Is it possible to reduce the medical cost and also the burden on hospital emergency rooms? Yes, if you follow the coordinated process suggested by Anchorage-based physicians. Four years ago, six Anchorage physicians and Jocelyn Pemberton, a medical administrator, took an initiative for reducing medical costs. Their initiative also made sure that the emergency rooms of the hospitals will have lesser patients. Now their team has an active caseload of about 270. The team has helped about 5,000 patients since the project started in January 2015.
How the initiative helped in reducing medical costs?
This initiative of reducing the medical costs was supported by Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield. Most of the patients being assisted are Blue Cross members with costs paid through their health insurance.
Jocelyn Pemberton says,
“This all started four or five years ago in discussions within the physician community about how to improve the health care system and reduce waste through collaboration.”
When the group for formed, the founding members were Jeremy Gitomer, Noah Laufer, Eric Miknich, Kathy Hurlburt, Tim Bateman and Terry Lester, along with Pemberton. All of them were Anchorage physicians.
Pemberton further says,
“We created the concept of clinically-driven care coordination out of these discussions. The idea was to provide a multi-disciplinary approach that would allow us to be flexible and match the needs of each patient. The social worker or the case manager often takes the lead with the patient and can pull in resources as they are needed.”
So when the team helps people in reducing medical costs, do they treat the patients themselves? Well, no. Pemberton mentions,
“We are not a clinic, although we have an office for our staff to meet with patients who aren’t comfortable with a home visit. Our role is to help coordinate the patient’s integration back into the primary care system from the hospital and to ensure the continuity of the care,”
For reducing medical costs, the team believes in coordinated care. Instead of ad hoc visits to emergency rooms or medical specialists, this kind of coordinated care will lead to more effective care and in the long run, lower costs.
Date: June 8, 2017