www.timesdispatch.com – The need to better manage costs while improving quality, safety and patient outcomes is driving the push for innovation in health care.

Americans spend more on health care per person than residents of many developed nations, yet patient outcomes and public health measures, such as average life span and infant mortality, are no better and often worse than countries that spend less.

“We really see what is driving innovation is a quest for better value,” said Beth A. Bortz, president and CEO of the Virginia Center for Health Innovation. The center is a public-private partnership formed to “accelerate the adoption of value-driven models of wellness and health care.”

“It’s not necessarily that we are spending the wrong amount,” Bortz said. “We might be spending the right amount, but we don’t feel that we are getting the value.”

The Virginia Center for Health Innovation has collected more than 350 examples of innovations in its online database, the Virginia Health Innovation Network.

In June, health care innovation will be the focus of a two-day conference in Richmond presented by the Virginia Center for Health Innovation, the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and other partners.

“People can come and sort of do a one-stop shop, to see what are the (health) plans doing, what are the health systems doing, what are some of the technology companies doing,” Bortz said.

“We’re bringing in a number of new venture capital groups that are investing in health care startups … to talk about what do they see and why should we care, what are the most promising things that they are identifying.”

Innovation in health care takes many forms: new treatments, new drugs, new technology, new process or ways of doing things. Here are two examples.

Taking control

Health Diagnostic Laboratory’s chief medical officer, Dr. Tara Dall, is leading the company’s charge to change the way doctors approach some aspects of preventive care.

HDL offers an extensive panel of tests that the company says better predict whether a person is at risk of heart disease or diabetes. Some tests can gauge risk 10 to 15 years before any symptoms show up.

Dall said the traditional lipid panel just barely scratches the surface of what patients and doctors need to know about a person’s risk.

“My goal is not to miss anybody. I don’t want somebody to think they are low-risk when they are not, and we can do something about it.”

“Our blood testing is able to pick up on the very, very early markers of disease,” said Dall, who trained in family medicine and lipidology with a focus on management of high cholesterol and other lipid disorders.

The company recently opened “My HDL Hubs.” Patients can self-refer to the medical offices and pay out of pocket for a panel of advanced laboratory tests.

Consumers can work with an HDL health coach or their own doctor to understand what the numbers mean and how to make changes to improve their health.

Some employers are paying attention.

Bon Secours Virginia Health System and Free Agents Marketing have integrated HDL testing into employee wellness programs.

“All of our employees are offered this panel,” said Mary Anne Graf, vice president for women’s services at Bon Secours Virginia Health System.

“The coaching is offered to all of our employees, and it’s part of our wellness initiative for employees.”

“Bon Secours physicians are being educated about it; the cardiologists in particular are using it pretty actively,” Graf said.

Dall said some doctors embrace the testing more passionately than others.

“I would say primary care (doctors) are more likely to embrace it and to act upon it.”

Care coordination

It’s not unusual for a patient to be admitted to a hospital under the care of a specialist without the knowledge of the patient’s primary care physician.

That is the sort of gap in patient care that an 18-month-old Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield program is trying to close.

Anthem’s Enhanced Personal Health Care program is paying primary care doctors more to keep closer tabs on patients with complex medical issues or who have multiple medical issues that require them to see different doctors.

The program was rolled out in October 2012, and about 1,500 physicians affiliated with 23 primary care practices in Virginia have signed on, according to Anthem.

“It’s meant to empower the physician, to give more data to the physician so that we can not only close the care gaps but also help defragment the health care system that has evolved,” said Dr. J. Kenneth Zelenak of Commonwealth Primary Care, which has been part of the program for about a year.

The program helps doctors identify preventive measures for patients who don’t have a regular doctor or have regular physicals.

“For those individuals who don’t come in for those preventative exams or who may be getting services at several different places, … care has become very fragmented,” Zelenak said.

“So what we are trying to do with this information Anthem is providing us is to identify those patients who are more at risk of missing out on preventative measures or who have fallen through the cracks and try to reach out to them and get them in.”

Anthem is also providing notification when someone is hospitalized.

“In the past they would be discharged and be told to follow up with your primary care physician. We are now actively pursuing those folks who are scheduled for discharge, reaching out to them in hopes that we can help bring them in sooner and make sure we address any post-hospitalization issues,” Zelenak said.

Sumber: http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/

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