February 14th, 2012
At Partners HealthCare, we’re constantly looking for ways to use technology to improve the patient experience. Systems like electronic medical records and patient portals make it easier for us to efficiently deliver uniform high-quality care to our patients.
Patient portals are online tools that give patients an opportunity to interact with their physician’s office and access important information from their medical record. No longer do patients have to play “phone tag” with their doctor’s office to get lab results; they can simply go online and get those results for themselves. And for those helping to coordinate care for a child or an elderly parent, a patient portal can link their online account to that family member’s doctor and allow them to better manage their family’s care. We believe that the widespread adoption of patient portals will streamline care for both doctors and their patients, providing a convenient way for patients to better understand and manage their health. More…
Tags: coordinated care, redesigning care, technology
Posted
at 3:47 PM
February 3rd, 2012
Here on Connect with Partners, we often discuss the various efforts that Partners HealthCare and the rest of the marketplace are making to help slow the growth in health care costs. Today, Martha Bebinger of WBUR conducted a wide-ranging and insightful conversation with four of the region’s leading health care experts in an attempt to take stock of how the market is doing. The piece – “As Health Costs Rise More Slowly, How Low Can We Go?” – weighs the various innovations taking place in the Massachusetts marketplace and their impact on health costs over the long term.
Stuart Altman, a Brandeis University professor and nationally known health care expert, pointed in particular to some of the efforts underway at Partners. Altman states, “Partners has done some amazing things to lower costs.” More…
Tags: affordability, industry interactions, redesigning care
Posted
at 12:20 PM
January 27th, 2012
Last week, The New York Times reported on the Obama Administration’s push to disclose payments that doctors receive from drug makers and medical device companies. And this past Saturday, The Boston Globe weighed in with an editorial in favor of this new federal disclosure plan as well. At Partners HealthCare, we support this level of transparency. The relationship between the academic medical community and the medical industry is fundamentally important for translating scientific advances into patient care improvements. However, this relationship must be managed in a way that assures and preserves the actual – and perceived – integrity of our research, education and patient-care activities. More…
Tags: industry interactions
Posted
at 6:16 PM
January 24th, 2012
Here on Connect with Partners, we often highlight how the health care marketplace is working to address rising costs. In last night’s State of the State address (read the full transcript here), Governor Deval Patrick applauded these efforts, declaring, “The market is moving in the right direction and that’s very good news.”
To emphasize this point, the Governor highlighted the reopening of contracts by hospitals and insurers to accept lower rates, evidenced by Partners HealthCare’s new contracts with Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Tufts Health Plan. Today’s Boston Globe provides further evidence supporting the Governor’s stance, as Children’s Hospital Boston and Blue Cross Blue Shield just announced a similar agreement to curb health care costs. More…
Tags: affordability, redesigning care
Posted
at 12:23 PM
January 19th, 2012
At a time when health care costs are an increasing concern for patients and their families and are squeezing budgets for cities and towns, it is critical for providers and insurers to work together to find solutions. Partners HealthCare is taking yet another step in that direction, announcing a renegotiation with Tufts Health Plan. By ripping up the last two years of our previous agreement with Tufts, we are able to offer patients across Massachusetts more than $105 million in savings over the next four years. Combined with a similar announcement last fall, total savings to be passed back to consumers stands at $345 million over the next four years.
Beyond the cost savings, however, this program is important because it is an opportunity for Partners HealthCare to pursue our mission of providing high-quality care. As part of the agreement, Partners will enter into Tufts’ Coordinated Care Model (CCM), which means that it will be our responsibility to meet or exceed quality measures while keeping cost-growth lower than the average of the rest of the Tufts Health Plan provider network. Through our partnership with Tufts, we will be able provide coordinated, high-quality care at more affordable rates. More…
Tags: affordability, coordinated care, redesigning care
Posted
at 5:30 PM
January 13th, 2012
Pictured left to right: Mark Dumouchel, President, Eaton Apothecary; Nisha Thakrar, M.D., Medical Director, SBCHC; Matt Fishman, Vice President for Community Health, Partners HealthCare; Kevin Barrett, outgoing President, SBCHC Board of Directors; Bill Halpin, CEO, SBCHC;
Congressman Stephen F. Lynch; James W. Hunt, Jr., President & CEO, Mass League of Community Health Centers; Bill Linehan, Boston City Councilor, District 2; Representative Nick Collins, Boston.
Affordability and convenience are two key factors that make the new, on-site pharmacy at South Boston Community Health Center appealing for patients, staff and community residents. Our longstanding relationship with the health center, and our financial support for the pharmacy, speak both to our commitment to our communities and to finding news ways to improve community health.
The pharmacy, which is located on the first floor of the health center, offers continuity of care and increased access to affordable medications. It will help people become more engaged in their health care and better equipped to live healthier lives. More…
Tags: community, community partnerships
Posted
at 6:42 PM
January 12th, 2012
This morning’s New York Times featured an editorial documenting the slowdown in rising health care costs across the country. By almost any measure, the amount we are spending as a country on health care is falling more in-line with the rest of the economy.
While experts have different views on what is driving this slowdown, the Times editorial drives home one critically important point: “Controlling spending will require reforms that coordinate delivery of services, reduce unnecessary care and spur innovations that improve quality and curb medical costs.”
More…
Tags: affordability, coordinated care, redesigning care
Posted
at 11:59 AM
December 27th, 2011
As the year comes to a close, it is an appropriate time to look back at some of the ways that Partners HealthCare’s world-class hospitals, clinicians, researchers and other team members helped change delivery of health care in 2011. Last week, CBS News unveiled its list of the top health stories of 2011, and we are proud to say that Brigham and Women’s groundbreaking face transplant procedures serve as the cover story for this online feature. As the first surgery of its kind in the United States, this transplant exemplifies our mission of applying the latest medical research advances to improve the care and treatment of our patients. More…
Tags: research and discovery, technology
Posted
at 1:52 PM
December 23rd, 2011
This morning’s Boston Globe features a piece by columnist Steve Syre, which points out that some of Boston’s best-known providers, including Partners Healthcare, are working with the federal government on an initiative focused on delivering high-quality care at lower costs.
This initiative is known as the Pioneer ACO (Accountable Care Organization) program. Syre points out, “The commitment to the Pioneer program – the more aggressive of at least two cost-conscious pilot plans Medicare offered to health care providers – certainly feels like an important threshold to cross.” More…
Tags: affordability, redesigning care
Posted
by
Matt Fishman, Vice President of Community Health at 3:25 PM
December 22nd, 2011
Following a rigorous strategic planning process, Partners Community Health recently identified three priority areas of focus in order to increase our commitment to the communities we serve. These three strategies – enhancing access to health care, building tomorrow’s health care workforce and improving the health and well-being of communities through prevention – will help us meet our goals of positively impacting the overall health of low income and vulnerable people.
Access
While 98 percent of Massachusetts residents have health insurance, many still struggle with accessing quality, affordable health care. Partners Community Health works with a wide range of organizations to develop initiatives for increasing the number of primary care doctors and nurses practicing in community settings. We are continuing our commitment to the 21 licensed and affiliated community health centers we support – the cornerstone of care for more than 350,000 residents – and we believe everyone who wants quality health care should be able to get it, regardless of geographic location or economic circumstances. More…
Tags: community, community partnerships, creating jobs
For more information about Partners HealthCare,
our members and services, visit Partners.org
At Partners HealthCare, we’re constantly looking for ways to use technology to improve the patient experience. Systems like electronic medical records and patient portals make it easier for us to efficiently deliver uniform high-quality care to our patients.
