Partnerships Can Improve Patient Care

Stephen Day, CEO

Heartland Clinics of America, Inc.

www.heartlandclinicsusa.com

?Effective partnerships between health plans and medical practice groups will be crucial to improving care over the next decade. They should focus on building strong infrastructure, engaging practitioners as full partners, and collecting data to improve outcomes. There are several key components of an effective partnership, including:

1.????Clear goals,

2.???Leadership commitment, including the Board of Directors.

3.???Relationships based on improving quality, controlling healthcare spending growth, and providing practitioners with highly actionable data.

4.???Partnerships should also involve work within stakeholders and patients within communities to foster a culture of trust and improvement.

Developing a understanding of institutions and stakeholders involved

Successful partnerships with healthcare companies require a deeper knowledge of the institutions involved in providing quality health care services. In addition to establishing a mutually beneficial relationship, successful partnerships must be flexible and can be adjusted to the changing needs of both organizations. The healthcare landscape is rapidly changing, and the priorities of different institutions can quickly diverge. To create a meaningful and sustainable partnership, a leader must first understand the institutions and their respective goals and objectives. With this knowledge, leaders can build meaningful partnerships and deploy best-in-class capabilities to provide value to all partners. In many cases, innovative products and services can be the result of these partnerships.

While some partnerships will require a clear role for the partnership leaders, others may require flexibility to ensure collaboration and maximize resources. For example, some partnerships will require a multidisciplinary approach with different departments.

They should support shared and personalized decision making with the entire partnership network. There should be no surprises.

Shared and personalized decision making is a way for patients to take control of their medical care. The process allows patients to participate in the decision-making process and express their values and goals. It also reduces the risk of adverse side effects and hospitalizations. The majority of health care spending goes toward chronic conditions such as diabetes. Avoiding complications would save $100 billion a year. The process also helps healthcare organizations align success with patient values, which in turn increases patient engagement and compliance. As a result, personalized health care is a powerful tool for rehumanizing health care.

Shared decision making is a collaborative approach to care that involves the patient and provider in all aspects of a medical decision. It promotes more effective, ethical, and cost-effective care by incorporating patient values into decision-making. However, SDM is difficult to implement in routine practice, and integration into EHRs is a major challenge. Lack of explanation mechanisms can inhibit adoption and lead to poor implementation. This paper discusses potential solutions, including the concept of a "Personalize Button" in EHRs.

Partners should support capital, scale, and operational efficiencies

AND OPEN COMMUNICATION.

Partnerships with healthcare companies provide new opportunities for innovation. They can unlock speed to market and capital as well as operational efficiencies. Partnerships may be the most effective way for healthcare providers to expand their service and technology offerings. But how do you build a partnership that benefits both sides?

Hospitals should carefully monitor their core clinical service lines. Advanced medical care and surgical care, for example, can help offset losses in less-profitable services and help secure long-term financial viability. These advancements can be expensive, however. New technology can also create duplicative services. Furthermore, smaller community hospitals often don't have the scale or patient volume to implement new services.

Heartland Clinics will be partnering with other service providers and medical technology companies to offer the most advanced clinical experiences for the patients.?Healthcare and life sciences technologies, billing and credentialing services, diagnostics and pharma, and university medical schools will all be components of our healthcare solutions. And they will ALL have a seat at the table. ?The big question will always be if the giants include us in their growth plans and capture teams for large contracts. That requires strong leadership from the top. ?

Creative healthcare companies like Heartland Clinics can mobilize and provide care in communities far from the closest hospitals and doctors. By partnering with large health insurance companies such as United Healthcare, we can reach patients in their own communities rather than require them to drive hours to a more urban area.

But what advantages does a company like Heartland offer the big corporations like UHC?

1.????While we can learn much from our bigger partners, they will learn and rely upon us as well.?We can provide services to their insured who may not be able to access traditional healthcare locations.

2.???We are nimbler and can respond with our mobile clinics to outbreaks or to emergency needs such as the physical or mental care needed after major disasters, such as flooding or hurricanes.

3.???Our care givers can effectively screen for early detection of cancer, diabetes and other chronic conditions that only worsen when the patient is unaware.?This can save lives. We also reduce the high costs involved when cancer or diabetes is not diagnosed. Since post-partum depression is a leading cause of female suicides, we can screen for those tell-tale signs as well.

4.???Heartland can gauge the efficiency of subscribed pharma and medical devices from our firsthand experiences with our patients.

5.???In Medicaid and other contracts, we are a more effective means of providing the care promised by the larger contracted companies.

If you or your company is interested in serving the underserved, in areas across the USA, we would like to get acquainted. We are seeking physicians, NPs, RNs, PAs, and other practitioners. And if you lead a company that can improve the health of our rural patients, talk with us. ?

To discuss partnering or working with us, please contact.

[email protected]

?

A Mission-Driven Healthcare Company