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Conference
on Practice Improvement
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Friday, December 5
8:15-9:45 am
“From Theory to Practice: Partnerships for Making the Medical Home Work”
Rhonda Medows, MD, FAAFP, Commissioner, Georgia Department of Community Health
The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) cannot be created without attention to the larger environment of health care and health care programs in our communities. Do we have allies in the halls of state regulation and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services who understand the importance of a personal medical home and will help us to create it? Yes.
Rhonda Medows, MD, a family physician and current Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Health will describe the challenges and successes of creating a personal medical home in our communities; medical homes that care for all our citizens and use teams, new technology, new methods and yes, government support to improve the care we give. Dr Medows will discuss how changes in information technology can help us provide better care and decrease the disparities that characterize many health care systems. She will share a vision of better care, better outcomes and better collaboration for our practices.
Dr Medows, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Health, was appointed by Governor Sonny Perdue in December 2005. She leads a $10 billion agency responsible for the purchasing, planning and regulation of health care for over 2.4 million Georgians. The Department is currently implementing several major health care initiatives for Georgia’s Medicaid, PeachCare Health Insurance Program for Kids, and the State Health Benefit Plan for state employees, teachers and retirees. Prior to her appointment, Dr Medows served as the first chief medical officer for the CMS Region IV Office located in Atlanta. From 2001 through 2004, she served as secretary of Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration with an operating budget of $14.3 billion and 1,600 employees located in 11 district offices across the state. Dr Medows practiced medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida.
Saturday, December 6
8:15-9:45 am
“The Patient-centered Medical Home: An Educational and Practice Challenge”
Greg Pawlson, MD, MPH, Executive Vice President, National Committee for Quality Assurance,Washington, DC
The basic concepts of the patient- centered medical home have been developed and endorsed by the AAFP, ACP, AAP, and AOA. However, if taken at face value, the concepts require a fundamental change for most physicians in the way primary care is delivered. This presentation will review the core concepts, and the challenge they pose to education from levels of medical student to practicing physician. How this process links to individual clinician maintenance of certification and practice qualification as medical homes will also be addressed. Audience reaction and input will be strongly encouraged.
Greg Pawlson, MD, MPH, is executive vice president of National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).Beyond his role as a senior member of the leadership team at NCQA, he has oversight and responsibility for research and analysis, federal and state contracting, performance measure development and corporate/foundation relationships. While at NCQA, he has played a major role in all phases of the development and maintenance of the current set of HEDIS® measures and other NCQA measures including those used in physician recognition programs and pay for performance projects.
Dr Pawlson has also had an active research presence in policy and health services research with a focus early in his career on health professions education, health policy and health care financing of the care of older persons and more recently on quality measurement, improvement, evaluation and reporting. His research at NCQA has included projects related to the development and testing of performance measures, including a set of measures of the presence and function of systems in ambulatory care practice, issues related to the HOS and CAHPS survey, and the relationship between efficiency and effectiveness in health care.
Sunday, December 7
9:45-11 am
“Evidence, Technology, and the Patient Centered Home”
Mark Ebell, MD, MS, Director, Predoctoral Education, Medical College of Georgia
Family physicians are drowning in information: practice guidelines, review articles, original research, and even the popular media. At the same time, we are increasingly expected to quickly apply the results of research to the care of our patients. How can the generalist do a better job of managing medical information? Mark Ebell, MD, MS, will help you develop a strategy to make the best use of your limited time. You’ll learn how to filter the literature for the most useful information to you and your patients, learn tricks for rapidly answering questions at the point of care, and learn the 5 quick lessons that will make you an “instant EBM expert”. Dr Ebell will also demonstrate tools for smartphones and PDAs that bring evidence to the bedside.
Dr Ebell is editor in chief of Essential Evidence, the deputy editor of American Family Physician, and a professor at the University of Georgia. He is author of over 180 peer-reviewed articles, with a focus on systematic reviews, meta-analysis, informatics, and clinical decision-making. Dr Ebell is also author or editor of several books, including “Evidence-Based Diagnosis” and the “Essentials of Family Medicine”, and is the developer of the InfoRetriever medical reference software. He divides his time between Athens, Georgia and Onekama, Michigan.