A new Council of Accountable Physician Practices (CAPP) http://accountablecaredoctors.org sponsored Nielsen Strategic Health Perspectives Survey www.nielson.com/us/en.html reveals that only half of patients experience the benefits of coordinated care. It was also found that patients with multiple chronic illnesses who would most benefit from care coordination, receive only slightly more follow-ups and care management as everyone else.
Robert Pearl, M.D Chairman of CAPP and CEO of The Permanente Medical Group http://physiciancareers.kp.org at a forum presented by CAPP and the Bipartisan Policy Center held at the Center for Total Health on June 15, 2016 commented “The survey found evidence of the failure of American healthcare to provide coordinated technologically enabled and high quality healthcare to the majority of people.”
CAPP Executive Director Laura Fegraus said, “Our survey found that while it is encouraging that the use of care teams and care coordination seems to be increasing, having access and using technology effectively still needs improvement.”
The Nielsen Survey reports that patients’ use of health information technology shows slow progress. However 20 to 30 percent of the individuals surveyed reported that they do submit medical questions and receive reminders by email and use text messaging.
Roughly 44 percent report access to online information, such as appointment scheduling, obtaining lab test results, or viewing information via portals. Also, only 42 percent are communicating via an online secure messaging platform requiring a log-in and a password.
However, the percentage of doctors sharing EMR information has remained stable. Doctors are now sharing health information on their patients and can send and receive patient information to and from other doctors.
Patients using mobile apps remains low with only 4 to 5 percent taking advantage of the technology. It was also found that a high percentage of the general population are not using wearable health monitors to track physical activity levels.
As for preventing illness, 89 percent of primary care physicians say they often remind patients about preventive screenings, but only 14 percent of patients say they get these reminders. More than two-thirds of adult Americans are overweight or obese, yet only 5 percent of patients report that their physicians recommended a weight loss program.
While these results show that delivery system reform is beginning to move in the right direction, the work is far from over. CAPP supports policy initiatives that can expedite performance in accountable care, including payment reform to support the system and better outcomes, and the development and use of more robust health information technologies.
For more information, go to http://accountablecaredoctors.org.