Achieving Team-Based Health Care Delivery

PLF hosted a session on achieving team-based health care delivery. David Nash, MD, founding dean of the Jefferson School of Population Health and professor of health policy at Thomas Jefferson University, delivered the keynote address. Dr. Nash spoke about the need for hospitals to do a better job grooming physician leaders. He mentioned how team-based care is becoming the norm and how both hospitals and physicians need to embrace this.

The program also included case examples from AtlantiCare Health System, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Marquette General Health System.

AtlantiCare Health System spoke about their special care center, a patient-centered medical home they developed for individuals with chronic conditions. AtlantiCare created the SCC four years ago, serving roughly 1,800 patients. The SCC has resulted in reduced hospital length of stay, readmissions and ER visits.

Brigham and Women's Hospital created its interdisciplinary team unit for three reasons:

• To increase time for learning among its residents;
• To improve communication and collaboration among personnel; and
• To cut down on costs.

In its short existence, the ITU has significantly cutting down on in-patient mortality, LOS and readmissions while also increasing time for educational activities and satisfaction among attendings, residents and nurses.

Marquette General Health System talked about its transition from traditional medical departments to service lines. These service lines meet on a regular basis and encompass a broad spectrum of medical and hospital staff to include all staff directly involved with a patient's care. A main point of emphasis for each service line is that all involved are seen as equals. Marquette also employs the use of a newsletter to keep each service line in the loop on what other lines are doing.