Carilion’s hospitalists have played prominent roles in many of the clinic’s quality, safety, and efficiency initiatives. “I would have difficulty imagining that a health system that didn’t have a widespread, cohesive hospitalist service could pull off the kind of inpatient management efficiency, even preventive medicine, that a hospitalist model like ours is going to be able to do,” Dr. Whatley says.
Similarly, he has difficulty imagining how an organization could pull off a successful ACO without ready access to patient information through electronic health records, as Carilion now does. Unsurprisingly, many healthcare payment reform advocates are pushing for the technology needed for ACO-style startups to flourish.
As Dr. Werner says, “You need to give the group of physicians that are going to be part of an accountable group the necessary infrastructure and tools to be able to provide care together.” TH
Bryn Nelson is a freelance writer based in Seattle.