Multispecialty Physician Group Practice (Msgps) Is One

¶ … multispecialty physician group practice (MSGPs) is one portion of an integrated delivery system (IDSs), providing a variety of care to patients in several disciplines in a manner that enables more efficient care through a variety of methods and increased capabilities (Kovner & Knickman, 2011, p. 206). Specifically, the ability to make referrals, coordinate treatment amongst specialists, and provide more efficient scheduling and integration can have profound benefits for the overall efficiency and quality of care.

The Mayo Clinic has been cited as an exceptional example of an MSGP not simply for its integrative and quality achievements, but also in the direct manner that this organization improves access to care by "[determining] a patient's need for charity care based on information such as the patient's individual and family or household income, assets, family size and availability of alternative sources of payment," and thus providing care to a population underserved by the medical community at large due to a lack of adequate income (2011).

In addition to employing physicians with a variety of specialties in order to provide more efficient and better integrated care, the Mayo Clinic also sponsors and runs many clinical trials to add to the store of empirical medical knowledge and to directly impact the knowledge and use of evidenced-based practice (EBP) (2011). Through these efforts, the Mayo Clinic is not only improving the quality of care in its own organization and institutions, but in the medical community at large.

Response 2 New technological innovations can improve service utilization in the healthcare industry in a variety of ways and across many identified attributes of healthcare institutions and practices. Even simple and basic-seeming changes that have been made possible by new technologies can have profound effects on care, as one piece of research found that, "Just by moving from hand-written records to computer entry, errors resulting from legibility cold be eliminated and data made available to anyone with online access" (Kovner & Knickman, 2011, p. 337).

This means that physicians and other medical professionals will have access to more accurate, reliable, and easily actionable information and that the patient will have consistent access to high-quality care throughout care transitions. Kovner & Knickman also remind practitioners that, "when an order is entered, the physician can be reminded that a particular test or procedure is suggested by a guideline" (2011, p. 337). Technology can thus help to ensure that physicians and other medical practitioners will maintain the use of evidence-based practices within proven guidelines, which will help them.