Staffing Models for Primary Care on WIHI

Madge Kaplan writes:

The next WIHI broadcast — New Staffing Models for Primary Care — will take place on Thursday, October 10, from 2 to 3 PM ET, and I hope you'll tune in.

Our guests will include:

• Ed Wagner, MD, MPH, MACP, Director Emeritus, MacColl Center for Health Care Innovation, Group Health Research Institute 
• Trissa Torres, MD, MSPH, FACPM, Senior Vice President, Institute for Healthcare Improvement 
• Kirsten Meisinger, MD, Medical Director, Union Square Family Health Center, Cambridge Health Alliance 
• Thad Schilling, MD, Medical Director, Patient-Centered Medical Home, Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates-Medford (MA) 

What does it take to be a high-functioning primary care practice today in the US? Some 30 sites of all  shapes and sizes are in the midst of being studied in hopes of answering this very question. The Robert  Wood Johnson Foundation and the MacColl Center for Health Care Innovation selected these practices  because of their exemplary and innovative staffing models. Figuring out the best ways to delegate  responsibilities and work as a team is one of the central needs for all primary care providers today, and  midway through the project known as LEAP (Learning from Effective Ambulatory Practices) WIHI will get a look at the success factors that LEAP has identified thus far.

Dr. Ed Wagner of the MacColl Center is LEAP’s Project Director (along with Margaret Flinter, APRN, Phd) and he’ll be heading up the discussion on the October 10 WIHI: New Staffing Models for Primary Care. Dr. Wagner developed the Chronic Care Model, which was groundbreaking for office practices in the late 1990s and remains foundational to the creation of patient-centered medical homes today. Changing how providers and staff both divide up the work and share responsibility for every patient is a critical part of this transformation, and Drs. Kirsten Meisinger and Thad Schilling will use their time on this WIHI to share what they’ve been doing that’s earning their sites accolades and, most importantly, achieving better results.

IHI’s Trissa Torres is no stranger to primary care transformation. Prior to joining IHI, Dr. Torres helped pioneer new care models for the Genesys Health System in Michigan and developed the concept and role of “Health Navigators” to help patients build upon an office visit and identify further support in the community. All this and more on this next WIHI. 

I hope you'll join us! You can enroll for the broadcast here.