In 2009, we began to assemble a group of consultants with long experience in a wide array of healthcare services. The motivation for our formation was the belief that we could make a positive contribution to the success of medical home practices and integrated delivery systems.
We think that the movement away from traditional Fee For Service payment to Value Based payment reflects a fundamental dissatisfaction with the U.S. healthcare system on the part of a significant proportion of patients, providers and payers. We believe that pressure to move to a payment system based on clinical outcomes and overall cost was building prior to the implementation of the Accountable Care Act, but when Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) were defined for the Medicare program, it produced a sea change in the commercial health insurance market that pushed the healthcare industry over a tipping point. Regardless of the experience of ACOs in the Medicare program, a pervasive move to integration of delivery systems has begun. At CareSync Consulting, healthcare is our profession and our only business, and our business is focused on providing expertise and support to integrating healthcare providers.
Our Mission
We believe these are the fundamental building blocks of a successful integrated delivery system: change in organizational culture to a whole-person, team-based care approach; efficient work processes that utilize providers and staff to the top of their license and training; use of newly affordable and interoperable IT systems that provide analysis and decision support in real time; and implementation of a robust quality improvement program focused on patient safety, clinical outcome improvement and use of evidence-based care for defined populations.
Our group of healthcare professionals have experience and success in organizational culture change, creation of effective organizational structures, population management, clinical integration, Lean process improvement, measurement of and improvement in quality of care, and use of information technology to support total cost management. Our mission is to help providers assess partnerships; define and implement culture change; and to design, implement and evaluate programs and processes that will continually improve outcomes and costs as they integrate across specialties and care settings.
Precepts of Our Consulting Approach
These are core principles we believe in and employ in supporting the design, implementation and management of integrated systems of care.
Motivation
The vast majority of healthcare providers want to provide the best care possible.
Evidence-Based Care
Use of evidence-based guidelines and protocols increases the overall quality of care delivered.
Transparency
Benchmarking and sharing of performance at the individual and group level results in changes in practice that improve clinical outcomes.
Population-Based Care & Quality Measures
Tracking of population-based quality measures and use of patient registries drives improvement in clinical outcomes for patients.
Quality Improvement Programs
Use of formalized quality programs in which quality measures are used to benchmark performance as a focus of intentional process change results in better outcomes over time.
Whole-Person Orientation
A whole-person orientation to care in which the individual is engaged in their own care with consideration and respect for their desires, beliefs, culture, and support system creates a superior experience for the patient, their family, their provider and staff, and it lowers the economic cost of care for society.
Medical Home and Care Coordination
A systematic patient tracking system in which primary care providers and staff organize around a team-based care approach to improve clinical care and act as advocates for the patient through care coordination results in a better care experience for the patient and providers, better overall clinical outcomes, and lower total costs when the approach is well designed and executed.
Interoperability of Electronic Information Systems
Interoperable electronic information systems have recently reached a point of practicality in cost and design of user interfaces at which support of real-time decision making is enabled to support bend of the cost curve downwards for integrated delivery systems.