CAPP Discusses Telehealth Innovations

The Council of Accountable Physician Practices (CAPP) https://accountablecaredoctors.org physician leaders delivered presentations on Innovations in Telehealth, Employer/Provider Collaborations at the 2020 Self-Insurance Institute of America’s (SIIA) https://siia.org annual conference held October 12-15, 2020.

Addressing the huge impact that telehealth now has in healthcare delivery, Steven Green MD, CMO for Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group https://www.sharp.com/rees-stealy in San Diego and CAPP board member, discussed the sudden shift to virtual care precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic and how as a result, medical care will permanently change.

Dr. Green reports how it was possible for Sharp Rees-Stealy to accommodate a 4,000 percent increase in virtual visits almost overnight, Sharp Rees-Stealy set up additional training for physicians invested in telehealth for home settings, implemented a physician triage line, and created a telemedicine navigator role.

According to Dr. Green, “While we may not continue to see the high number of virtual patient visits, we are anticipating that a third of all patients including seniors, will continue to prefer this method of care delivery after the pandemic is over.  Patient satisfaction ratings are high, telemedicine is convenient, and physicians across specialties are finding in many situations that virtual visits are just as effective as in-person visits.”

A second SIIA presentation shared the news that two untraditional allies such as self-insured employers and providers are collaborating to fix mutual pain points in healthcare through a partnership between CAPP and the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions https://www.nationalalliancehealth.org/home.

“We have learned that many of the concerns that purchasers have relate to the lack of care coordination connectivity throughout the system through technology which is necessary to provide timely access to the full range of care including mental health. These concerns are being resolved by integrated medical groups and health systems that belong to CAPP”, noted Norman Chenven, MD, CAPP Vice Chair and Founding CEO, Austin Regional Clinic https://www.austinregionalclinic.com.

CAPP and the National Alliance recently published a joint White Paper on the results of initial discussions between the two stakeholders. The White Paper is titled Better Together: Exploring Employer-Physician Collaborations to Deliver Quality Care.

Go to https://accountabledoctors.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/capp_bth_employer-physician-collabs.pdf to view the White Paper.