Before we begin the first module, let's listen to a group of physicians talk about value-based care. This video is from Central Ohio Primary Care, COPC, the largest physician owned primary care practice in the country. As they are making a successful change from traditional health care to the VBC model. Again, as you listen, have your digital or paper notepad handy to synthesize the key points. COPC is the largest physician owned primary care practice in the country. Our path to value really started with becoming Patient-Centered Medical Homes. We decided that we were going to transform the way we deliver care and the way we get paid for care. The quality improvement department started five years ago, very shortly after that, Humana, came to us and said, "Would you allow us to embed one of our nurses into your program?" At that point, it was just myself, so I said absolutely, we worked together. That year we went from a three-star program to a four-star rating. I learned a tremendous amount from her, and that started the foundation of the quality improvement department. We utilized, per member, per month care coordination payments from the plans to build the infrastructure that we needed. It's tempting to want to divert that cashflow to salaries of physicians, but we took it all and we used it to build up the infrastructure, the care coordinators, the quality nurses, to make sure that we had the resources to be able to switch and provide value-based care. My job is to coordinate people who are recently in the hospital to hopefully help prevent the people at most risk for a readmission. I just had a recent elderly patient that was having trouble with his diabetes medications and I reached out to one of our care coordinators and she met with him and his family, actually went to his home and together we developed a plan, and now, he's taking his medications appropriately and doing well. I think in the past, especially when I first started, the insurance companies were just a means of being paid. I don't think they were really playing much of a role in patient care and the quality of care. Now, it seems that I feel they're in the ballgame. I mean, they want to help us take better care of our patients. We've seen our admits per 1,000 go down dramatically from the mid 200s to about a 160. We've seen our readmission rate decline as well and our readmission rate now for Medicare Advantage patients is in the 6 to 7 percent range. Last year, we were able to return to all our adult physicians a bonus in excess of 20 percent of their salary. We actually saw the number of office visits go down last year. We know Doc's are being able to spend more time, see fewer people, provide the care they want, the care the patient wants. You really cannot do value-based care without a close partnership with the payers. The benefit of that is that it really aligns, everybody's interests, patient's, payers, providers, everybody is moving in the same direction, trying to get to the same place. All have the same goal. Let's review all of the key points presented in the video: One, all of a patient's health care providers, primary, specialty, chronic, and preventive providers, create a system of integrated care. Two, data is the key to staying on top of patient needs. Being able to see in real time, what all of the healthcare providers on a patient's team are doing to be proactive with potential problems. Three, putting patients at the center, patient-centeredness, builds a relationship and develops trust. Four, transitioning to VBC, doesn't happen all at once. It requires small steps. Five, switching to VBC, requires priority investments in staffing and infrastructure resources. Six, VBC aligns everyone's interests, patient's, payers and providers. Seven, in a VBC environment, doctors can provide the care they want. Some of these are familiar as you heard similar themes during the certificate introduction video interview. If you gleaned other key points, that's great. You'll rely on these key points as you take a deeper dive into the concept of VBC in this module. Keep leaning in to learn more.
