Saturday, February 21, 2009

SavingPrimaryCare.org Doing Good Work

A comment to a recent post caught my attention.

There is a new group of primary care practitioners doing some good work that deserves some attention.

From their website:

SavingPrimaryCare.org is an off-shoot of the Ideal Medical Practices Project that has been running since 2006. This grant funded project supports solo and small practices across the US as they struggled to provide superb care in a very difficult environment.

The volunteer participants in this project discover that even though they are smart, hard working, and caring they still struggle to keep their practices from dying due to the toxic environment. Current health care policies systematically reward the wrong work and punish us when we do the right thing.

While many of us desperately try to remain afloat in this abysmal system, others find that they can only survive by ditching any interaction with the insurance industry. We need solutions that will work for all of our patients and for all of our practices.

We need new policies that truly support excellent care. A lot of the suggestions coming out of state capitols and Washington DC look like more of the same.

We’re a bunch of physicians, nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, physician assistants, nurses, office managers, secretaries and just plain folks who want to see the US develop a high performing health system.

Aside from being an offshoot of our not-for-profit Ideal Medical Practices, we have no ties to any political party or corporation. Our aim is to help the US create a policy environment in which effective primary care can flourish so that we can all benefit from the improved outcomes, improved experience of care, and reduced costs of health care.

Come look at our evolving resources:

www.IMPCenter.org is the official web site for Ideal Medical Practices – a nonprofit we are setting up to help practices deliver superb care.

www.IdealMedicalPractices.org is the official web site of the Ideal Medical Practices project funded by the Physician’s Foundation.

The Ideal Medical Practices Blog