Two medical groups poised to cash in on health care reform law

National Healthcare & Life Sciences Team Chair Maria Currier was quoted in a South Florida Business Journal article titled, "Two medical groups poised to cash in on health care reform law."

The article discusses the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) approach to comprehensive primary care. Touted under federal health care reform, the model is designed to improve quality and reduce costs by allowing primary care physicians to manage a patient's care in coordination with other doctors and caregivers. Instead of getting paid for every office visit and test, PCMH physicians are given a monthly bundled payment for each patient in their care.

Such coordination requires electronic record-keeping, a cost-prohibitive option for many primary care physicians. Thus, while health insurance companies are seeing positive clinical and financial outcomes from PCMH facilities, they are hesitant to suggest the model to patients because there aren't enough qualified clinics. According to Ms. Currier, the wider adoption of health care information technology should make PCMH a more attractive model. "It's difficult to navigate the health care system because all settings are operated independently," she explained. "We're looking to coordinate care, and someone should get paid for doing that."

READ: Two medical groups poised to cash in on health care reform law

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