| Medical Care Development
has received a grant from the Physicians' Foundation for
Health Systems Excellence. This grant will be for a
two-year initiative to support improvements within
physicians' office systems to improve the quality of health
care in Maine.
MCD will implement the project, titled "Maine Practice Improvement Network," in partnership with five large Physician Hospital Organizations, the Maine Medical Association, and multiple physician practices throughout the state. The Practice Improvement Network will facilitate improvement for patients with chronic disease and promote shared learning among medical organizations to improve health care quality and patient health. Claudette Bean, Director of Disease Management Systems at Medical Care Development, notes that, "More than 50% of Maine adults have one or more chronic conditions. Caring for these people requires changes in the information systems used by physicians and the adoption of programs to assist these patients with improved self-management. Working together, sharing ideas, challenges, and models of improvement, we can learn from one another and improve the health of patients and the overall health of our communities." The Maine Practice Improvement Network will assist practices by identifying the most effective disease management approaches and systems, support the implementation of disease registries for patient follow up and monitoring, and encourage practices to create a reliable system of planned care for their patient population which will help patients to be more active in self management to avoid disease complications. Ms. Bean notes, "This is an opportunity for physicians to work together to make changes in their practice systems to better meet the chronic care needs of their patients. An Improvement Network provides the organization, structure, and timeline for quality improvement initiatives. The Maine Practice Improvement Network will also provide professional education on practice improvement training and education." Medical Care Development was chosen as one of 26 recipients of these grants from an applicant pool of over 400. The Physicians' Foundation
for Health Systems Excellence was created for the sole
purpose of helping practicing physicians improve the
clinical care of their patients and is funded from a 2004
settlement in an antiracketeering class action lawsuit
between physicians, medical societies, and Aetna, Inc. With
assets of $98 million, the Physicians' Foundation devotes
its resources to helping practicing physicians improve the
care they deliver to their patients. The foundation
provides grants to nonprofit organizations for
practice-based, innovative projects that provide physician
education or address quality of care or patient safety
issues.
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