The traditional primary care model is ill-equipped to manage patient populations effectively in the new value-based care model, according to an article published in the latest issue of the Kurt Salmon Review.
The article was authored by Rob Langheim, a partner at global management consulting firm Kurt Salmon's Strategy Practice and a specialist in strategic planning, health network development and health reform preparedness.
According to Mr. Langheim, "Disjointed efforts to align primary care providers and band-aid fixes to the existing primary care model will neither address underlying structural problems nor achieve urgently needed improvements in access, continuity of care, patient satisfaction, outcomes and cost-effectiveness."
To more effectively manage populations, the industry needs a new primary care model, according to Mr. Langheim, which can be achieved by accomplishing these five key changes.
1. The role of primary care physicians must change. With the new construct, primary care physicians need to function less as individual providers and more as leaders of coordinated healthcare teams that provide 24/7 personalized care services to a select number of patients.
2. Technological advancements must continue to transform diagnosis and treatment. As advances in monitoring technologies, telemedicine, electronic records storage and artificial intelligence continue, so to will the ability of providers to diagnose and treat many patients.
3. Patients need to be more empowered and engaged. Expanded access to personal healthcare information and available treatment options will allow patients to become more informed and actively engaged in their care decisions.
4. Panel sizes must grow to benefit patients and providers alike. Care teams will be able to double patient panel sizes, which currently average between 2,000 and 2,500 individuals, and treat more people as access increases and operational efficiencies improve.
5. Care needs to be increasingly provided at the patient's convenience. As telemedicine and other technology-enabled options make remote care more readily available, patients will become less willing to spend an hour in a waiting room between the office hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Providers will have to consider extended hours to keep up.
Primary care must be re-envisioned — and sooner rather than later, according to Mr. Langheim.
"Fixing it around the edges will take too long, yield scant benefits and fall woefully short of what providers and patients require," he wrote. "An essential but failing system, primary care is overdue for a massive overhaul."