Dillon Family Medicine Undergoing Number Of Changes To Improve Patient Healthcare


By Betsy Finklea
Dillon Family Medicine is undergoing a number of changes that will be better for patient care.
The practice is evolving to a health management focus in an effort to keep people even healthier, according to Timothy A. Fitzgibbon, MD.
Dr. Fitzgibbon said the Affordable Care Act brought many changes to healthcare, and some of those have been good changes in terms of how to manage health.  This caused Dillon Family Medicine to start making the shift from addressing immediate problems as they come up, which they will still do, to healthcare management by working to keep people healthier.
The practice has addressed this in a number of ways.  One of these is by providing more access.  New providers have been added to assist patients.  Dr. Nardin Khalil joined the practice last year, and Dr. Kyle Gehres from the Florence Practice Residency will be joining the practice in August.  Another addition is Katie Freel Smith, P.A., who will be working with her father, Dr. Paul Freel. They also have a patient portal where patients can communicate through e-mail or the computer.
A new department is also being added – chronic care management—which launches this summer.  Wendy Martin, LPN, will serve as the chronic care management department head.   Dr. Fitzgibbon said they will identify people with complex medical problems, people with multiple problems, and elderly people.  He said they will help manage their health conditions, make sure there are no barriers to appointments, make sure there are no issued with medications, etc.
Wendy Martin said the goal of chronic care management is to identify the worst cases and help these patients get on the right track to wellness through education and being smarter about their illnesses.
Vanessa McIntyre, LPN, said chronic care management puts the patient more in control of their illness and gets the family involved in patient care.  Through education, they hope to have better outcomes for those with multiple chronic illnesses.
Dillon Family Medicine also had a big announcement.  The National Committee for Quality Assurance announced recently that Dillon Family Medicine has received NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Recognition.  This is a national recognition “for using evidence-based, patient-centered processes that focus on highly coordinated case and long-term participative relationships.”  (See related story).
Dr. Fitzgibbon said that McIntyre and Martin were the principal players who worked on attaining the recognition.  Dr. Fitzgibbon said the process to attain the recognition requires a rigorous evaluation of the practice including such things as how well patients are served, how the phones are answered, how they take care of messages, how they handle emergencies, etc.  It evaluates whether they are doing as well as they think they are and do they have the system on paper.  It took seven months to develop their program.
Dillon Family Medicine received a Level 3 recognition which is the hardest to achieve.  They received an almost perfect score.  Not many practices achieve this level especially on the first try. Martin said the practice was already doing many of the things required for the PCMH recognition, but they worked on the tracking and documentation of it.
Dr. Fitzgibbon hopes all of the changes will lead to healthier patients who better manage their conditions.  They will also network with other agencies and systems in the community to help address the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs of the patient.  He believes that these are moves in the right direction and will make Dillon Family Medicine a true “medical home” for their patients.
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DFM RECEIVES NATIONAL RECOGNITION
WASHINGTON, DC—The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) announced that Dillon Family Medicine of Dillon,  has received NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Recognition for using evidence-based, patient-centered processes that focus on highly coordinated care and long-term, participative relationships.
The NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home is a model of primary care that combines teamwork and information technology to improve care, improve patients’ experience of care and reduce costs. Medical homes foster ongoing partnerships between patients and their personal clinicians, instead of approaching care as the sum of episodic office visits. Each patient’s care is overseen by clinician-led care teams that coordinate treatment across the health care system. Research shows that medical homes can lead to higher quality and lower costs, and can improve patient and provider reported experiences of care.
“NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition raises the bar in defining high-quality care by emphasizing access, health information technology and coordinated care focused on patients,” said NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane. “Recognition shows that Dillon Family Medicine has the tools, systems and resources to provide its patients with the right care, at the right time.”
To earn recognition, which is valid for three years, Dillon Family Medicine demonstrated the ability to meet the program’s key elements, embodying characteristics of the medical home. NCQA standards aligned with the joint principles of the Patient-Centered Medical Home established with the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Osteopathic Association.

About NCQA
NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations.
It also recognizes clinicians and practices in key areas of performance. NCQA’s Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) is the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care.
NCQA’s Web site (ncqa.org) contains information to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices.

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