as evidenced by disability, loneliness, substance abuse, criminal behavior, higher rates of self-destructive behavior and high rates of ED utilization. The EPICenter engages its clients by putting them in an ownership role as far as their care is concerned. A novel mobile-device-based program (MyOwnMed™) puts in the hand of participants the ability to monitor their functioning in real time by accessing rating instruments, and to review test results, consultants’ recommendations and upcoming appointments. They are also enabled to communicate electronically with any member of their care team.
The next generation Training of professionals in a new delivery model is critical to any clinical enterprise that hopes to endure. As a training site for the University of Arizona, the Whole Health Clinic is involved in medical student education as well as the training of residents in family medicine and psychiatry. Psychology interns participate in the EPICenter and provide psychological testing to all individuals at the clinic when it is requested. Plans are under way to train nurses and pharmacists as well.
The big picture No matter where health care reform in this country is taking us in the future, an emphasis on population health and a move away from fee-for-service medicine are not
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going to go away as defining features. The Whole Health Clinic is test-driving, as it were, several key elements to support that new orientation: The interprofessional group delivering team-care, the integrated electronic health record, the emphasis on aggregate outcomes, the engagement of the patient as an active owner of his or her treatment plan, and the emphasis on continuous communication among team members. The challenge to the individual clinician is the need to retain and foster our rapport with the individual in our office or our examination room, advocate for that individual’s needs and meet his or her expectations: This responsibility is not removed or lessened if the larger focus is on population health. Ole J. Thienhaus MD, MBA, is Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson. In 2012, he came from Las Vegas, Nevada, where he had been Chair of Psychiatry at the University of Nevada School of Medicine since 1996. Dr. Thienhaus is Board-certified in Psychiatry and Geriatric Psychiatry. He is the author of some eighty peer-reviewed articles and editor or author of four books. He holds an MBA from the University of Cincinnati College of Business Administration.
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July 2017 | arizonaphysician.com
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