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mdybvrly@yahoo.comMancelona Family Practice: A Local Success StoryMANCELONA, MI December 13, 2012 -- “A good practice should be willing to do it,” said Albert Brown, MD, of Mancelona Family Practice.Mancelona Family Practice, nestled in the rural city of Mancelona, Michigan, is unique in the world of Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH), a selective designation offered annually by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. "Any good practice already delivers patient-centered medicine … PCMH designation validates the high quality of care our practice has been delivering to the community for many years,” said Brown.A PCMH is a care team, led by a primary care physician, which focuses on each patient’s health goals and needs. The team coordinates patient care across all settings (hospital, assisted living, home care, etc.). PCMH is designed to focus on the patient to improve their experience of care and improve health outcomes, which will lead to lower costs in the long term. A PCMH offers open access to the patient and coordinates care for patients throughout their lives.The Mancelona Family Practice serves 6,635 patients and is led by two physicians, Albert Brown, MD, and Jennifer Leino, MD. The 13-person office is supported by Office Manager, Tammy Dunne, who led the PCMH initiative with Dr. Brown.
The Mancelona practice needed a guide to help make their way through the PCMH process and to save time. They reached out to the Medical Advantage Group, a leading healthcare consulting and management company. The Mancelona practice was assigned to Dave Nicholson, practice consultant for the Medical Advantage Group.
“In many cases, practices don’t realize how close they are to meeting many of the requirements. My job was to help them realize what they already had in place and identify the missing pieces. The Mancelona practice is highly engaged. From start to finish, Mancelona was able to become designated as a PCMH in less than a year, completing the nomination process in only four months,” continued Nicholson.
As a part of meeting PCMH criteria, each patient is required to verbally agree to partner with Mancelona in their own care. Together, they will make a self-management plan to meet the patient’s health care goals. “To date, of the 3,763 patients who are eligible for PCMH, 469 patients have been notified of the PCMH process and are actively working within it. We are constantly working to improve this,” said Dunne. “This office is successful because of how they relate to their community,” said Nicholson. The Mancelona office exudes community spirit and support. Talk of the Mancelona Public School’s “Ironmen” and their chances for a 2012 state championship was rampant in the office. In support of all of the mighty “Ironmen”, the Mancelona office offers free sports physicals every year. Their community involvement does not stop there; it also offers Diabetes meetings for caregivers and patients in the community. “We are looking for total patient care. We had a patient who was not able to manage her Diabetes because she lost her house in a fire. By helping connect her with services in the community to meet housing needs for her and her family, we could then address her Diabetes plan,” said Dunne. The Mancelona Family Practice shares their one-story, home-like building through a partnership with Kalkaska Memorial Health Center. With this connection, patients have quick, easy access to a state-of-the-art lab, a digital radiology center, a physical rehabilitation room and a room dedicated to a home health representative. The close proximity to these providers aides communication and improves the patient’s experience. “Any provider is always trying to do the best he can for his patients providing good information and feedback on how they are progressing. I think PCMH is fostering better communication in a more systematic way. These are goals any good practice should be striving to meet,” said Brown. The Mancelona practice is continuously improving the care they deliver. All of the staff is empowered to make suggestions and enhancements. “Dr. Brown championed the leadership role in the planning and work the office needed to do to achieve PCMH status. He has been thoroughly engaged from the start. Having an engaged physician to energize the office is always an advantage,” said Nicholson. “We are at the forefront right now, having implemented PCMH. It’s inevitable that practices will be held to a higher standard in the future,” said Brown. According to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, PCMH-designated physicians are succeeding in more effectively managing patients’ care to keep them healthy and prevent complications. In 2012, in comparison with non-PCMH practices, the PCMH practices had 23.8 percent lower rate of adult ambulatory care sensitive inpatient admissions. “Transforming and improving care is a continuous process. Right now we are finalizing our materials for a second nomination and are looking forward to being designated as a PCMH two years in a row in 2013,” said Nicholson. For more information about the Mancelona Family Practice, call (231) 587-9181.###
