providers.>>> This includes rules governing the National Practitioners Database, HIPAA,>>> as well as other administrative regulations. A mere ten years earlier,>>> the>>> number of pages was only seven!>>> >>> That's an increase of 1,457% over ten years. Ouch! Don't expect that to>>> go down.>>> >>> Merry Christmas, here's hoping we all survive the New Year.>>> >>> Pennie Marchetti, MD>>> Stow, Ohio>>> solo practice>>> >>> At 10:27 PM 12/22/2009, you wrote:>>> >>>> "Why else would they pursue healthcare bills that their own party's left>>>> wing detests, unless they are doing so with a wink and a nod indicating>>>> that the liberals will eventually get everything they want & #8211; a>>>> single-payer system?">>>> >>> --->>> You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: gswheetfastmail (DOT) us>>> To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to>>> http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists>>> > > ---> You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: drkdrkleinman> To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists> > ---> You are currently subscribed to practicemgt as: lockecoloradogmail> To unsubscribe or to manage your settings, please go to http://members.aafp.org/members/cgi-bin/myaafp.pl?op=subscriptions & type=lists> -- PATIENTS,please remember email may not be entirely secure and that Email is part of the medical record and is placed into the chart ( be careful what you say!)Email is best used for appointment making and brief questionsEmail replies can be expected within 24 hours-Please CALL if the matter is more urgent . 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