This paper examines the role of multispecialty physician group practices (MSGPs) within integrated delivery systems, using the Mayo Clinic as a primary example of how coordinated, multi-disciplinary care can improve quality, efficiency, and patient access. The paper also addresses how technological innovations — particularly electronic health records and computerized physician order entry — reduce medical errors, support evidence-based practice, and improve medication safety. Together, these organizational and technological factors are presented as complementary forces driving improvement in healthcare delivery across institutions and the broader medical community.
A multispecialty physician group practice (MSGP) is one component of an integrated delivery system (IDS), providing a variety of care to patients across several disciplines in a manner that enables more efficient treatment through expanded capabilities and coordinated methods (Kovner & Knickman, 2011, p. 206). Specifically, the ability to make referrals, coordinate treatment among 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 for the direct manner in which the 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," thereby providing care to a population underserved by the medical community at large due to a lack of adequate income (Kovner & Knickman, 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 conducts many clinical trials, contributing to the store of empirical medical knowledge and directly advancing the use of evidence-based practice (EBP) (Kovner & Knickman, 2011). Through these efforts, the Mayo Clinic is not only improving the quality of care within its own institutions, but within the broader medical community as well.
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 seemingly simple changes made possible by new technologies can have profound effects on care. As one study found, "Just by moving from hand-written records to computer entry, errors resulting from legibility could be eliminated and data made available to anyone with on-line 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 patients will have consistent access to high-quality care throughout care transitions.
"Electronic prescribing and adherence to clinical guidelines"
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