2011 Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Awards Wentworth-Douglass Physician Corporation $50,000 Grant
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Awards Wentworth-Douglass Physician Corporation $50,000 Grant for Patient-Centered Medical Home
After a competitive selection process, Wentworth-Douglass Physician Corporation (WDPC) is distinguished as a winner of the 2011 Harvard Pilgrim Quality Grants program. The purpose of the Quality Grants program is to improve the health of patients in ways that optimize quality, safety and efficiency. Over the past eleven years, Harvard Pilgrim has funded more than 170 physician-based quality initiatives, totaling over 13 million dollars.
The grant will help WDPC implement Patient Self-Management Support in a Patient-Centered Medical Home in three primary care practices: Great Bay Family Practice, Hilltop Family Practice, and Strafford Medical Associates.
The Patient-Centered Medical Home is a model of primary care that supports partnerships between patients, providers and the family. Care is better coordinated and patients are empowered to take an active role in managing and improving their health. The Medical Home has been found to improve outcomes for patients and save costs, especially for people with chronic disease. The grant program will provide a Nurse Coach in each of the three primary care practices who will work directly with patients. The goal is that patients will learn new ways of managing their health.
Dr. William Brandon, WDPC Chief Medical Officer, is the Executive Team Sponsor of the project, and oversees WDH’s strategic initiative to implement a pilot Medical Home. Mary Finnegan, RN, WDPC Senior Director of Quality and Nursing, is co-sponsor. Dr. Hugh MacDonald of Great Bay Family Practice, Dr. Greg Andrecyk of Hilltop Family Practice, and Dr. John Foley of Strafford Medical Associates, will serve as Physician Champions to lead the program in their respective groups. Sky Rubins, WDPC Data Analyst, is responsible for data tracking and management, and quantitative analysis and reporting. Mary Rafferty, RN, is the Project Manager, responsible for overall implementation and coordinating the effort across all three WDPC practices.
WDPC will use a highly regarded evidence-based tool, Insignia Health’s Patient Activation Measure, to assess the ability of patients to self-manage their chronic health conditions. The project team will identify patients who have diabetes, asthma, COPD, CHF, or high cholesterol, and invite them to participate in self-management assessment and health coaching. Nurse Coaches will use Motivational Interviewing and other coaching tools to help patients improve their self-management skills. These interventions have been shown to help patients be better prepared to make healthy choices that support their ability to feel better and manage their chronic diagnoses.
According to Dr. Brandon, “We are very excited to have been awarded a Harvard Pilgrim Quality Grant. This will allow us to begin engaging patients more fully in their care and training our nurses and other staff to become health coaches. Our goal is to make our care not only high quality but patient-centered and this grant will provide us with some essential tools to help make this a reality.”
We thank Harvard Pilgrim for their generous support of our efforts to deliver quality care that improves the health of our patients.
